Something to be said about coincidence. Or does that even exist? I'm not so sure it does. It does however, have merit here. Within 24 hours of that comment, two witnesses were put into operation.

Many of you already know @enginewitty and have recently seen that his witness is back up and running. This would not have happened without that comment on @sircork's post. Was it meant to bee?

The rebirth of @sircork on Hive has breathed new life into @enginewitty. In fact, he has teamed up with @sircork to initiate a new witness, from this account, The Pollen Nation.

You may be looking confused right now and scratching your heads, wondering why such a name was chosen, so we will both tag team on this post to fill you in with the hows and whys. Just bee prepared for a few giggles along the way! 😁

Witty's Take

After throwing around probably a hundred different names and trying to find one that fit, we settled on @pollenation. One reason for the humor, is you can't take life too seriously all the time. It'll eat you up with stress!

I also liked the way Cork was approaching it, by having it (the new witness we agreed to put forth) surrounded with some kind of little avian bug that the name Hive exudes.

It also had to say something else, and something that we both decided and feel strongly about. That something we both feel most important, is the community aspect of it all.

To me, the pollen here is HIVE currency, and the nation, is you, the entire Hive population of people all over the ecosystem. The two sound and look the same, but they are not doppelgangers. HIVE (when in all caps), is the base currency that is produced by the blockchain. Hive is the blockchain. The Hive Pollen Nation (aka @pollenation), is all of you, who make the Hive chain your home and Hive your favorite kind of currency, your shared reward for helping to make it a good place to spend your time.

The Pollen Nation resonated. I mean, we're all working to make this place amazing, right? Even the people that just scrounge for a few HIVE a week with their originality, to pay for groceries or their electric bill, are making this place great.

And that, needs to be known!

Those kinds of people may not be devs and contributing to the codebase for Hive, but without them? What is this place? Really? You can have all the coolest tools and operations in the world, but without anyone to use and appreciate them, they are pointless.

I will be pointing things out. Those kinds of things anyway. I would like to employ this witness as a content discovery tool and start propping up the little bees that do their part as they try to help make this place great.

Table Manners

What I bring to the table of this witness is longevity, loyalty and leadership. Sure, I shut my witness down for awhile, but I've still been here the entire time, working alongside all of you in some form or fashion to further Hive as a whole. My loyalty is unwavering to the community that shares the love around and if my leadership is in question? Feel free to delve into @thealliance that will have its 7th birthday the end of August or ask around about one of the few tokens that didn't crash during the bear market. I've organized half a dozen meetups, attended twice as many and am often sought for advice in both community standards and financial direction.

That is another thing I will bring to dinner, is that I know how to spread honey on some toast. And, I love to share! I could also drone on more about me, me, me, but it isn't just about me. This witness is about you!

SirCork's Take

"HI AGAIN HIVE FRENZ!" - sircork shouts with enthusiasm and excitement!

I am so thrilled to be back here. And saying so is incredibly sincere. Sometimes, you don't know what you've got till it's gone. And sometimes you don't know what you needed till you find something familiar in an old box in the attic and it triggers memories and resonates within your soul, lighting new fires of interest in old, comforting things.

When I left here two years ago, I actually can be quoted by some as telling them I was through, over it, done with this place and its platform politics, factions, bad actors, high pressure demands to perform a certain way or be shunned and an outcast. Building and running 24/7 streaming networks for the community, running a witness in the top 50, making tools and posting and commenting and curating around the clock, and supporting hundreds of new minnow users in the background with thousands of DM messages and co-founding and running the @YouAreHOPE charity with @malos10, which was always being scrutinized and tested by various kinds of naysayers, scammers and the unbelieving. It wore me completely out over the many years I sustained all those endeavors.

I walked away.

I had to, to save my health and sanity and to escape discomfort.

BUT

It tore a hole in my heart to do that, left a pit in my gut and for two years I was adrift without a community to call home, online or off, several home moves transpired, ultimately leading me to choose to purchase land and begin to build a new life and home in Costa Rica. (I am formerly from the USA) and that very act, brought to possibility BECAUSE of former steem/hive friends @rhondak and @michel506 who had already moved to CR and been my hosts there in prior visits, let me know the property next door to them was for sale, so I bought it, and off I went.

