Philosophical FoxesSeven Maxims
Here are the Seven Maxims of Philosophical Foxes. These are the values with which we chose to play, build, experiment, create, and tell stories together. They were created by our community.
Philosophical FoxesPhilosophical Foxes Year Two: Heads & Tales
gm foxes, Happy Anniversary! To celebrate the beginning of Year Two of the Philosophical Foxes project, we’re getting everyone a shiny new content engine for Narrative 01. This week, we will be launching the first of three stages for our new Heads & Tales content initiative. The goal of Heads & Tales will be to incentivize and direct our community as we collaboratively create our characters’ shared reality in a simple and asynchronous way. We will slowly and steadily be establishing lore, dis...
Philosophical FoxesIntroducing: Fox Bounties
Foxes, We are following a path of “progressive decentralization.” That term, coined by Jesse Walden, notes the practice of starting with a more centralized structure and slowly handing more and more power to the community over time. The benefits of this approach are that it allows a centralized group to move quickly at first, ensuring core infrastructure is robust and that a genuine community is being built. As maturation occurs, the project reaps the benefits of true decentralization. What d...
Philosophical Foxes are pixels with inner lives 💭🦊 www.philosophicalfoxes.com
Philosophical FoxesSeven Maxims
Here are the Seven Maxims of Philosophical Foxes. These are the values with which we chose to play, build, experiment, create, and tell stories together. They were created by our community.
Philosophical FoxesPhilosophical Foxes Year Two: Heads & Tales
gm foxes, Happy Anniversary! To celebrate the beginning of Year Two of the Philosophical Foxes project, we’re getting everyone a shiny new content engine for Narrative 01. This week, we will be launching the first of three stages for our new Heads & Tales content initiative. The goal of Heads & Tales will be to incentivize and direct our community as we collaboratively create our characters’ shared reality in a simple and asynchronous way. We will slowly and steadily be establishing lore, dis...
Philosophical FoxesIntroducing: Fox Bounties
Foxes, We are following a path of “progressive decentralization.” That term, coined by Jesse Walden, notes the practice of starting with a more centralized structure and slowly handing more and more power to the community over time. The benefits of this approach are that it allows a centralized group to move quickly at first, ensuring core infrastructure is robust and that a genuine community is being built. As maturation occurs, the project reaps the benefits of true decentralization. What d...
Philosophical Foxes are pixels with inner lives 💭🦊 www.philosophicalfoxes.com
Share Dialog
Share Dialog
Subscribe to Philosophical Foxes
Subscribe to Philosophical Foxes
<100 subscribers
<100 subscribers
Foxes,
My warmest greetings.
I am glad to share the first edition of what will become regular monthly updates on the progress of Philosophical Foxes.
Something I believe strongly is that there is great power in building in public. Not only does it increase accountability, but it also surfaces new ideas, and aligns a community. To that end, my goal is to make Philosophical Foxes the NFT project that builds in public most transparently and aggressively.
We will share the highs and lows and challenges of starting a community, membership, and narrative experiment from scratch. Expect lessons, bumps, iterations, and explorations along the way.
Civis vulpes sum!
🦊💭,
Since launching the full version of the project, a strong community has formed driven by a sincere desire to learn, explore, and tell stories together.
We created Maxims. We shipped our Seven Founding Maxims with the help of the community. We were particularly excited to land on such a thoughtful collection focused on creating true value and fostering a friendly, welcome environment. Cementing these values should help us move more effectively going forward. Read more
We hosted a hackathon. Over the weekend of March 25, we hosted a “Dreaming Hackathon,” designed to explore a new realm for the Foxes and give the community a chance to connect and express its creativity. It was community-led thanks to the help of Laguna, Lacuna, and Hinkie. It was genuinely amazing to see so many great ideas and stories come to life! Read more
We have a flag. We saw the creation of our first “remix,” the Foxes founding flag. Fourteen Foxes contributed to have the “profile” of their Fox represented. Over time, we will add new Foxes, up to a maximum. I found this extremely exciting because it was entirely led by the community and created a true “relic,” something tangible that has added to our lore. Huge credit to Laguna, Lacuna for spearheading, and to Voot Voot for being a key conversant. Read more
We raised money for Ukraine. All proceeds from the flag were donated to efforts aiding Ukraine. That came to 1.4 ETH, with the possibility of further donations as the flag grows. How cool!
