The starting place is for me, and in turn you, to work out a few things. And for me that starts by asking questions of my self. What am I looking for in a community? What do I want from a community? What needs does a community meet for me that I am unable to meet without a community? Do I have a want or a need to add value to a community? What does that look like, if I do?

They are open questions that take a little soul searching to answer. You should not be answering this from someone else's perspective, you won't get the answers you need unless you look at this from your perspective. An advantage of asking yourself difficult questions regarding community, is that it can help you ask other difficult questions about the things you want to spend your time doing.

Something else I believe everyone should ask of themselves, what do you mean by your community? Do you mean the community you partake in? The community you lead, or the community you take a leadership role in? The people who buy your products or services? I've always been keen to refer to any community I am in, as our community. I don't own it, a community shouldn't serve the needs or wants of one individual, not in my opinion. It should serve to better all the people within it.

Dave Swinbank

@Davc_s

We seem to have made a conscious choice to want to monetise community

Traditionally, community has been built by making people feel valued & wanted, and allowing them to be part of something bigger than themselves

I may explore this further in this weeks blog

24

20:31 • 7 Aug 2024

The world seems to have made a conscious effort to monetize community. I understand this to a point. It costs money to run things, including communities. One of the key reasons that I think humans need community is to be part of some thing bigger than ourselves. To contribute to a bigger picture. To do that, I think people need to feel valued and wanted.

A lot of religions were able to supply both aspects of this for a long time, and some still do a very good job of it. There are some key reasons for this, and I don't believe fear is one of those reasons for almost all people with faith in a God, or in multiple Gods. It's the want to be part of something bigger. And it's not necessarily God that helps these individuals, but those feelings of being wanted, valued and being able to contribute to a bigger picture.

Traditionally religions achieve the bigger picture aspect by offering community gatherings. The opportunity to congregate weekly with your peers. To celebrate successes together, to commiserate and mourn together, to work together on projects and initiatives for the community you live in. To help and support your peers, emotionally and with physical tasks.

Now we all know some religions have amassed a huge amount of wealth, and that a lot of religions encourage donations to help operational costs. And they are not alone. From membership fees for workers unions to an annual fee for your local sports club, or gym (gyms can be a community if we want them to be, but they are definitely a business first). It costs money for premises to host events, for organisation of membership and whole host of other things.

Does that make it right? I suppose the answer to that lies within where we individually find value. Do we always attribute value financially? Or do we find value in other things? Does the monetisation align with the community's declared values? I can only answer for me and I am not overtly driven by money. I am lucky to be in a position where I have a stable job that covers my living costs. I am aware of the need for money to live, but it's not money that makes me want to get out of bed everyday.

Essentially, I am not driven by money beyond the need to survive. I think I am driven by being able to serve. To do what I can to add value to others, from helping them achieve their dreams (I want to help the people I interact with be the version of themselves they say they want to be) to adding smiles to peoples days where I can, including me. I want to be part of communities that value that as more than a drive for profit.

So is monetising community good or bad? I think the answer is both, or it depends, or it starts off as good but turns bad. Humans are fallible, the best intentions often end up with outcomes that were not considered, and greed and power very often creep in. There are some things communities can do to attempt to mitigate this, good business practices, budgeting, having open ethics/values, and open and transparent accounts for their members.

I think humans have an inherent need for community. To be with like minded people, to enjoy the passion of people that think similarly and to be able to express that passion in a place where it is reciprocated. That feeling of being included, or supported, or helped, or maybe even just heard is a feeling that feels good. So much so that a lot of people chase it.

I jumped into a conversation with Chat GPT about why humans value community. It created a relatively long list with a reasonable amount of cross over. Things Chat GPT mentioned that I missed were collaboration and cooperation, I skirted round those, the same with cultural and social continuity. Everything else I touched upon, or went into in a little detail. I then asked for a summary from that list and I think it covers some key points.

"Humans value community for connection, support, shared purpose, and growth. These elements foster belonging and collaboration, creating strong, resilient communities." - Chat GPT on why humans value community.

One of the conclusions I have come to is that communities probably do need to be monetised, as much as I wished otherwise. This is because there is a limited amount of things any person or community can do without any financial resources. It doesn't matter how much anyone wishes otherwise. Things cost money, revenue needs to be driven and people really should be rewarded for their time.

Can you do it ethically? I hope so. It's still the big dream. To build a community enterprise that is ran for the community, by the community. Something to help creatives and entrepreneurs maximise their chances of success. To find help them find the products, services and tools they need in an accessible, affordable (where possible) and transparent manner.

I managed to stay mostly on topic for this issue, that rarely happens! This is only one tiny aspect of community. I didn't find the room to discuss community members wanting to be rewarded for partaking in a community. Or the difference between community, customers and users. Or even that communities are changing. Digital community is a big part of a lot of peoples life, for good or bad. Maybe next time. Maybe!

I still have some things to figure out, isn't it always the case. However, I accept it for what it is! Before that though, there is the Web3 Leaders Summit on 22nd August and then our 2024 FCancer event from 02nd-8th September. It would be great to see you at both of those events.

Todays issue is on Base, no charge other than the platform fee (0.000777ETH). Grab the picture (seen above), it's one of only 10 collectible copies.

I always appreciate your time, thank you. And if there's one thing I want you to take from today's issue. It's what do you expect and want from the communities you are in. How do you add value to those communities, what should it cost and what should your reward be? If any.

A small note, the more astute of you will notice I have skipped an issue. I will get to that later!

Voice Notes Suck has been an amazing experience, I don't have another way to say it. From ideation to delivery, and the entire of Series 1 being released, I've really enjoyed it. The less enjoyable parts haven't felt like a chore, like they often do. And one of the best things has been being able to celebrate 'small' milestones. The experience of getting to 100 listens and 100 followers on X has been exciting. And there's plenty more coming that we will be able to celebrate.

Those celebrations are a great reminder of what can happen if we can reduce our expectations around our creative output. Especially if it's a new format and/or platform. Jay and I had some clear goals with what we wanted to deliver, but we kept reminding ourselves that meeting those goals wasn't about numbers or reach. It was about having fun and delivering the content that we want to deliver.

We genuinely believe we have found a unique format, and all of the feedback we have had so far confirms this. We want our podcast to be engaging, ask questions about topics that are relevant to creators and the digital community, to offer opinions without insisting they are facts and to encourage our listeners to explore the topics we discuss further. You know there's a link below. A follow on Spotify and a review would help us, add some smiles and increase the numbers I will share further down.

https://spotify.com

Voice Notes Suck

Listen to Voice Notes Suck on Spotify. Voice Notes Suck offers a fresh take on creator community topics with Jay and Dave. Tired of stale discussions? Our voice note format captures the raw, spontaneous essence of our conversations. Dive into the pros, cons, and unexpected insights of each subject.

Apart from it being an amazing experience, celebration and some self promo for the upcoming YouTube launch, I want to talk about some of the lessons I've learnt, or had reinforced. I touched on expectations, regular readers will know I dip in and out of this topic a lot. That's because they have had a huge impact on how I feel about me. Because losing those expectations, or managing them a lot better, has helped me so much, I want to share that experience.

I want to simplify this by using some numbers, and I understand this isn't always easy, especially when the creative industry is your full time gig. However, take listens as the example. If we had expected 1,000 listens of Series 1, and we could have done based on several factors, both Jay and I would be feeling disappointed and likely disillusioned. That could potentially lead to anger, resentment and bitterness. That demotivates both of us and takes the enjoyment of the process away.

As it was, we didn't do that. we went in expecting 0 listens. And with the mindset that no brand new podcast, with brand new podcast hosts, and no new formats hit instant overnight success. We are aware that we will need to build our audience. Building audiences takes time, effort and likely some money at some point. Oh, and a little goodwill from any existing audiences.

