Galazio
Quick background
When I joined Warpcast I had a high level understanding of some web3 concepts, had never purchased crypto, did not have a crypto wallet, and had never used a web3 app.
Onboarding
I joined Warpcast just under a month ago.
After setting up my account, I followed ~50 suggested people so conversations would populate in my feed. Right away I noticed that the content was very technical and developer-focused. It felt akin to a language immersion experience for me - a lot of new vocabulary. Many of the discussion threads referenced apps and technologies I had never heard of. There were also a lot of references to kiwis! 🥝
Two things stood out to me:
1. How welcoming people were to new users. The welcome messages posted on my first cast made a big difference in my feeling of belonging and were the main factor in me casting again.
2. The collective energy around creating in web3.
It was overwhelming and exciting at the same time.
That week I used my newly created Coinbase Wallet to mint my first NFT - my ticket to FarCon.
I was very intimidated by the possibility of being the only non-developer in the room at the conference, so I did what I always do when nervous - I studied.
What better place to learn about web3 than a platform of builders who were passionate about it?
I read as much as I could on Warpcast, googling terms I didn’t understand. That week I kept coming back to the app to discover new topics to research. My Warpcast feed was a great place to learn about applications being developed on the Farcaster protocol or with Farcaster integration. As someone who loves to write, I was particularly excited to learn about Paragraph.
I also tried casting each day, sharing photos and notes on the things that resonated with me most in daily life (often gardening and food).
FarCon
One week after joining Warpcast, I was in Cambridge in real life with many of the people I followed. The conference location on MIT campus looked like a cozy cafe with kiwis arranged on each table.
“What are you building?” was a frequent conversation starter.
The talks were dazzling and presented with such clarity that I could follow the main ideas with my limited technical knowledge. The range of topics (fashion, law, storytelling, DAOs, and more) gave me a glimpse into the breadth of work being done with this technology.
It felt energizing to gather together for conversations at the beginning of something. As someone who loves to learn the human stories behind technological innovation, FarCon was truly a highlight to my onboarding experience. To quote @adrienne's talk, it made me wonder how I might engage in this "Scenius" as a participant and a contributor (something I'm still thinking about).
I came away with a greater appreciation for the technology and intrepidness of those building with it. Most of all, I left with gratitude to have met such a warm, welcoming, and creative group of people!
Going forward
“Could you explain that?”
“Thank you for correcting me.”
“Why?”
I notice a consistently high ratio of questions to statements on my feed - curiosity permeates the conversations I see on Warpcast. This lends itself not only to illuminating discussion threads but also a culture of kindness that makes me excited to open the app every day.
In a market filled with cynicism, the open-mindedness of Farcaster culture stands out to me: creatives supporting creatives, hyping up their ideas, brainstorming together, and providing direct constructive feedback for quick iteration.
It’s this culture that helps me with overcoming my hesitation and cast each day.
I’m still learning. I'm excited to continue casting, trying new apps on the protocol, and seeing how this space evolves.
Hi! Ok so I am on this bc my boyfriend invited me; I don’t really know anything about web3 and what’s being built here. Where to start?
Hi!! Welcome 🤗 You’re in good company. I think @serendipity @galazio and @subtlerebel.eth all joined without knowing too much about web3. How’s your experience here so far?
It’s been great to be a fly on the wall, and I’m slowly picking up some of the jargon - I like that this feels like a space of humans, and not bots, who genuinely converse here
One of my personal goals is to help convert flys-on-the-wall to butterflies-in-the-garden 🦋 Web3 brought a lot of people here initially but it’s so much more than that, and people love when you share non web3 topics. What are you up to today? I have a busy work day and looking forward to the weekend !
Are you interested in learning about web3? If so, we can share some links to articles, podcasts, etc that are good for people just starting the journey
@hnnhstphnz and I have met during an nyc farcaster hang out! I’m still working on balancing my free time btw celebratory social season IRL and being active on farcaster. I feel like I’m being pulled in a million directions in November (in a good way) and there’s not enough time in the day 🥲
All too relatable 😮💨
Hi Hannah! I started using Warpcast this year knowing very little of web3 (I'm still learning everyday). A while back I actually wrote a reflection on what it was like onboarding to Farcaster as a non-technical person :) Sharing here in case it's helpful: https://paragraph.xyz/@galazio/onboarding-to-farcaster
So many kiwis, and it’s not about New Zealanders 🥝😅
Hi @galazio ! This is super random, but since you’re also a newbie (sorta)… any ideas on where the best resources for understanding the Degen drops? Tbh I am such a Luddite when it comes to this and I’ll get comments with degen tips and idk what to do with it 😅
Thank you for tagging me in the resource on the other thread! I’m still such a beginner so it’s very helpful! :)
I am also here because of my boyfriend inviting (read: forcing) me 🤪 I am still learning how to contribute and engage - but it is really a cool space to do so as quickly or slowly as you wish to explore :)
I’m glad he did 😉
Wrote some thoughts over the weekend about onboarding to Farcaster. Grateful to be here and learning a lot 🌱 https://paragraph.xyz/@galazio/onboarding-to-farcaster
Awesome post! Please let me know if you have any feedback on Paragraph :)
Thank you for reading! Really enjoyed using Paragraph and am excited to publish more! The tutorial post was very helpful :)
Awesome, glad to hear!
When I try to engage with the comments (casts) on mobile web, I get taken to Discove web – is this intentional? Was hoping it would open Warpcast app (or work natively!)
@colin
Good feedback! Just pushed a change to use warpcast.com instead
I love this! “It felt akin to a language immersion experience for me - a lot of new vocabulary. Many of the discussion threads referenced apps and technologies I had never heard of. There were also a lot of references to kiwis! 🥝” Amazing that your interactions here are what drove you to set up a wallet! WOW!
Thank you so much for reading! :) Still learning so much through my interactions here!
What a beautiful post. Loved reading your onboarding story. Subscribed! I agree about the culture of kindness and creatives-supporting-creatives atmosphere here. Excited to have you here amidst this burgeoning scenius. Please keep writing and publishing!
Thank you so much for the encouragement @danicaswanson ❤️ Posting my writing was way out of my comfort zone
Grateful that you ventured out of that comfort zone! In my mind you've already contributed something valuable to the FC scenius by posting this. Looking forward to following what's next on your journey.
Between this and @danicaswanson ‘s post yesterday I’m feeling all the good things ✨✨🥰🥰
I’m feeling the scenius!
Feel it 💫 One thing I love about farcaster as a scenius is how geographically dispersed everyone is. Many scenes of the past had a physical center of gravity.
🥲 Thanks for writing this up and so glad to hear you had a good time at @farcon
Thank you for reading! Cannot say enough good things about FarCon :) It really was a fantastic intro to so many ongoing web3 projects
🫡🫡🫡
This was great, what drew you to FC in the first place? Despite being a non-tech I share the feeling of enjoying opening this app. It is hard to put a finger on it, but it feels like it's a learning rich environment, vs just 'entertainment' typical of social media.
Thank you for reading! My partner @rish invited me and encouraged me to try casting :) Definitely agree about it being a learning rich environment - it’s a lot of fun to see everything that is being built and the art people are creating with these new technologies!
I love your content!
Thank you so much it means a lot to me! ❤️