We have been verified on OpenSea and Rarible. Excellent! Hopefully, it’s clearer than ever where new friends can join our skulk and diminishes the chance of further copycat projects.
Beyond these standout highs, there were innumerable other great moments and tangible improvements. We kept iterating on the structure and content of the Discord, played around with Nouns remixes, and came up with lots of new ideas.
Not everything was perfect, of course. To keep improving, we must be sober-minded about failings and missed opportunities. (Not all are true “misses” as much as unsolved problems.)
Some OG Fox holders were bummed by the drop. Philosophical Foxes began, explicitly, as an experiment. Through The Generalist, I had been learning about NFTs and thought it would be fun to experiment in creating a collection with real narrative depth. To bring that to life, we created 100 Foxes and 11 solo thoughts, going from start to finish in a week. I had doubts about what response the collection would receive and had no idea of where it would go. We had no community, no roadmap, and no promise of future development. As it happened, things went very well. The core premise resonated and the first drop sold out quickly. In the aftermath, Foxes sold for much higher prices beyond the mint. As I found myself increasingly excited about the potential for NFTs in general and Foxes in particular, we decided to expand the project and devote many more resources to it. We took $0 in profit but instead rolled it into building out the Fox world. My initial thought was that holders would find this exciting as Foxes would go from an experiment without a plan to a true project with a mission and vision. To offer an advantage, we invited existing holders to participate in a pre-sale. My big mistake was in failing to recognize that these OG holders – especially those that bought at high prices in the secondary markets – would likely see the implicit value of their Fox fall in the short term. (I remain convinced this is the best move for all holders in the long term.) That can be very painful and cause real anxiety. NFT holders are also used to being “rugged” (aka scammed) by projects and are reasonably sensitive to maneuvers that might look unfair. I should have realized this upfront, communicated the change better, and offered a more tangible reward to early holders. Though it was a minority that expressed concerns, these discussions created a slightly weird vibe in the early days of the Discord and deflated some momentum going into the full mint.
Lesson. Every new drop or addition to the collection has the potential to change incentives and valuations. Maximize potential for new value creation and minimize/subsidize any dislocated value. Over-communicate.
Action. I’ve personally spoken to anyone that raised this topic and explained the thinking in detail. We’re also working on a special drop that directly rewards Genesis holders for being a part of the first collection.
Room for improvement on enacting up-voted recommendations and responding to ad hoc suggestions
Here is what the team is currently focused on. We’d welcome any thoughts or help from you, the broader community.
Establishing the right legal structure. We need to decide on the safest, most efficient legal structure for Foxes that sets us up for the long term.
Establishing the right treasury structure. We need to decide on the best ways to allocate and grow the Fox Treasury. We want to do so while setting out on a path of progressive decentralization.
Selecting leaders to undertake key initiatives. We need to hire further technical support. We also want to appoint internal leaders to help drive forward key initiatives. These will be experimental to begin with.
Encouraging experimentation and ideation. We’re seeing some awesome early remixes coming to life. We think the number of additive remixes is a good KPI of a healthy NFT community. We’re keen to find more ways to make this happen without it feeling forced.
Exploring new models of value creation. What are the most impactful things we could do to increase the long-term value of the project? Is it hosting more events? Running reverse drops? Expanding the lore? Investing in merch? Experimenting with campaigns? Opening up IP even more explicitly? Creating a more granular Foxes marketplace? There are truly 1000s of ways to improve Foxes. I’d like to prioritize and try a few that align with our ethos.
To review the full roadmap, check out the Philosophical Foxes site and scroll towards the bottom. Of the remaining items, here’s the current status.
Secret reveal. Ideation phase is mostly finished. Looking for additional technical support to bring this to fruition. No target release yet.
Sacred garments (merch). We started working with a production company to produce our first collection. Target release of early fall.
The Somni. Ideation phase 50-75% complete. Looking for additional technical support to bring this to fruition. No target release yet.
Wild Foxes drop. Not a focus yet.
Solo thought drop. Not a focus yet.
Love poem drop. Not a focus yet.