!CE-T

@_iCE_T

I've started listening to the podcast a few days ago and I really enjoy it! Whenever I have some spare time I listen to a few minutes/episodes and I like how you guys delve into the details and explore controversial aspects of these different themes such a great vibe

4

23:51 • 27 Jul 2024

I'm a stats man (and I hope some 80's/90's kids involuntarily made some noises, out loud or in their head, it doesn't matter!), so I wanted to share some of the Voice Notes Suck stats so far. As of 28th July 2024 we have 8 Episodes, 176 Listens, 37 Spotify Followers, 18 Five Star Reviews, Listens from 13 Countries, 1,147 Spotify Impressions, 194 X Followers and 5 YouTube Subscribers (Series 1 soon).

Coming back to expectations, briefly I promise, these stats make me smile every time I look at them, primarily because I tempered my expectations. I am excited that the numbers are what they are. That we are having some impact, our podcast is enjoyable, our friends want to support us and this way it will remain fun. I've upskilled regarding AI, project management, organisation and planning whilst doing this too, although that can always get better.

YouTube. The main reason, because we can. There is a little hope that maybe one day AI can animate our conversations, but that is not down to either Jay or myself. For now, Jay has added waveform audio to provide some visual imagery. YouTube provides access to a different audience, the other game changer is it provides captions, or subtitles.

The Premiere of Episode 1, Pilot, is on Tuesday. I've even included a link below for you to click on and Subscribe!

I will save FCancer 24 for my next blog, before then I will be helping to host the Web3 Leader Summit on August 22nd. The latest event but together by Creative Owls and hosted in Spatial. Some amazing people are involved and I am grateful to be working with them. It will be streamed to multiple other platforms and all the information is available on Creative's website. Every one of these events feels like a level up. You really should attend if you can.

This is the first event of a rebranded community called Building The Future. You can find a community on X and there are plenty of people that I know and respect involved in this, including myself. I'm pretty certain what we've started with Polygon Alliance will be a part of this in some form or another. There are a lot of shared values.

As humanity goes more and more digital, and I believe there is still a lot of rom to go digital, more and more things happen digitally. Conferences, Seminars, Networking Events, Trade Fairs, call them what you will, but there is a need and want for this kind of digital event. My gratefulness extends to being at the forefront of this in the Web3 industry.

You can get tickets here, see the schedule and check out the sponsorship opportunities.

A small blog update. I will be sending an NFT to all the wallets I have on record when I get to 400 subscribers. I know I have been hovering close for a while. I don't really want to overly promote this blog for a couple of reasons. Mainly because it's a personal blog and not a newsletter or alpha call etc. And I don't want others to build expectations that won't be met. I want to add value for my readers and continue to enjoy the writing experience.

I think everyone should write, they don't have to splurge and spread it all over the internet like I do, but I still think it's important. It's a way to process, hold yourself accountable, explore thoughts and express feelings. I've been a little inconsistent, and I now have reminders to ensure these stay consistent moving forward.

That brings me to Issue 73. It will be released this week, but I shall not spam you with another email. It will be available to read on Paragraph and I will maybe share the link on socials, maybe. It's about expectations and the Euros, how mindset matters. It may need a tiny rewrite! I still have back issues that were on Revue to update. Something I want to do, but not sure when.

And then there's my photography that was on Revel. I will be using some of them as collectable images for my blogs. I want to see them go to good use, I really like some of those shots, and now Revel is no more, this is where I am at.

https://devon-scenery.uncut.network

Where Two Rivers Meet The Ocean

Photo taken on Instow Beach on 06th June 2024. Where the Rivers Tor and Torridge converge before they meet the Ocean in between the Northam Burrows and Crow Point.

Separate to that, and before I go. New photo's I want on chain as collectibles are being uploaded to Uncut. There are 2 copies of my latest photo available, I know the next photo I am releasing there. Any holder of the collection could win a copy for free, as 5 copies of every release are given away.

You will have to click the collect button below to see the collectible image for todays blog, it is an image that has been on Revel previously.

Thank you for reading all about me. Sometimes it's good to be a little selfish. If this came across really pitchy, that's because it kind of is! I hope you got more out of it than that though (I certainly did), thanks for reading. Until next time.

This is not financial advice, but rather my insights, opinions, and thoughts on the industry I choose to spend my time in.

This is such a broad subject, but I guess we need to start somewhere. I am choosing the why. Why is this industry of crypto, NFT's and emerging technology so speculative?

What are the reasons behind this speculative nature? There are many, and I will inevitably miss some. Feel free to share your thoughts on this and let me know what I missed. One of the ways I learn is through discussion and development of ideas.

This market is Highly Volatile. There is a perceived and actual Lack of Clear and Defined Regulation. Prices are nearly always driven by Market Sentiment. Uncertainty exists regarding regulation and adoption. Short term strategies or Speculative Investments tend to be the preferred strategy for many users. The speed of Technological Developments. There is a Lack of Intrinsic Value, in comparison to more stable investments.

These 7 factors are not the only reasons the crypto space is such a speculative space, but they offer the foundations we need in terms of understanding that speculation. At least from my perspective.

Reasons for Crypto/NFT's being a Speculative industry

• Lack of Clear & Defined Regulation

• Market Sentiment

• Uncertainty

• Speculative Investments

• Technological Developments

• Questions about Intrinsic Value

• Volatility

The obvious question is why? Why do those things specifically encourage speculation? The aim is to try and explain that a little. A lot of these reasons are interlinked and compound each other. And like I said above, this is by no means an exhaustive list of reasons.

Lack of Clear & Defined Regulation - Although some regulation exists, and more regulations are due, there is still a lack of clarity. This leads to market manipulation and fraud, with little protection for investors.

Market Sentiment - Social Media seems to dictate crypto markets at times. Positive or Negative news can have a drastic impact on a tokens price, driving further unpredictability.

Uncertainty - From the day-to-day uncertainty of project longevity to the the long term future of the space due to regulations, technological advancements and market adoption, we never know what's round the corner.

Speculative Investments - Many seek quick wins rather than looking for long term investments. While this speculation can drive short term prices up, it often leads to a sorter life cycle for the investment and a drop to zero.

Technological Developments - Crypto Currencies and Blockchain Technology are new and still being explored. Investors often take higher risks in hopes of finding big wins.

Questions about Intrinsic Value - In other markets investors something to represent an investment, for example property investors have a house, stock investors receive stocks which represent ownership in a company. Crypto Currency's are generally worth what the market is willing to pay.

Volatility - Fluctuations in prices often happen quickly and wildly. Bitcoin and Ethereum are more stable than meme coins, but they still experience significant volatility compared to traditional markets.

Additional factors like 24/7 trading, low liquidity (in comparison to traditional markets), no annual reports, a lack of transparency, herd behaviours and macro economic factors such as interest rate changes create a hotbed of volatility and instability. The lack of reputability information for projects and tokens makes weighing the risks of long-term investment incredibly challenging, which in turn encourages short-term investments.

There are issues everywhere when it comes to encouraging stability in the Crypto market.

There is the hope that regulation will bring more stability to the market. I think it likely will, over time. Regulation adds trust to big financial players and every day consumers. This leads to further stability because it validates the Crypto market and increases the money invested here. Higher trading volumes mean that prices are impacted less by large trades. It won't stabalise the markets, but it will reduce the volatility.

The emerging technology we deal with means that markets won't truly stabalise until we better understand the technologies and their impact. It's almost like we are still in a proof of concept stage regarding blockchain technology, with benefits and risks yet to be fully worked out. Understanding the impact of regulation, identifying who the leading companies/projects are, and seeing what AI does to all markets will eventually lead to less speculation and, in turn, less volatility.

Not only do all of these things have an impact on market sentiment and therefore the speculative nature of the markets, a lot of them interlink and many of them compound each other. For example, negative sentiment regarding a regulation announcement could drive investors to sell. Speculative sellers would drive further selling across the market, leading to a potential larger drop in prices, creating social media responses, encouraging more selling. And the issue compounds.

