You are not deluded. Hive's social side could use a lot of help.

I like it here. I've interacted with some really cool people about comic books and video games and making video games. There is lots of potential. Who doesn't like getting money for talking about things they love?

There are some major issues though. Some could be fixed eventually and are technical/ux. Like making barrier to entry and learning curve easier for 'normies'. Kim Kardashian probably couldn't make a Hive account or use it even if she wanted to.

But a huge problem is the top down control structure. I've almost quit entirely multiple times already because of some things I see whales or bots do to others. Luckily I have not been their target and I like to hope it is just rare isolated cases and most if not all deserved it. But I don't think it is that simple. Usually it is done with some misguided sense of protecting the platform or stopping bad actors from doing something. Most of the time it is petty nonsense and circle jerking millionaires pushing their ideas on lots of poor people that have different ideas.

DPoS blockchains in general have decentralization problems IMO. Having a social site where the overlords can flex their power does not help much in that regard. And that happens here on Hive. A handful of people control basically everything. This is not good for a social site that is trying to grow off the idea that it is decentralized and won't be censored like the big sites are.

But the only way that changes is if those same people change it, which isn't going to happen. I still think Hive is the best option we have for these kinds of things so... despite sounding sour above I have hope!