Why is that relevant here on a witness post? All this introspection, reflection, philosophy and story telling?

Because it brought me to a realization. I was finally aware of that gaping hole in my heart and I knew where the hospital for such a wound could be found. Here. On Hive, with the Hive nation and I knew I had to come back. It was time. Time to bring a healed SirCork back to do what I could to revitalize myself and forge a new path on the most amazing blockchain, amongst the most amazing people I have ever met.

So then the comment thread witty mentioned above happened. I was quipping a one liner, he DM'd and said simply "Are you serious?" and I had to think for about 2 and a half seconds to realize I had never been more serious in my life. The quip, was funny, because it was basically true. I needed to be here, I needed to resume my service to the chain. To the chain's people. And I needed to do it immediately, if not sooner.

So what's MY vision, MY take, as the section title says?

I want to bring back the excitement of 2017. My first year here. The community was much larger, the people much more engaged in groups and in total, and when I got back here in present day, much of that was still thriving! Yay! But... there is also a more subdued, cynical undertone in the hive buzz. I wanted to somehow shake all of you at once and say WAKE UP! It's a new day! WHERE IZ EXCITE?

I am finding it, but at first glance, I was having to flip over more rocks to do so then I expected to have to flip. Then as the week progressed, posts started coming, from OG users who have been here for seven, or eight years, but had wandered away. Turns out though, all who wander are indeed not lost. And so many are suddenly finding their ways back. To Hive. To OUR VOICES. OUR PLATFORM. OUR HOME. OUR FAMILY.

And it feels fantastic. So I want to use my role as part of this witness team to continue to foster that feeling, for myself and for everyone. Return to former glory as it were, for this chain, once a top 50 crypto, now falling behind. We have to FIX THAT.

And we can, with upcoming projects like Wittys game @nism, and the charitable outreach of @YouAreHOPE, and with the creation of new tools to help users navigate this complex place, and new apps to help foster engagement, retention and new interest to entice some new hive nation arrivals.

We have big plans, and big hearts, and big enthusiasm rekindled within us, Witty and I, and we go back to very beginnings together, we live geographically very near each other, about 45 minutes apart, (when I am in the USA) and so we can meet in real life, we have met in real life, many times. Despite my absence, we stayed in touch on other media and we know and trust each other online and off. We have both spoken about this new witness in post comments without conferring and seem to always be in sync with our thoughts and emotions about all of the things.

We're going to contribute more than we ever have before, and if you have followed us both since 2017, the beginnings, you know we've already both brought all sorts of things to life here before. We do what we say we will do, and we both feel our integrity and credibility depend on that, but we also both feel our growth over the years has only improved both of our abilities to do better and better for the bees of Hive and the Pollen Nation every single day.

As the lyrics say, "Saturday night, we'll be in the spot, don't believe us, just watch!"

Naturally, I'm physically older now, and perhaps a modicum more mature. I will pace myself differently this time, pledge to get more sleep and be more attentive in whole to each new and existing endeavor the witness and myself participate in around here. All part of the process of constant, incremental improvement. In me, in the chain, and for you all.

We hope we can earn your interest, trust and support for our new co-witness @PolleNation and we promise to do our level headed best to serve the people of Hive with honey and sweet, sweet futures.

So fire up your optimism, your sense of community, your engagement and your excitement and lets all work together to breathe new life into this amazing platform. That is our goal. Will you buzz along with us on this journey? Please and thank you!

The Yays Have It!

We love it when great things come together. I hope you are as excited as we are! What is the Alliance's motto? Something about a marathon and taking all the steps with you. That's what we're here to do. Link arms with Hive and with YOU! - the @PolleNation and stay the course.

Along the way, we will likely implement a few fun and bee-coming things, as we both have our strengths, and will use them appropriately and mutually. We have chosen a few other communities that we feel embody the vision we have and are open to suggestions to more possibilities and opportunities to be of service and add value to the ecosystem in our path forward.

This is new.
This is us.
This is you.