Meme coins are arguable the most volatile of all the things in crypto (maybe PfP's come close), I think it is worth reading Vitalik Buterin's article on them here. I found it insightful, informative and a little provocative.

I have spoken a lot about why I think the Crypto Currency market is speculative, but I think it extends beyond that. I feel that many creators are speculating with their time and effort in the hope of making an income. Many more are trying to create their dream utilising the technological opportunities that exist. The new and exciting nature of the technology sector drives the potential and speculation of our time, effort and money.

This isn't inherently good or a bad - it simply is. We shape our own experiences in this market. There are some behaviours driven by speculative markets that are unpalatable to say the least and that's before you get to outright market manipulation. There is also an incredible amount of opportunity for individuals in terms of investment success. As well as genuine creative freedom for a number of people.

For me, financial freedom and an opportunity to create and own your own dream are possible because of the speculative nature of our industry. Without the exploration of this technology and excitement about its possibilities and potential, I wouldn't have met any of you, or had the incredible opportunities I have had since being in this industry.

I enjoy diving into these topics and thinking about them in more detail. As I said above it, helps me develop me thoughts and understanding of a subject. Looking at how the speculative nature drives a lot of the things I like about the industry as well as a lot of the things I don't like caused me a little consternation writing this. But, it's what we make of it!

I am still enjoying all of the work that is going into Voice Notes Suck. I spoke about how AI has helped with some of our output and while you can get it to help write your posts for X, it won't schedule them yet! Jay and I are recording Series 2 as you read this, more information about that coming soon. What I can tell you is that the last episode of Series 1 will be released on 23rd July and there will be a break before Series 2 is released.

Last and by no means least is FCancer 2024. Preparations are well under way. We have nearly finalised the events that will happen between 02nd - 08th September. There will be an art auction, a generative collection, a raffle, X Spaces to promote the event and more ways to get involved. We have nearly finalised sponsorship information, the Polygon Alliance website should be updated this week and the open call for the art auction has opened on Hug.

It's all rather exciting, I am looking forward to everything, including the hard work. Keep your eyes peeled for more information!

I think I need to get another picture or two on Uncut, maybe even sort out a schedule of releases. There always seems to be things to be doing. Many, many things to be doing, most of it is fun to be fair! Today's collectible image is part of todays cover image, it's on Base again and costs platform fees only.

Thank you for reading this issue, I always appreciate your time. I will be back with another issue on the 08th July. Until then, look for the smiles.

Series (Season) 1 is recorded and scheduled for release. Episode 1 is already out. You can currently find us on Audible and Spotify.

So what is Voice Notes Suck? Other than a podcast, it's an idea that Jay and I had in mid April. We regularly communicate by voice notes as colleagues and friends. They offer a different way of communicating verbally, and we feel that they can offer value as a podcast. We want to explore different topics and share our insights and thoughts regarding those topics.

Why Voice Notes suck? We know not everyone enjoys voice notes, some people are really against them. I was a long time ago, they used to annoy me a lot. I know they still annoy my dad. Enough for him to ask me to stop sending them! There are a few reasons for the name, but the main one is for fun. This name stuck during one of our many voice note conversations.

We could not have got this far, this quick without AI. We have used it to help us in a lot of ways, and I will dive into that a little, however we have not used it for any of our recorded voice notes. From an idea in mid April to 8 episodes recorded and scheduled in less than 5 weeks. We recorded our first voice note on 23rd April 2024, our 1st episode was released on 04th June 2024, and scheduled in May.

Voice Notes Suck offers a fresh take on creator community topics with Jay and Dave. Tired of stale discussions? Our voice note format captures the raw, spontaneous essence of our conversations. Dive into the pros, cons, and unexpected insights of each subject. Join us for a fun, unfiltered chat that’s anything but ordinary!

AI has been instrumental in our journey, assisting with art, documentation, promotional material, episode descriptions, and audio enhancement. While AI helps streamline these tasks, we’ve personalised and refined the content to ensure quality. Jay dealt with all of the art side of prompting and used mainly DALLE-3 via Chat GPT. I Used Chat GPT to help me with the documentation. From a launch checklist to a brand style document and more.

Using AI to help generate promotional material has saved a huge amount of time. I spent time refining my prompt for this on Chat GPT. And this needs to be done to get the response, or content, that you are looking for. You need to be clear with what you want. The type of posts you are trying to create, the emoji's you want to include, the hashtags wanted, the tone you would like and any other specific requirements. And then you need to make sure it's following your rules by double checking the content it's creating.

Jay has created stunning artwork using DALLE-3 via Chat GPT. He shares tips on his Patreon, such as how to fine-tune AI-generated images for versatile use on social media. He doesn't just leave the imagery to AI, he adapts it and makes sure that it can be used in different places with ease. This will be important as we build out the social media accounts and maybe one day a website too.

There is no way we could have gone from idea to full launch in 6 weeks without the assistance available from various AI tools and we both feel it is important to recognise this.

We both want this podcast to reflect the genuine nature of our day to day voice notes and we have implemented a few rules to help with that. We discuss them, along with some other things in Episode 1 - An Intro, to set the scene for our first series about The Digital Community. We hope this gives anyone new to us, a reasonable introduction into our podcast, if not ourselves.

The first rule, and arguably the most important rule is that we are not allowed to re-record voice notes. Once a voice note is sent, that's it. This has made recording them interesting, it means we have to be considered in our responses, aware of the time (because we want to keep our episode lengths to 20-25 mins) and to be concise due to arguably our second most important rule.

Our voice notes cannot be longer than 90 seconds, or that's the maximum talk time we are allowed in one go. Jay wanted this to be shorter! I think 90 seconds is a good compromise. It allows time for a response with an explanation and to keep the conversation moving without it turning into a monologue. There are a couple of other small rules, but those are the main ones, and the ones worth mentioning.

I hope you enjoy listening to Voice Notes Suck as much as we've enjoyed making it. You can listen to the first episode below. Don't forget to subscribe and share your thoughts with us.

https://podcasters.spotify.com

Episode 1 - An Intro - Series 1 by Voice Notes Suck

Episode 1: An Intro - Series 1 In the inaugural episode of "Voice Notes Suck," hosts Jay and Dave introduce listeners to their podcast, offering a glimpse into their unique approach to discussing topics relevant to the creator community.

I've played with Revel and I liked it. I really did. I still do, to a point. I don't like some of the recent changes and that has made me look at other platforms for me to share my photography on. Revel allows people to play and experiment. To meet new people and to gamify releases. There is an opportunity to drive some revenue to your brand as well. That was never my goal, my goal was to explore a new platform and share my photos.

I would recommend having a look, if nothing else - here's my referral link. I've made some new friends on Revel and reconnected with some old friends too. I expect Revel will make more changes to their ecosystem. When they do, I will be back again to try it out. There is a lot of potential and I think everyone needs a little patience. They have shown they have an economy, now they need to make it function.

One of the platforms I have found is Uncut. It takes a moment to create a profile and there is a simple and easy to follow tutorial to help you understand the platform. You get rewarded in the platforms currency (ArtX) when you return daily, and for completing tasks. This allows you to buy art, or create collections & collectibles, as well as voting for art of the day. My first photo was sold out, or fully collected.

Uncut don't have a referral program yet but here is the link to my page. I am sure they will work out a referral link at some point, and I am definitely going to suggest it to them soon if I don't see it. I have a couple of photo's that I have minted so far, and there will be more. I was able to reward my first 5 collectors with an airdrop from my second mint, which you can see above.

I am going to continue airdropping photo's moving forward, but there will only be 5 airdropped collectibles from every new release. These airdrops will be chosen at random from my previous collectors on Uncut. I think this is a nice way to incentivise and reward my collectors on this platform and I hope my collectors agree.

I have far more happening than I realise. In the last week I have been busy helping with the final plans for our 2024 FCancer event, to be hosted in the first week of September. Chris and I have been working on CryptoGoonz, the story, some other unfinished bits and how we can be more active for our holders. We have plans, but we are in no hurry to get there. CrypotGoonz is a passion project that has already delivered far more than was ever promised.

