This is my entry for the theme of this week's contest in this community "Blockchain Forks" by @crypto-academy

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INTRODUCTION

Blockchain technology is an open-source software framework that allows the creation of decentralized applications, also known as dApps. When a blockchain forks, it creates two different chains with their history (called blockchains).

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WHAT IS A FORK?

Fork on a layman's term is a cutlery used in eating meals or better still a garden tool used in gardening.

But in blockchain terminology, The term "fork" refers to a situation where two chains are created from one parent chain, with one having a longer block time (and thus more confirmations), and another having a shorter block time (and thus fewer confirmations). The term can also refer to any divergence in behaviour between two entities that share some characteristics but are otherwise unrelated.

A fork happens when a chain diverges into two paths. The most common scenario is when one group of miners create their version of the blockchain, and another group of miners follow them. This can happen because some miners disagree with the majority or because there is no agreement on how to proceed in terms of updates and maintenance for the network.

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Forks are in the most basic sense, an occurrence of what is known as "protocol changes". A fork occurs when miners and users disagree on what the best course of action is for a particular blockchain. For example, bitcoin has had at least two forks to date—Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin Gold—and Ethereum has had at least one fork called Ethereum Classic.

The term "fork" comes from the idea of the divergence of two roads.

Forks are a way of creating new blockchains. A fork happens when two different chains with different sets of rules co-exist in the same blockchain, creating two versions of the same thing.

A fork can be viewed as an upgrade or a downgrade, depending on how it's implemented and what its users want from their blockchain.

It means an exact copy of the blockchain at a certain point in time. A fork is what happens when two miners find a valid hash within a short space of time.

I can say it's like a tie in chess where two players have the same score at the end of their games but neither can claim victory because they're still playing against each other after both players have checkmated their opponent's king or queen respectively – so instead they both move onto future games until one player wins or loses completely, except with crypto mining there is no tie, one of the blocks will be chosen to be extended on and all other blocks are abandoned (discarding around 13% of computational power being used).

Forks happen when a blockchain splits into two or more chains, each of which maintains its version of the original blockchain. The purpose of this process is to create new versions of blocks and transactions after disagreeing with other nodes on how they should be executed (e.g., how many confirmations are needed).

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WHAT IS A HARD FORK

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A hard fork is a permanent divergence from the main blockchain. The only way to undo this is through another hard fork, or by using a unique private key that allows you to access your account on both networks. If you don't have such a key, then your coins are stuck in limbo forever.

Blockchains using hard forks have to decide between backwards compatibility and clean slates.

A hard fork is when a single cryptocurrency breaks in two. This happens when a cryptocurrency’s existing code is altered, resulting in both an old and new version.

The original chain continues unaltered, but a new branch would exist simultaneously with the old branch. This split is typically first publicly announced months before they happen.

Hard forks are a method for creating new cryptocurrencies. An example of a hard fork is when someone creates an entirely new version of an existing cryptocurrency, for instance, the creation of “Hive” which is relative to the existing Steem, another good example is when Bitcoin Cash (BCH) created its blockchain, separated from Bitcoin (BTC).

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WHAT IS SOFT FORK?

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A soft fork is a change to the Blockchain protocol that only changes the rules of the system. The new rules are backwards compatible, meaning you can still run software that follows the old rules without any problems.

A soft fork is just another name for something that happens frequently in blockchains which see changes in functionality and protocol that are not 100% backwards compatible (a protocol change).

The most prominent soft fork to date was very recent was the aforementioned Segregated Witness (SegWit) fork, which happened immediately after the Bitcoin/Bitcoin Cash split

The fork occurred because some people wanted to see further development of the BCH protocol. As a result of this split in the network, there are now two blockchains with different histories and rulesets.

As you can see, this is quite different from a hard fork since it doesn't change any of the old rules and just introduces new ones.

This is an important feature of any blockchain forks as it allows nodes to stay backwards compatible with older versions of the network.

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DIFFERENCES BETWEEN HARD AND SOFT FORKS

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The main difference between a hard fork and a soft fork is how they're programmed. With a hard fork, users who upgrade their nodes would need to update their software version before they can connect with other versions of the blockchain network. In contrast, with a soft fork, users who do not update their computers will still be able to communicate with current versions of the blockchain but will not be able to connect with newer ones because they're incompatible with each other.

A Hard Fork can be thought of as a software update to a blockchain, which makes previously valid transactions invalid.

A soft fork is an upgrade that only affects the rules surrounding how blocks are created and added to the chain. The miners on your network will still receive all the same rewards for mining blocks after this upgrade, but you'll need to hash with new software for your wallet or node (which means it won't work with older versions).

For a hard fork to occur, all nodes must agree with the new rules or else the network will split into nodes that comply with the old rules and nodes that comply with the new rules.

A hard fork is a permanent change to the protocol that makes it incompatible with older versions of the protocol. Hard forks can be implemented in multiple ways, including:

• Activating an entirely new blockchain containing only transactions made after the fork and no other blocks

• Reorganizing existing blocks into new ones that have been created from scratch (or from some other source)

On the other hand, a soft fork is an occurrence of "backwards compatible protocol changes". A soft fork occurs when miners on the old version of the blockchain begin mining blocks with new rules, and nodes running old versions continue to validate those blocks.

This means that nodes running older versions can still validate blocks from newer versions and get paid for doing so—but they won't be able to spend those payments in any way that would break the new rules (i.e., they'll be unable to spend them at all).

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STEEM VS HIVE FORKS

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The main idea of these platforms is to share content and work together with others, while also getting rewarded for content created. These are more of a social media platform, where you can earn crypto for being active.

In March 20th, there was a fork on steemit and a new blogging platform called Hive was established, which is a conceit to steemit, 2020 due to the disagreement in operation.

Steemit and Hive are two distinct platforms with unique features.

Since Hive is a fork of Steemit, it is similar in many ways.

SIMILARITIES

• both platforms are blockchain-based
• both platforms reward users for posting good content
• Steemit is a social media platform where users can earn money for posting good content, and Hive is a blockchain-powered social media platform that rewards users for posting good content.
• block producers are the equal to miners.
• witnesses are the equivalent of master nodes.
• whales are users with a lot of Steem Power
• minnows are users with little Steem Power.

DIFFERENCES

• Steemit has a reputation system, whereas hive has a karma system.
• Hive is a fork of steemit
• both platforms have their own tokens
• Steemit has more activity than Hive.

Both difference and similarities can be seen from their Genesis block (i.e the first block).

	Genesis block of Hive source

	Genesis block of Steem source

From the screenshots above, it is seem that both Hive and Steem are of same genesis block as they made of same witness (Initminer) and time stamp.

	block 1000 of Hive source

	block 1000 of Steem source

One could even still see the similarities from their various 1,000 blocks.

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CONCLUSION

Forks are important to the long-term success of any blockchain network, as they enable us to make modifications and upgrades in systems.

Forks make it feasible for blockchains and cryptocurrencies to incorporate new features as they evolve. Otherwise, we’d be glued to the same rules and regulations for the lifetime of the protocol.

Both Steemit and Hive are created on the same foundation and work in the same manner but possess different leadership.

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I wish to invite @ruthjoe, @patjewell and @preye2, and any other persons who would like to participate too to CLICK HERE for more instructions.

100% power-up

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Thank you all for always making out time to go through my work, and I only hope you enjoyed it😉😁. I can never say thank you enough. You are my MVPs.

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NOTE: Always have a smile on your face, as you are never fully dressed without one.