Here are things we’re mulling over. Let us know your take!
Should Foxes be fully, explicitly CC0? Spiritually, this is in line with the project and feels like where we’re headed. Do others like this approach? When is the right time to outline this, explicitly?
Would the community be interested in taking part in treasury activities? We’re thinking about putting a portion of the full Fox earnings into a community treasury that could be allocated to new projects. (We’d keep enough aside to make sure we can finish the roadmap). Would this be fun? What would it unlock for us?
What other “relics” can we create together? The Foxes flag is a great example. It adds something meaningful to our community. It is tangible and adds to our lore. What other items could we make? Books? Comics? Animations?
Take a look at our beautiful Foxes, appearing across the internet.
https://twitter.com/LifeWithArjay/status/1506028547009232897
https://twitter.com/ChrisCoCreated/status/1500869370897129472
Share any favorites we might have missed!
Foxes,
My warmest greetings.
I am glad to share the first edition of what will become regular monthly updates on the progress of Philosophical Foxes.
Something I believe strongly is that there is great power in building in public. Not only does it increase accountability, but it also surfaces new ideas, and aligns a community. To that end, my goal is to make Philosophical Foxes the NFT project that builds in public most transparently and aggressively.
We will share the highs and lows and challenges of starting a community, membership, and narrative experiment from scratch. Expect lessons, bumps, iterations, and explorations along the way.
Civis vulpes sum!
🦊💭,
Since launching the full version of the project, a strong community has formed driven by a sincere desire to learn, explore, and tell stories together.
We created Maxims. We shipped our Seven Founding Maxims with the help of the community. We were particularly excited to land on such a thoughtful collection focused on creating true value and fostering a friendly, welcome environment. Cementing these values should help us move more effectively going forward. Read more
We hosted a hackathon. Over the weekend of March 25, we hosted a “Dreaming Hackathon,” designed to explore a new realm for the Foxes and give the community a chance to connect and express its creativity. It was community-led thanks to the help of Laguna, Lacuna, and Hinkie. It was genuinely amazing to see so many great ideas and stories come to life! Read more
We have a flag. We saw the creation of our first “remix,” the Foxes founding flag. Fourteen Foxes contributed to have the “profile” of their Fox represented. Over time, we will add new Foxes, up to a maximum. I found this extremely exciting because it was entirely led by the community and created a true “relic,” something tangible that has added to our lore. Huge credit to Laguna, Lacuna for spearheading, and to Voot Voot for being a key conversant. Read more
We raised money for Ukraine. All proceeds from the flag were donated to efforts aiding Ukraine. That came to 1.4 ETH, with the possibility of further donations as the flag grows. How cool!
We have been verified on OpenSea and Rarible. Excellent! Hopefully, it’s clearer than ever where new friends can join our skulk and diminishes the chance of further copycat projects.
Beyond these standout highs, there were innumerable other great moments and tangible improvements. We kept iterating on the structure and content of the Discord, played around with Nouns remixes, and came up with lots of new ideas.
Not everything was perfect, of course. To keep improving, we must be sober-minded about failings and missed opportunities. (Not all are true “misses” as much as unsolved problems.)
Some OG Fox holders were bummed by the drop. Philosophical Foxes began, explicitly, as an experiment. Through The Generalist, I had been learning about NFTs and thought it would be fun to experiment in creating a collection with real narrative depth. To bring that to life, we created 100 Foxes and 11 solo thoughts, going from start to finish in a week. I had doubts about what response the collection would receive and had no idea of where it would go. We had no community, no roadmap, and no promise of future development. As it happened, things went very well. The core premise resonated and the first drop sold out quickly. In the aftermath, Foxes sold for much higher prices beyond the mint. As I found myself increasingly excited about the potential for NFTs in general and Foxes in particular, we decided to expand the project and devote many more resources to it. We took $0 in profit but instead rolled it into building out the Fox world. My initial thought was that holders would find this exciting as Foxes would go from an experiment without a plan to a true project with a mission and vision. To offer an advantage, we invited existing holders to participate in a pre-sale. My big mistake was in failing to recognize that these OG holders – especially those that bought at high prices in the secondary markets – would likely see the implicit value of their Fox fall in the short term. (I remain convinced this is the best move for all holders in the long term.) That can be very painful and cause real anxiety. NFT holders are also used to being “rugged” (aka scammed) by projects and are reasonably sensitive to maneuvers that might look unfair. I should have realized this upfront, communicated the change better, and offered a more tangible reward to early holders. Though it was a minority that expressed concerns, these discussions created a slightly weird vibe in the early days of the Discord and deflated some momentum going into the full mint.