This weeks collectible image is the photo above and is part of the cover image too. It is on Base. You can collect it for whatever the platform fee is, and there are only 10 copies available.

I wonder how many typo's there are today, I always edit my blog's, read them at least twice, often run them through Chat GPT for feedback and still make too many mistakes! Thank you for reading my latest issue, I appreciate your time greatly.

I'm going to start with Spaces, Polygon Alliance & FCancer, Goonz (maybe explain #GoonzNotGoons) and then finish with something I have coming in a week or so!

Spaces is a good place to start. I really enjoy Twitter/X Spaces, especially the open-floor variety. For many reasons, not just to hear the sound of my own voice! I like having my opinions and thoughts challenged, meeting new people, getting introduced to new art and ideas, hanging out with friends, talking about challenging subjects, and much more. Hopefully, our listeners enjoy our Spaces for the same reasons.

I now host #ThisIsNotAShill on Mondays, Cynthia hosts on Wednesdays, and Metal hosts Fridays. Cynthia uses Wednesday’s time for community updates. Please reach out to Cynthia or me if you would like anything shared. Metal hosts a DeFi edition every Friday, sometimes with a guest and sometimes not.

Secret Project and Vans join me as co-hosts on alternate Mondays, and Shane will join Metal on Fridays. John isn’t going anywhere, and our previous co-hosts are still welcome if we can find room! We remain an open-floor space. Anyone is welcome to share their art or updates, as long as they are polite, friendly, and uplifting.

Mondays have been focused on marketing for some time. That’s going to change. We will have a focused guest every Monday for the first hour or so, like a fireside chat where we delve into their why, how they found crypto/NFTs, what they have going on, and some lessons, tips, or tricks they’d like to share. This will start at some point in June.

We already have a guest list that will take us into August or September already. If you are interested in being a guest on one of the longest running Twitter/X Crypto/NFT Spaces then please reach out.

Polygon Alliance and FCancer. Vans has graciously agreed to host our 3rd Annual FCancer Event this year. The event will be in the first full week of September. We haven’t quite nailed down all the specific details yet. We will have a curated auction at the very least. Lots of people wanted to support this year as we closed last year’s event. Vans or I will be reaching out to them over the coming week or so.

Hosting our 3rd Annual Event—how many people in NFTs manage that? This is something I am incredibly proud of, whatever else happens with Polygon Alliance. I know there are plenty of people invested in the community hub we have built, and we will keep it going in one form or another. At some point, it will be time for it to be bigger than Polygon!

We have raised close to $9,000 in our previous two events, and that wouldn’t have been possible without a huge amount of support from a ridiculous number of people. We are insanely grateful for all the time and effort that goes into helping us host an event like this, and we are hugely excited to be hosting again.

I mentioned something about Goonz, didn’t I? I have explained it many times: both Chris and I work full-time and have plenty of other things happening. We definitely haven’t given up on Goonz; it’s a passion project for both of us. We both know there is plenty to wrap up or finish off and plenty we want to do. Storytelling and ownership are two of our passions. We want to push the IP ownership of your Goonz and hopefully create an environment where that matters. We also know we have done a huge amount for a very low-priced entry point.

Chris has been drawing Goonimalz. They will be more than companions; they will be key to the story and unlocking more of the history of Goonz. More importantly, Goonz are not complete without them. The different types of Goonz don’t know this yet, but they will find out...

Beef with Polygon? Not really, just some feisty fun. We’ve worked hard to create the brand visibility that we have, even if it has been a little quiet. And Polygon going for goons as their underdog thing, well, it just made me think about that message that I pushed for a long time without any support from Polygon. Also, how can a company the size of Polygon be called an underdog, really? It stinks of corporate!

And I want to stick up for our brand while finding smiles. People can think what they want; it’s none of my business.

Am I parking things? Yes and no. I still want to make an AI collection for the poem I wrote about sugar, and I would love to make more time for poetry, but I need to be in a certain mindset to write without struggle. I need to be highly emotive and in a place where I use it to express. The point is, poetry happens when it happens. Back to the point, the AI prompts for the poem need a little more than the poetry, and I am not sure how I want to do that yet.

I’ve not written some of the articles I said I wanted to, and I don’t really know why. The thing is, I haven’t been inspired to move or share my content. It’s almost like paralysis of choice in terms of topics and how or where to share. I want to use Blockster more, and that’s about making myself prioritize my time to use them to share articles.

What about the Blogcast idea I had? I still like it. I am not sure if I will record every issue, but I may go back and record the last four issues. It was a novel format, and I know people like their content delivered verbally and visually. The fact that this blog still regularly gets 150 opens astounds me, and I am very grateful for all of your time and support.

If you have read this far, then I think this is Alpha! At least if you are reading it before Tuesday, 28th May 2024. I have a new podcast launching on 4th June, with one of my closest friends inside and outside of this space. I’m sure you all know and love him. It’s with Jay.

The podcast is called Voice Notes Suck. This is one of the domains I bought (you may have seen me teasing with that info on Twitter/X). It’s a slight twist on the normal podcast format, and that’s all I am sharing for now. You will have to listen on 4th June!

I’ve had so much fun creating this. We have gone from ideation to delivery in about six weeks. The entire first series (season for my American & Canadian friends) is recorded and scheduled, and we will have the second series recorded and scheduled soon. We have unashamedly used AI during the process (not for our content, though), and I have learned a lot. It’s enabled us to put this together in such a timely manner.

I hope my excitement comes across in my text. I never quite know how I find time to do what I do when I look at it, yet at the time, it always feels like I am not doing enough. When I reflect like this, I don’t feel bad for reprioritizing. If you ever feel like this, take stock of what you are doing—I bet it’s more than you think!

You can collect this issue for 5 $Matic. There are only 10 copies available. Just find and click on a collect button, and get a copy with the image above on the cover. I had fun making this image.

I am getting closer to 392 subscribers and I appreciate each and every one of you. It means a huge amount and I will have something for my subscribers when I get to 400! Thank you for reading today and have a great couple of weeks.

AI has been developing incredibly quickly, even if it doesn't always feel that way. A lot of people have had exposure to large language models such as Chat GPT and Gemini, and image generators like DALL-E or DreamStudio, but AI is used for far more than just that. This article on Wikipedia is long and clunky, but it shows many of the areas and fields that AI is used in. You can check the long list here.

I love thinking and conversing about AI, as well as using it. It is a hugely important topic and there are many, many implications. A lot positive, others negative and a multitude that we won't have considered yet. AI has had some incredibly positive outcomes regarding medicine, science, computing, supply chains, art creation, productivity and a whole host of other things.

Does that mean we should ignore the negatives, of course it doesn't. For every positive implication for AI, the equal and opposite negative use is possible. And knowing humanity, likely being played with, if not being used. As more and more AI modelling becomes open source, this risk is only ever growing. I don't think the answer is limiting use, or who can use AI.

I think the answers lie in our questions and our use of AI. I think that by playing with AI (using it to help with our day to day tasks) we naturally test the boundaries of what it is capable of and what is acceptable. One question is should AI art be watermarked? It's something I have argued for in the past, now I am not so sure (and I could write a lot just on that!). We need to experiment, push the boundaries, question and get questioned by our peers. That's the way we work out the rules.

There are three ways that anyone can react to AI, and I think there is only one reaction that means you can have an impact on the future of AI. We can be fearful and watch, we can watch with intrigue and an open perspective, or we can get stuck in and embrace AI. Embracing AI doesn't mean celebrating every use of AI, or that you have to be happy about the job impact, but it does mean using it. I cannot advocate for that enough. We need to use AI.

We need to use AI to impact it's growth and where it goes next. AI learns from humans. You could look at it like we are it's parents and it will mimic and copy behaviour we exhibit, as well as wanting to please us with the results it populates. And think about that last point. AI large language models will want to please us, it's what they were designed for. To extrapolate information from patterns and provide answers/solutions to our queries. Answers and solutions that we want.

