> In some way, it is kind of like a book club, where everyone reads the same book and then come together to discuss their own observations and perspectives.

> it (Content) is a meeting point where relationships form, the nodes of the network that bring people together, the water cooler.

I love both of these comparisons :)

It seems there is still an imbalance of creators/consumers(potential commentators) on Hive but as you say, it's like better than elsewhere and will hopefully improve in time.

 >Similarly, the comments below the post can be highly valuable, because unlike the post itself, comments are personal. What I mean by this is that I write a post for the audience, I reply to the individual. When this is the common behavior of users, personal relationships form, a social network of real people who learn about and care about each other beyond any financial gain

This is accurate, I really do hope to build relationships and network on hive. I think that our view of hive hasn't moved  past it as a "financial gain" and we forget it can also be a social media  platform like Twitter and the likes where meaningful personal discussions and even arguements can be made

On some post the comments end up becoming a part of the post. I love to read the comments and thoughts from others, sometimes I will first read the comments before leaving my own, and sometimes I just jump right it, it is kind of dependent on the post. 

A lot of times I will re-read the comments, catch the ones I missed between mine and responses, it does get confusing at times, but nevertheless is still an enjoyable thing, and sometimes leads to another comment, thus the conversation continues.

I know I should probably engage with different people a lot more but I just find your posts intriguing and filled with little tips I could use to get along and move forward. It was actually on your post that I got a reply to a comment I made that really made my day and make me more conscious of why I am here. I also appreciate that I get to pick and choose what aspect of your post I would like to engage with. 
I promise to do better now.

I've shifted to doing predominantly comment curation. 

I miss thought-provoking dialog here - dialog where I learn things. It happens differently through dialog than from passively reading something. 

I agree that content can outlive itself and its author through the message it conveys. An idea can be a seed which if taken by the right minds can flourish and last for generations

Personally, I think the only way to get this platform to the place it deserves, is to engage and have real genuine  connections.

I liked your opinion that the comments were more of a discussion between people who comment, not just with the author)

> I will always work hard to engage with my audience for as long and as often as I can, but I hope that there will be a growing number of comments where people will be engaging with each other, kind of like at a restaurant filled with different groups of friends and family, all talking concurrently, while enjoying the food from the same kitchen.

Surprisingly, these kind of surprises, sometimes come to suprise you too often as an absolute and totally unexpected [surprise!](https://hive.blog/hive-174578/@por500bolos/erm-today-let-me-tell-you-something-new-pals)  https://board.freeones.com/images/freeones/smilies/eek.gif

Indeed engagement plays a vital role.

It's been more than three months on Hive for me. I know that you have been around far longer than that. I always tried to genuinely engage on posts that I think are valuable based on my limited knowledge and interest. 

One thing I have observed so far is the fact that we are in mad rush of producing content and upvoting and distributing rewards. I am myself to blame for that as well coz my primary motivation to join Hive was my greed and desire to earn crypto. When your primary motive is to earn then, sometimes, it may overshadow the type of intellectual (or more genuine) engagements we look for. 

For that,we may need more users and streamlined content I guess.I wish people would invest more time on the platform, give time to read and write posts and manually curate just for the health of the platform.

It is true that the price of Hive has to do with all the conversation around, but it is also true that when you start interacting with other authors through the comments, you end up creating a link with them.

When Covid19 lockdown started here in Spain, I encouraged an online meeting with other Hive users. Some of them I knew them personally, others where people I had never seen before. It ended up creating a stronger link between all of us. 

I believe, having online meetings every once in a while creates a much stronger engagement and stronger relationships which go beyond just the rewards. I have never used 3Speak live tool but integrating a tool for community online meetings could be something to think of. 

I'm a big fan of commenting, as I have done it a lot. It's actually impressive how good the quality is. On the old Tsu platform you would get loads of comments that just said 'Nice', mostly from people with poor English. I think they even filtered those out eventually. It was just an effort to get likes. I just don't see that on Hive, yet.

What I don't like to see is a post getting massive votes, but hardly any comments as that looks bad. I know a lot of votes of auto, but we need more manual curation and to leave comments to say what we liked, especially when people have put in real effort.

Hive five!

**Introducing the New HIVE - Wishing Wallet!**
A sacred HIVE wishing well where all your wishes come true!

[![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/wishingwallet/cRVJt154-image.png)](https://peakd.com/gems/@wishingwallet/wishes-come-true-with-the-hive-s-new-wishing-wallet)

Definitely good thoughts there. 

I think there will be more conversation in comments when the value of $hive appreciates. Maybe because I remember the days of a stake as low at 500hp (barely minnow) being able to reward engagement in posts with less than a 100% upvote, and not completely drain voting power by doing so. As of now, being almost a dolphin with a couple delegations, I have to 100% vote in order for the reward to be bigger than dust, and I am tapped out below 60% Vp in no time. It really limits my ability to reward the engagement. 

I do end up commenting and engaging in conversation with people i follow and support but more for the organic community it builds. A nice $.50 $hive and I bet there would be a lot more conversation and more rewards for the meaningful ones. 

Looking forward to those days again my friend.