Lesson. Every new drop or addition to the collection has the potential to change incentives and valuations. Maximize potential for new value creation and minimize/subsidize any dislocated value. Over-communicate.
Action. I’ve personally spoken to anyone that raised this topic and explained the thinking in detail. We’re also working on a special drop that directly rewards Genesis holders for being a part of the first collection.
Room for improvement on enacting up-voted recommendations and responding to ad hoc suggestions
Here is what the team is currently focused on. We’d welcome any thoughts or help from you, the broader community.
Establishing the right legal structure. We need to decide on the safest, most efficient legal structure for Foxes that sets us up for the long term.
Establishing the right treasury structure. We need to decide on the best ways to allocate and grow the Fox Treasury. We want to do so while setting out on a path of progressive decentralization.
Selecting leaders to undertake key initiatives. We need to hire further technical support. We also want to appoint internal leaders to help drive forward key initiatives. These will be experimental to begin with.
Encouraging experimentation and ideation. We’re seeing some awesome early remixes coming to life. We think the number of additive remixes is a good KPI of a healthy NFT community. We’re keen to find more ways to make this happen without it feeling forced.
Exploring new models of value creation. What are the most impactful things we could do to increase the long-term value of the project? Is it hosting more events? Running reverse drops? Expanding the lore? Investing in merch? Experimenting with campaigns? Opening up IP even more explicitly? Creating a more granular Foxes marketplace? There are truly 1000s of ways to improve Foxes. I’d like to prioritize and try a few that align with our ethos.
To review the full roadmap, check out the Philosophical Foxes site and scroll towards the bottom. Of the remaining items, here’s the current status.
Secret reveal. Ideation phase is mostly finished. Looking for additional technical support to bring this to fruition. No target release yet.
Sacred garments (merch). We started working with a production company to produce our first collection. Target release of early fall.
The Somni. Ideation phase 50-75% complete. Looking for additional technical support to bring this to fruition. No target release yet.
Wild Foxes drop. Not a focus yet.
Solo thought drop. Not a focus yet.
Love poem drop. Not a focus yet.
Here are things we’re mulling over. Let us know your take!
Should Foxes be fully, explicitly CC0? Spiritually, this is in line with the project and feels like where we’re headed. Do others like this approach? When is the right time to outline this, explicitly?
Would the community be interested in taking part in treasury activities? We’re thinking about putting a portion of the full Fox earnings into a community treasury that could be allocated to new projects. (We’d keep enough aside to make sure we can finish the roadmap). Would this be fun? What would it unlock for us?
What other “relics” can we create together? The Foxes flag is a great example. It adds something meaningful to our community. It is tangible and adds to our lore. What other items could we make? Books? Comics? Animations?
Take a look at our beautiful Foxes, appearing across the internet.
https://twitter.com/LifeWithArjay/status/1506028547009232897
https://twitter.com/ChrisCoCreated/status/1500869370897129472
Share any favorites we might have missed!
Action. Clarify roles internally around moderation.
Finding the right legal structure. As things stand, Philosophical Foxes isn’t governed by a traditional legal structure. That’s true of many (most?) DAOs and NFT projects but isn’t an optimal state of affairs, particularly as we begin on a path of progressive decentralization. This is something we need to figure out and will be a priority over the next 1-2 months.
Action. I’m speaking with a few crypto legal experts to figure this out. Stay tuned.
Action. Clarify roles internally around moderation.
Finding the right legal structure. As things stand, Philosophical Foxes isn’t governed by a traditional legal structure. That’s true of many (most?) DAOs and NFT projects but isn’t an optimal state of affairs, particularly as we begin on a path of progressive decentralization. This is something we need to figure out and will be a priority over the next 1-2 months.
Action. I’m speaking with a few crypto legal experts to figure this out. Stay tuned.
No activity yet