It wants this because they have been built that way. They were built that way because they drive revenue to the companies that build and house them. Those companies want you to continue using their models so you continue to drive revenue their way. If any given AI model is not giving you what you want, you will go and use a model that does give you what you want!

I wonder if I should have started here, with a brief history of A, but we are here now. And this is where I am sharing it. AI was conceptualised during 'The Golden Age of Science Fiction' in the 1930's and 1940's. And then humanity started working on AI in the mid part of the 20th Century. Alan Turing wrote a paper call Computing Machinery and Intelligence in 1950, where his first question is "Can machines think?". I've started reading this paper but not finished it, the rest of it is now on my reading list!

Computing limits meant even exploring AI wasn't possible until the mid 1950's, until more computers had memory capacity. Logic Theorist was a programme written in 1956 and is often considered the first AI program. Until the mid 1970's AI improved drastically and quickly, mainly due to computers storing more information and becoming faster. Development then stalled for a few years because we had to wait for more computing power.

In the 1980's there was a funding boost, deep learning techniques were developed and decision making processes were improved drastically. In the 1990's improvements continued. Deep Blue beat Gary Kasparov at chess in 1997, the same year speech recognition was added to Windows. Kismet was a robot whose life began in 1997, a robot the could read, respond to and display human emotions by 2001.

Development has accelerated into what we know and use today. The areas of AI are Reactive Machines. Limited Memory Machines, Theory of Mind and Self Awareness. Reactive Machines and Limited Memory Machines exist right now, we use them all the time. Machine Learning and Deep Learning are systems behind the way that AI works.

An article on the BBC from 25th May 2017 when Google's DeepMind AlphaGo AI defeated the then world number 1, and current number 2, Go player, Ke Jie. Read more here.

I don't want to get too stuck on history and science but I think it's important to build a basic understanding of the history and science behind any subject I want to explore in more detail, or talk about with any authority. I want to round this part off with an explanation about the differences between Machine Learning and Deep Learning. Both huge parts of Artificial Intelligence.

Machine Learning is programmes/systems that learn and adapt automatically from experience and with minimal human interference. Deep Learning is a machine learning technique that layers algorithms to mimic a neural network. Deep Learning is part of Machine Learning, which in turn, is part of Artificial Intelligence.

Some examples of Machine Learning are facial recognition, email automation & spam filtering, predictive analysis, the list does go on. Deep Learning is used for speech recognition, image recognition, finding patterns in a dataset, object classification in photographs, character text generation, self-driving cars, among other things.

Apparently today is more article than blog, but that's OK. I still enjoyed writing it. One of the topics I wanted to discuss but haven't, is how to use AI effectively. Very briefly, it's all in the prompt. All of it. It's how you write your prompts. Be clear and concise. AI cannot make what you want unless it knows what you want. I use AI for all sorts of things, I use it to generate promotional material, as feedback on documents, to bounce idea's off of, to make images, I've even made a song, as well as many other things. We all use AI in our day to day lives even if we don't realise it.

I can't quite say yet, but I am hopeful I will be able to spill the beans in my next blog, maybe even share the content myself and a friend have been working on. It's been really exciting playing with a twist on an existing format. We both think it is quite novel and we have enjoyed the process immensely. We nailed down the content we wanted and since then we have been working on all the other things you need for a new 'brand'.

We need to sort out simple things like brand imagery (logo, what font's we are using, promo posters etc.), platforms to put the content on, promotional material and much more. Saying that feels like we have barely started but I know we have done far more than barely start. I'm looking forward to sharing more with you, not yet, but soooooon!

I would love for more people to experiment with AI. Whether that is having a chat with Chat GPT or using a platform like Night Café to generate images. Experiment and explore, and share your learns with others. Articles v blogs is an interesting one for me, and I want to release more articles whilst maintaining my blog. A reminder that my blog is now released every 2 weeks. The next one will be on the 27th May.

If you want to explore my thoughts on AI from around a year ago, you can here. Today's issue has 10 collectible cover images. Once they are gone, they are gone. You can get yours for 5 $Matic including the platform fee.

As ever, thank you for reading and for your time. I hope you have a great couple of weeks and I will catch you soon.

What is a Maxi, or a Maximalist in the world of Crypto? It's always been used as a term for an ardent supporter of a specific chain or protocol. And by ardent I mean people that believe in that chain or protocol to the point that they wont overly, or at least publicly, support other chains or protocols.

We have seen many people who call themselves Maxi's talk down about the things they don't agree with (or maybe understand). As an example, take a look at a section of the Bitcoin Maxi crowd, they do not like any other chain and that leads to be dismissiveness at best. If you were playing with Polygon NFT's in 2021, you will understand being on the receiving end of this mentality more than most, only it came from Eth Max's, not Bitcoin Maxi's.

I have come to the conclusion that Bitcoin Maxi should be redefined. In line with why they believe that Bitcoin is the difference, the change maker, the way humanity progresses away from fractionalised banking and the magic money trees that central banks have been growing. Before I go there, I wanted to confirm the perception of the definition for a Bitcoin Maxi and I used Chat GPT 3.5. I asked what it's definition of Bitcoin Maxi was, I got this response.

'A "Bitcoin maxi," short for Bitcoin maximalist, refers to someone who strongly believes in the superiority of Bitcoin over other cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin maxis typically advocate for Bitcoin as the one true cryptocurrency and often dismiss or criticize alternative cryptocurrencies (referred to as "altcoins") as inferior or unnecessary. They believe that Bitcoin's decentralization, security, network effect, and store of value properties make it the best choice for both digital currency and as a long-term investment.'

It's the last sentence from Chat GPT that is important. The first two sentences confirm the broader understanding of what a Maxi is, certainly in terms of Bitcoin and Crypto. And those first two sentences is how most people in this industry would describe a Maxi, from any chain or protocol. Why is the last sentence important? How is it relevant?

I have been in the Blockchain, Crypto and NFT industry for nearly 3 years now. A lot of that time has been spent interacting with people. People that are using this technology to take their moon shot. To try and create financial freedom for themselves, to own their own money and more. Including their dreams. To take out the middle man. And to protect their financial privacy and/or assets. There are a huge number of other reasons, but I think most of them link back to that core group of reasons.

I am a firm believer that the values Blockchain technology can promote is the difference maker. If Blockchain technology is accessible, decentralised (over time), immutable, means actual end user ownership and is transparent, then everything else is possible. Until that point, where the end user has the choice, privacy is a non starter (if you have converted currency to crypto, or taken crypto of chain, you are findable by people with the right skills). To my mind Bitcoin is the instigator that allows all of these things.

Why does Bitcoin allow for those things? An understanding of the difference between money and currency is important. Currencies - Dollar's, Pound's, Euro's, Yen, Yuan etc. are a type of money. Most currencies are issued by governments and they allow for payments of goods in sensible ways. Money is our global system of perceived value. That perceived value allows for broader exchanges of goods and services, on a global scale.

Sound Money is a term used to define things that can't be easily inflated, often things that are seen as commodities. Gold would be the shining example of sound money. And gold v dollar is a very interesting way to look at the relationship between money and currency. It highlights the impact that inflation has had on purchasing assets such as property with currency.

Financially, Bitcoin is giving people a way to hedge against inflation. A decentralised way that anyone on the planet can use to make that hedge, which I believe is incredibly important to push equality of opportunity forward, on a global scale. Not only that, it has highlighted the issues with central banks/governments printing money and fractionalised banking to more people. Fractionalised banking means banks only need a percentage of the deposited money to be available for withdrawal, there is more to it than that and you can find out more on Investopedia here.

There will only ever be 21 million Bitcoin. No one will ever be able to make more (they may try to copy it, but that's different). Even gold doesn't play to those rules. There is more gold in the earth to be mined, let alone the gold in the rest of the universe. If we mined an asteroid full of gold and doubled the supply of gold overnight, it would have a drastic impact on the price of gold. Globally we have printed a huge amount of money in the last 4 years, and national debt is the highest it has ever been for the US, as a percentage of GDP.

