Here’s what Nick Grossman at USV says about the benefit of publishing “on web3 rails” -

The vision of "onchain publishing" is to rebuild content creation, distribution, and monetization on web3 rails.  

This allows creators to truly own their content as digital assets: onchain posts and media are owned directly by web3 identities (e.g., accounts on Ethereum or other blockchains), and in the case of Paragraph and Mirror, content is stored publicly and permanently in Arweave. 

Onchain publishing also unlocks powerful new engagement and revenue models: for example, minting posts as NFTs, rewarding subscribers with tokens, enabling perpetual royalties, and tipping creators.  

Just as significantly, the onchain publishing stack empowers developers to compose and build novel experiences directly on the content layer itself in a permissionless manner. Use cases span embedded newsletter subscriptions, layered newsfeed UIs, spam detection algorithms, new discovery surfaces, AI-driven features, and much more – all interoperable and retaining the built-in economic components.

I’m struggling a bit to understand the benefits to an author/publisher of utilizing these web3 rails.

1. It’s nice to own my writing in a certifiable way with clear provenance. Practically speaking, if I create a blog using Github Spaces or on Netlify, those are not more difficult to manage than this publication. A bunch of Markdown files in a repo are pretty easy to manage.

2. Since I’m not a professional author/publisher, it seems unlikely that NFTs, etc. are going to benefit me directly. There may be some future benefit here, but it’s not easy to see.

3. “Novel experiences” powered by developers “in a permissionless manner” seems like a repeat of standard web economics. I guess paragraph.xyz is an example of the kind of thing Grossman has in mind. So far, I have found publishing here to be a smooth, polished experience. There are some features I would like that are missing (an integrated spelling and grammar checker) please, but it’s much better than I would have guessed.

It also seems to me that publishing on a known platform - WordPress or Substack, for instance - comes with increased discoverability. These days, it seems that it is very difficult for an anonymous author to become more discoverable let alone to go viral.

Per my recent custom I’m going to ask GPT4 to critique my arguments:

Possible benefits you might be missing include: 1. **Enhanced Security and Censorship Resistance**: Publishing onchain ensures that your content cannot be easily altered or taken down by centralized entities, offering greater protection against censorship. 2. **Provenance and Authenticity**: Onchain publishing provides an indisputable record of ownership and creation date, which can be crucial for establishing credibility and authenticity. 3. **Interoperability**: Since the content is stored on blockchain, it can be easily integrated with other web3 services, leading to seamless cross-platform functionality. 4. **Decentralized Community and Ecosystem**: Being part of a decentralized network can attract a community that values transparency and open-source principles, potentially leading to more engaged readership. 5. **Long-term Accessibility**: Content stored on decentralized platforms like Arweave is designed to be permanent, reducing the risk of losing your work due to platform changes or shutdowns. Evaluation of the post overall: - **Clarity**: The post clearly outlines your current understanding and doubts, providing a good foundation for further exploration. - **Engagement**: It engages with Nick Grossman’s points but could benefit from deeper analysis or specific examples of how web3 could impact different types of authors/publishers. - **Balance**: There is a balanced view of both potential benefits and drawbacks, though it leans towards skepticism. - **Suggestions for improvement**: Including more concrete examples or case studies of successful web3 publishing could strengthen your argument. Additionally, addressing some technical aspects in simpler terms might help readers who are not as familiar with blockchain concepts.

Here’s what Nick Grossman at USV says about the benefit of publishing “on web3 rails” -

The vision of "onchain publishing" is to rebuild content creation, distribution, and monetization on web3 rails.  

This allows creators to truly own their content as digital assets: onchain posts and media are owned directly by web3 identities (e.g., accounts on Ethereum or other blockchains), and in the case of Paragraph and Mirror, content is stored publicly and permanently in Arweave. 

Onchain publishing also unlocks powerful new engagement and revenue models: for example, minting posts as NFTs, rewarding subscribers with tokens, enabling perpetual royalties, and tipping creators.  

Just as significantly, the onchain publishing stack empowers developers to compose and build novel experiences directly on the content layer itself in a permissionless manner. Use cases span embedded newsletter subscriptions, layered newsfeed UIs, spam detection algorithms, new discovery surfaces, AI-driven features, and much more – all interoperable and retaining the built-in economic components.

I’m struggling a bit to understand the benefits to an author/publisher of utilizing these web3 rails.

1. It’s nice to own my writing in a certifiable way with clear provenance. Practically speaking, if I create a blog using Github Spaces or on Netlify, those are not more difficult to manage than this publication. A bunch of Markdown files in a repo are pretty easy to manage.

2. Since I’m not a professional author/publisher, it seems unlikely that NFTs, etc. are going to benefit me directly. There may be some future benefit here, but it’s not easy to see.

3. “Novel experiences” powered by developers “in a permissionless manner” seems like a repeat of standard web economics. I guess paragraph.xyz is an example of the kind of thing Grossman has in mind. So far, I have found publishing here to be a smooth, polished experience. There are some features I would like that are missing (an integrated spelling and grammar checker) please, but it’s much better than I would have guessed.

It also seems to me that publishing on a known platform - WordPress or Substack, for instance - comes with increased discoverability. These days, it seems that it is very difficult for an anonymous author to become more discoverable let alone to go viral.

Per my recent custom I’m going to ask GPT4 to critique my arguments:

Possible benefits you might be missing include: 1. **Enhanced Security and Censorship Resistance**: Publishing onchain ensures that your content cannot be easily altered or taken down by centralized entities, offering greater protection against censorship. 2. **Provenance and Authenticity**: Onchain publishing provides an indisputable record of ownership and creation date, which can be crucial for establishing credibility and authenticity. 3. **Interoperability**: Since the content is stored on blockchain, it can be easily integrated with other web3 services, leading to seamless cross-platform functionality. 4. **Decentralized Community and Ecosystem**: Being part of a decentralized network can attract a community that values transparency and open-source principles, potentially leading to more engaged readership. 5. **Long-term Accessibility**: Content stored on decentralized platforms like Arweave is designed to be permanent, reducing the risk of losing your work due to platform changes or shutdowns. Evaluation of the post overall: - **Clarity**: The post clearly outlines your current understanding and doubts, providing a good foundation for further exploration. - **Engagement**: It engages with Nick Grossman’s points but could benefit from deeper analysis or specific examples of how web3 could impact different types of authors/publishers. - **Balance**: There is a balanced view of both potential benefits and drawbacks, though it leans towards skepticism. - **Suggestions for improvement**: Including more concrete examples or case studies of successful web3 publishing could strengthen your argument. Additionally, addressing some technical aspects in simpler terms might help readers who are not as familiar with blockchain concepts.