I signed into a Substack blog for the first time today as someone I like launched a blog there.  The interesting thing is that this is someone who was active on steemit for years but he primarily just reposted his videos.   On substack he is actually blogging.


![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/dwinblood/23tvYJoBdpWqGwPFiUYxni8gtyChuzaVh3zMf4Bnza3naiugKWC188x5p3tYF47PfERJ1.png)


Anyway as I looked at substack I couldn't avoid wondering why steemit and now hive were not embraced like Substack.   I mean what they do it appears these platforms have been doing for awhile.   Steemit and Hive have the advantage of being stored in a decentralized blockchain so their posts cannot be censored by simply someone deciding to delete them.

Why didn't people embrace steemit and hive for something like this?

The only thing I ever saw that seemed to scare people off was when it becomes apparent that while the blockchain itself is decentralized the power itself has rapidly been increasingly centralized into the hands of a few.   These few will typically run to the fact that they spent money to get where they are and that YOU can do so too.   Yet a large portion of the centralization of power acceleration is simply due to how power accumulates if you have power and how you use the platform.

Now I am very much free market.  I don't care how much wealth or power someone has.   I don't scream to tax the rich.   I care about how the wealth and power are used.   Is it used to place virtual shackles upon people of lesser power?

Is it used as it can be on this platform for these centralized power to decide that certain people or topics are not allowed to earn any rewards regardless of how many other people may be interested in rewarding it?

I have seen this one behavior of financial oppression and censorship scaring off some rather prominent people and voices in the past.   Usually those that were interested in those people and voices were soon to follow.

All to protect the SAFE SPACE that the centralized powers are attempting to craft for themselves and keep from being tainted by things they consider undesirable, untouchable, and perhaps misinformation...

I've read the response paraphrased as "*People don't want that we are down voting that so we can up vote more things that will attract people.*"

To me this always seemed a lot like a person walking into a store and deciding that people were only interested in purchasing the same things that they like.  It is to their advantage to pull things off the shelf and put more things on the shelf that they themselves find appealing.

It is rather arrogant, self centered, egotistical, etc.   Yet it is also something that arises from human nature.

The code is law.   If the law does not keep negative aspects of our human nature in check when it comes to oppressing and attempting to control other people then the law is flawed.  It can and should be fixed.

Today when I looked at Substack to me I saw a missed opportunity.  Everything Substack does could easily have been done by steemit years ago and could still be done by Hive today.

Most of the people moving to Substack are doing so because of the corruption and centralization of power within the media and so-called Journalism.   They may scout out Hive.   They may see people being suppressed.

Nah... I'll skip that.  I'm not going to put forth effort that can simply be deemed as unfundable by a single person who effectively cancels out the "rewards" which are kind of like voluntary subscription fees of many other people.  I've seen 100s of people up vote a post on steemit and on hive and then seen 1 or 2 accounts down vote them to zero.   No comment.  No reason.   They stopped bothering to try to justify it.

It is simply a loud cackling voice saying "***I have the power!***" as they step on the posts that they themselves dislike.

Do I expect to change anything?  Not really.

# So why do I write this?

While I don't expect change.  I do think it is worth pointing out missed opportunities.  That is immediately where my mind went when I saw Substack for the first time.   Especially, since the substack I visited was of someone who actually uploaded his video blogs to Steemit.

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Let's hope #vyb has some success.