We are seeing that reflected in price increases in energy, food and much more. The day to day living costs for people globally have increased far more than the inflation figures would suggest. Bitcoin can drive change to the systems that have allowed our currencies to be so easily devalued. This change is not overnight, and the decentralised nature of Bitcoin is a key driver to those changes.

If, and it is a huge if, we can move from a Global Reserve Currency that can be inflated (currently the Dollar), to a Sound Money Reserve Currency (Bitcoin, more like the gold standard), then there are some major potential wins for society. And not enough time to go into them all now...

Regarding decentralisation, immutability, ownership and transparency. Bitcoin is the leading Blockchain light and it works to all of these rules. If people see that having a positive impact it can only drive more of the same behaviours and we start to use Blockchain Technology for more than just money. That's when we can start to own things like our own data, among many, many other things.

I find this topic fascinating, especially the money v people aspects, but then I studied economics when I was younger. I fully understand that not everyone will have the same fascination for Bitcoin that I have, in terms of it driving a different direction for the global economy. However, I think a lot of people want the outcomes that Bitcoin potentially offers. Ownership, control and immutability are things most people want when it comes to their assets/money. That's one reason why I think we are all Bitcoin Maxi's.

I haven't got much further with the AI images for my poem about sugar. Mainly because I am coming to the realisation that I will not be able to prompt the images I want from my prose alone, I need to tinker and play with the prompts a lot more yet. I have written another poem in the meantime, and it was untitled for a moment. Thanks to Polleyovski, I got a wonderful name for it. You can read Defrag the Hard Drive above. Our brains are our hard drives and sometimes they need a reset or at least a good defragging.

I am playing with a new content format with a friend and really enjoying the creation process. I can't wait to share but I am sworn to secrecy for now. You will have to watch this space (or at the very least my X account) to find out more. Remember to ask questions and explore, it's how we learn and progress. Individually and as a species.

I have a couple of article ideas floating around my head. One about security, another about AI. And I want to catalogue some of the information I have found, whilst looking for and using free AI art engines. I have even had my poem above turned into music by Suno - listen here, it's rather insane.

You can collect this issue for 3 $Matic plus the platform fee (I believe), there are only 10 available to collect and I intend to get one with my NFT wallet!

This was an enjoyable write, but my format is too short to properly get into it. I feel like I could write a much longer essay on Bitcoin and my thoughts on it. However, there are still more qualified people to do that! Thank you for your time and thank you for reading, I have no idea what my next blog will be about but it will be out in 2 weeks.

I don't know how to explain it, but anniversaries kind of create an expectation, or maybe that's me slipping back into old habits due to the emotional rollercoaster I was riding. Already, the more regular feelings associated with grief have faded from my conscious brain. I am not actively thinking of mum and there are more smiles when something reminds me of her.

As mum said, grief does not get smaller, but you do grow around it. Our awareness of grief, or loss, will always be relevant to those kind of dates. Be it anniversaries, birthdays or holidays and as time passes, it becomes easier to recall the memories of the person, rather than the feelings of loss. Talking about it getting easier with time sounds like a cliché in the moment, and it always will do. I knew it was true when people were saying it, it still sounded like a cliché.

Grief can come from all areas of our lives. It could be the loss of a loved one. It could also be the loss of pet, a relationship ending, losing a job, having to move area for whatever reason, falling out with a friend, parking a project or many other things I haven't considered/mentioned. We need to allow ourselves the time we need to process that loss, which often accompanies a big change in our habits.

Big Dreams Start With Little Steps

There are several things I take from this. There is the obvious message that if steps are not taken then nothing will happen. An idea needs us to take steps for it to become more than an idea. When I look deeper into this specific aspect of the message, then it implies that the person taking the steps has a huge measure of control in their own outcomes.

Big ideas take many, many little steps to complete. Small ideas can also take many, many steps. The point being is that to make progress, to get closer to our dreams, whatever they are, we have to keep taking steps. If we stop making those little steps, then our dreams are stopped in their tracks. I have used this thought for inspiration and motivation on more than one occasion.

It also reminds me that all we can ever do is take one step at a time. That one step may roll on and create much bigger things, but it is always one step at a time. Or one thing at a time. Even those of us that think we can multitask, can't. What they can do is switch very quickly from one task to another. One step at a time, it isn't a limiting though, unless you let it be.

You Can't Change The World But You Can Change Your Corner

When I very first heard this, between the ages of 8-12 I would guess, I thought it was limiting. How does changing my corner impact anything other than me? That wasn't necessarily one of them, but I was asking big questions even then, and I read Animal Farm for the first time when I was about 10. I have since read it two more times, and think it may be worth reading again soon. I wonder if mum shared this when I was asking questions about a more equal society. That book provoked a lot of big questions in a growing mind. Some I still haven't answered and some I definitely answer differently now.

I distinctly remember mum saying how can you expect anyone else to change, or even listen to you, if you aren't willing to act that way yourself? That one question, nearly 30 years ago, has had a big impact on me. It has helped me have integrity, encouraged many of my core values and been one of the key things that has held me accountable to myself. I am proud of these things and I know mum was too.

It teaches leading by example, gaining an understanding for your values and what they mean to you, acceptance and more. If you change your corner, be the change you want to see, you can see if others have appetite for it. If people don't follow you and you want to drive change, find like minded people. Find people you can follow. On the subject of following, I have shared one of my favourite TED talks above, it's about 3 minutes long (TED throw an ad at the end) and well worth a watch!

The poem above, Autobiography in 5 short chapters by Portia Nelson, was hung on the wall in the family home whilst I was growing up and through my early adulthood. Mum had written it while learning calligraphy. It was there as we walked into the room, at eye level. I remember stopping to read it many times.

It was something that caught my attention the very first time I read it, or was read it, and it has stayed with me ever since. I haven't always been aware I have been walking down the same street at times, but I have always been aware it is my fault, or maybe more pertinently my choice. Choice is so crucial when it comes to what happens and how we view any outcomes. As I have matured, I have begun to understand just how important choice is. Including choosing to find the positive, or look for the silver linings.

I think the more obvious lesson being shown is the opportunity to learn from any given situation or mistake, as well as showing the progression of that learning. A deeper lesson is that often we need repeat opportunities to learn the best route. I like to look at what I see as another lesson as well. That failures or mistakes aren't necessarily failures or mistakes, at least not until they are repeated.

These are some of the lessons that were taught to me by mum, lessons that I will always carry with me. I am grateful for them for multiple reasons. The thoughts that they provoke as well as the memories they draw. Memories that then encourage more memories. I am very much an out of sight, out of mind kind of person and being able to hold onto memories this way is important for me.

Both quotes and the poem encourage people to think for themselves and take control of their decisions. In line with 'Be the example you want to see', something else mum said. They helped me break away from a failure mindset. One I believe society trains into us, but that is for another time. I also feel that they encourage, or lead, us along a journey of acceptance. And that ties in with the thoughts above, about why writing and sharing these 'quotes' is important to me, as well as tying in with the title. A journey to acceptance is very similar to how we commonly cope with grief.

I am still playing with AI for my poem (and hopefully collection) about sugar. The image above is the cover for the collectible edition of this blog. I am shrinking the weekly supply of the collectable version of this blog. There will be a small charge on top of the platform fee, and the supply will go up when they start selling out. There are only 10 available for this issue. That may be reduced to 5 next time!

Grab this issue for 3 $Matic (plus the platform fee) before it sells out!+

Dave Swinbank

@Davc_s

I have some strong feelings about sugar. And they will be dismissed by a lot, so rather than explain them in a post, I wrote some words in poetic form

I hope you enjoy them

Sugar

What once was a poor mans dream
Something that was chased to the extreme
In it’s…

41

12:10 • 13 Mar 2024

I will be releasing my blogs fortnightly, or every two weeks, and I will be upfront if that is going to change. I imagine the next blog will be about the halving, Bitcoin and some of my thoughts around why I think my mindset about money and society, is similar to that of a Bitcoin Maxi.

I am still settling into my new flat. I got proper working internet last week, and whilst I have gone away for a few days, I can't wait to have regularly reliable and fast internet for the first time in over 3 years. Since before I entered this space! Thank you for reading, I appreciate your time and I hope have an amazing week or two.

*edit. I accidentally set the supply for the collectable version of this blog at unlimited. I have adjusted it to 10, as of 22:50GMT they are still showing it as unlimited. The next issue will be limited to 10 copies.

I didn't realise I needed to stop writing my weekly blog until I stopped writing it. There are many potential reasons but the biggest one was the additional pressure it was adding to me, in various ways. People who read regularly, longer term subscribers and people who hear me talk, you will have seen or heard me talking a lot about expectations. I had high expectations of myself and the content/output I wanted to deliver.

I think I created a rod for my own back in terms of those expectations. My living situation from Feb 2023 until last week was all over the place. I reckon I slept in 10+ different beds over the year and maybe more sofa's. I am incredibly appreciative of family and friends that supported me. The biggest issue is that the most personal space I had in that time was a room.

It made playing in this world tough. When you have worked all day at a desk at the end of your bed, it is difficult to find the inspiration and the will to carry on working at a desk at the end of your bed. I didn't want to write for me, or create for me. I was willing to get involved in other things, but my own creativity was lost.

Dave Swinbank

@Davc_s

I have some strong feelings about sugar. And they will be dismissed by a lot, so rather than explain them in a post, I wrote some words in poetic form

I hope you enjoy them

Sugar

What once was a poor mans dream
Something that was chased to the extreme
In it’s…

38

12:10 • 13 Mar 2024

My will to focus on things for me was gone. I don't know how else to describe it. As soon as I started that creative process for me, I had no energy or motivation for it. And I didn't know how to manage or deal with that. This wasn't writers block or a wall. Not in terms of ability or thought. I wanted to write my blog. This was like situational lethargy.

The more I think about it, that situational lethargy was just being drained by my circumstances and situation. Tumultuous is the word for my living arrangements over the last 13 months, however, that is sorted now. I have a flat. It's got three bedrooms, or 2 plus an office. I have a comfort space. A sofa that is mine and not shared with 3 other housemates. It's a luxury I never realised I would miss.

Situations have a huge impact on our ability to maintain output. For me, that is the output that's relevant to myself. What do I mean by that? Well, some thing's I know I have to do even if I don't like them. That takes effort and energy. If I am not enjoying my environment I then lose the will to add extra effort and energy for me and the things that I enjoy. I'm sure many people understand what I am saying, even if I've articulated it badly.

Anyways, what have I actually been doing? A lot is the answer, even if it doesn't always feel like it. And right now, aiming not to be too negative on X, but that's another story! I have been focusing the time and effort I have had, on helping people that I believe are making a difference, in and outside of the Crypto/NFT/Web3 sphere. That's mainly looked like supporting The Squibbles behind the scenes and putting time and effort into supporting two live events.

I was a co-host for 7th Polygon Showcase in January, hosted by Creative Owls and Women In Tech 2024, hosted by Vans_Cmkro. Two virtual networking events that are industry leading from my perspective. The opportunity to be part of these events is something I am grateful for, and I know the hosts value my contributions.

I believe Creative's, Jay's (the creator of The Squibbles) and Vans' visions have the power to go far beyond the current landscape we operate within. I am excited to see what these journeys transpire into and what opportunities arise from them. Not only for myself and them, but for everyone involved with these brands and people.

Women In Tech Museum

@WITMuseum

Happy Women’s History Month!

Check out this recap of when 100 incredible artists illuminated Times Square in honor of International Women’s Day!

Join us at the virtual Women In Tech Museum as we continue to celebrate the achievements of women every day. #WIT24

16

17:08 • 25 Mar 2024

And then there is Goonz and PA. CryptoGoonz has been an interesting one, Chris and I are committed but busy. We both work full time and have other interests & commitments that eat into our available time. We have done a lot, but there is always more we want to do. From working on new art and the larger lore to finishing off the Goonelution and Sandbox. We have a lot to do. That does not mean we have been idle!

We have designed, manufactured and shipped our own key rings to NFT NYC, kind of like a proof of concept test. They are 3D printed and we have 4 different colours. Feedback before they have arrived has been good, I'm excited to see what people think of the physical product.

Polygon Alliance is a different kettle of fish. That falls into the bracket above, where I was talking about finding motivation difficult. It will remain a hub, initially for things Polygon and hopefully we get to expand it. There will be an FCancer event this year. Vans and I are due to finalise details after NFT NYC.

What happens next. Are there more blogs to come or am I going to leave you hanging for another 6 months? There are more planned, that is for sure. I have given myself a hard deadline of two weeks for the next issue, but you may get one next weekend. Time will tell. I will decide a new regular time for blog releases, but it's likely to be the weekend, due to work constraints.

I want to start playing pool again, and that happens on a Thursday night locally. That makes Friday releases almost impossible. I also want to write more articles as well as maintain this personal blog. I want to write more poetry and play with AI around that, and I want to continue to play with Revel, a kind of NFT trading card app, with my photography.

I think the NFT's related to each blog issue will be free for a while. I want you to be able to start collecting them. Issue 1 & Issue 2 are also free to collect. I can't remember which other ones are free, if there even are other ones! I do have a separate collection for subscribers and the next claimable NFT will be released when I reach 400 subscribers.

Make sure you claim your free NFT (Platform mint fee of 2 matic*). All you need to do is click on the collect button. It is that simple. They will be AI images for a while. The image will be in my blog, and the explanation for the image will be in the caption for that image.

Thank you if you have clicked on this and read it, from your email inbox or from X. It means a lot. And thank you if you are a new subscriber. I was thrilled to see I still had 384 Subscribers. I hope to continue to grow that.

• Edit. Was unaware of 2 matic fee for mint at time of release.

I forgot how much preparation there is for a wedding. Even one where you are not the best man but just a family member. I wasn't needed that much before the wedding itself, but I did what I could to help out, and was willing to do more if needed or wanted. However, that is not the preparation I am talking about. A 300 mile drive, getting myself the right clothing and a few other bits as well.

All of it worth it. I went a day earlier that I had to, to reduce the stress of travel. the drive time is just over 5 hours in the best of circumstances and it took me close to 6. I had a pretty good run considering I left later than I wanted, to be fair I had a better run on the way home. There was another momentous occasion on the way. My car (Felicity or Flick for short) passed 100,000 miles, the third car I have taken past 100,000 miles.

Traveling a day early also gave me an opportunity to meet up with Jay. We chatted for a few hours and had lunch. I also met Frederick the Third for the first time and you can see a short clip of us chatting in the post below. Jay and I chatted about everything and nothing, as well as talking seriously about the state of our space and The Squibbles. It was a lot to get through in a few hours and not enough time. It will be continued!

After spending that wonderful time with Jay it was time to head to my sisters. About a 45 min drive, via the Trafford Centre to sort out a last minute tuxedo issue. If you don't tell anyone, I won't and all's well that ends well! After getting to my sisters, we headed to the venue for what I would call a walkthrough rather than a rehearsal. Then back to my sisters for a pre wedding dinner. Then back to the venue where I was staying for 2 nights.

To the wedding day and the weather was as perfect as it could be for an October day. It was bright, sunny and warm once the morning cloud cover/mist had been burnt off. We shared a breakfast and then my sisters and my step mum went off to get ready. There was an errand or two to complete in the morning, and before we knew it, it was time for my dad and I to get ready.

The ceremony wasn't until 14:30, but there was a sister pub across the road and people started to get their from about 12:30. The Groom, his best man and usher arrived around 12:00, looking immaculate. The tuxedo effect was in full flow. The venue had been dressed perfectly, the scene was set and then it was time for the main event. I just had one more main task to complete first.

My sister asked me to join her just before she walked down the aisle. A special moment for our family. One I will cherish. Then I walked my step mum up the 'aisle' (or the slightly slippy steps to the decking where the ceremony was) and we took our seats. My younger sister (on that side of my family), the bridesmaid followed and then came my sister, looking radiant, with my dad carrying her train over the October path.

The celebrant celebrated their journey, there was a nice moment as she talked about flying to Paris and a plane flew over. The ceremony was over, we closed the road to throw petals and take photographs. I can't wait to see the professional's photos. And then we all moved inside to enjoy food, speeches, tears and tears. A genuine feeling of happiness was hanging around.

The band was outside after food, half candle lit, half soft outdoor lighting. The decorations were elegant but subtle and the touches on show from my sister and her husband were clever. Umbrellas just in case. A wooden box to write on instead of a wedding book. Deodorant and perfume/aftershave in the bathroom. A number of flat shoes for when the heels were too much.

The day was magical, the bride and groom looked incredible and their friends were the most gorgeous group of people. I will be forever grateful to be included to the extent I was and have the memories I do. They will be held close and dear. And I have photos just in case.

I know this blog is late, but that's OK. I had important things to do and if it wasn't, I am not sure I would have I will have another one out this weekend (or Monday). Not sure what about yet but it will all become clear.

It seems Like I have been hovering between 380 & 390 subscribers forever, I do have an NFT planned for when I get to 400, and maybe some promotion would help. Anyways, I appreciate each and everyone of you that reads, shares, comments, supports, stays subscribed. It means a huge amount. Until the weekend

Marketing is top of my list for writing at the moment. The Web3 industry talks about marketing a lot but for the most part it doesn't have a clue. It releases things on a whim, when they haven't been tested properly and then says marketing when in actuality the vast majority of projects or protocols mean hype and influencers. The good old pump and dump philosophy.

Lets get everyone hyped about our product, give tokens etc. to influencers to show that they value the project or protocol, because they won't sell it just after go live when they see a top. And then their friends definitely won't follow suit in selling and the price of our product, service or token won't just crash... oh...

Rant aside, there is a reason that companies have a CMO. A Chief Marketing Officer that sits on the board of directors, is fully responsible for all things marketing and reports directly to the Chief Executive Officer or Chief Operating Officer. The dictionary definition of Marketing is the activity or business of promoting and selling products or services, including market research and advertising. That statement impacts every area of a business from research & development, data analysis, customer & staff announcements to system updates and much, much more.

Dave Swinbank

@Davc_s

What's A Customer/User Journey?
An explanation of customer/user journeys and some tips to review yours.

This sounds a bit Web2. They are marketing processes and thoughts that have been around for a while. I can't deny it.

Doesn't mean they aren't useful or valid

Treat this…

29

0:00 • 5 Sept 2023

The P's of marketing. There used to be 4, now there are 7, there may even be more depending where you look, and these P's highlight how integral marketing is to any business, brand, product or service. The 7 P's of Marketing are Product, Price, Promotion, Place, People, Packaging and Process. I am not going to break them down today, that is for another time, and it isn't really blog material.

There is also the 5 M's of marketing. This could be more pertinent to the market and space we operate within. The 5 M's of Marketing are Mission, Message, Money, Media & Measurement. For solo artists/creators or people who are starting a business in their free time, ROI in relation to time and money is vitally important.

Marketing effectively costs both time and money. Even if there isn't a financial cost in a marketing plan, there is a time cost. And for people with limited time, that time is money. There are numerous processes and tools that can help, or hinder, depending how you use them. Having processes is important. They add clarity and provide guidance if done well.

When we look at The Blockchain/Crypto/Web3 space, specifically at NFT's, marketing is in everything we do. So much of the business or output is front end and customer or user facing. Artists, businesses, creators, projects - are all selling things with a visual aspect. Marketing is an important thing because converting someone from a social media post to a collector is almost entirely marketing.

This is why 3 of the last 4 article I have written have been about marketing. Specifically Customer/User Journeys, Customer/User Touch Points and The Customer/User Experience. You can find them in this blog and I really do appreciate and look for feedback. It helps me improve and makes sure the content I am creating is easy to understand and useful. I know it's useful, but if people aren't reading it or understanding it, then how useful is it?

The customer journey, touch points and the customer experience are only one aspect of marketing. And coming back to this space, which operates mostly on and around social media and within The Attention Economy, branding/brand awareness is vital. Once you have captured someone's awareness/interest, the ease of their journey decides if they buy into an artist/business/creator with their time/effort/money.

Dave Swinbank

@Davc_s

Customer/User Touch Points
This article follows on from the Customer/User Journey

What are Customer/User Touch Points?
They are all the places that a brand or business interacts with a customer or user. First impressions count and an experience that backs up that impression is…

Dave Swinbank

@Davc_s

What's A Customer/User Journey?
An explanation of customer/user journeys and some tips to review yours.

This sounds a bit Web2. They are marketing processes and thoughts that have been around for a while. I can't deny it.

Doesn't mean they aren't useful or valid

Treat this…

9

17:46 • 11 Sept 2023

Creating a strong brand identity is key. Hopefully I have made at least that much clear. An aspect (and it is a big one) of this industry is that customers/users (community) are closer to artists/businesses/creators than ever before. There is a huge opportunity to build strong relationships. But before that can be done, they need to have reason to buy in. Does that always need to be hype or influencers? They will always play there part but focusing on them will lead to short product life cycles.

How do you create a strong brand identity? With hard work and an understanding of specific aims, goals and values. I urge anyone to start with their values and what they want to achieve. It is so much easier to be true to values that you believe in, for your brand or business. How do you work out your values? You question yourself. What makes you get out of bed, what makes you tick. Who are you friends with and what drives them? It is very likely that your drivers and values align.

Once you are certain of your values you can work on what you want to achieve. What's your objective in regards to your art, business, creativity etc. For me I want to reduce barriers and create opportunities for people. I want people to have opportunities that weren't available to them before. It's pretty lofty I know, but at heart, I just want to make the world a little bit better and believe kindness and consideration can do that.

The importance of implementing your values and goals into your imagery cannot be understated. Almost every potential customer or users first interaction with an artist/brand/business or creator will be visual in some way. Consentient branding helps set customer/user expectations and can increase a business/brands presence in a market.

There are all sorts of studies on how to brand, including what the correct colour and font is to put your message across in a way you want. Some of these studies will be relevant, some not so relevant. If you would like some insight, type 'how important is brand imagery' into google and spend some time looking at the results.

I had no idea where today's blog was going to take me, sometimes I write a rough plan, more often than not I just write. Todays blog was one that was just written. These blogs are very specifically about what I am feeling, and at the moment that is a knowledge gap that I believe is holding this industry back.

And if it isn't knowledge it's time. I believe discussing these topics and sharing thoughts and experiences about them help us build our knowledge and in turn processes. In an effort to save ourselves some time and help us drive more revenue or interest.

Dave Swinbank

@Davc_s

Building the Customer/User Experience
What to do with the information from The Customer Journey and User Touch Points

What is a Customer/User Experience?
It could be any number of things, but it is essentially the experience a customer/user has with a brand or a business and the…

13

0:41 • 2 Oct 2023

I know this isn't exciting or fun. I get it. However, when I write about this topic in article form then I aim to make the information digestible, reduce some of the corporate language and offer insight that is useful.

Thank you for reading this weeks blog, I believe it's important information that this entire space needs to think more about. Have a great week and it's my sisters wedding next weekend. Next weeks blog may well be short and sweet.

Football. The round ball you kick with a foot. That football. Just want that clear first! I like a lot of sport, have always found it interesting to watch, but football was the one I was passionate about. When I was a kid I just wanted to play football, all the time. I definitely was not the best, but what I lacked in skill and ability I tried to make up for with effort and heart. I was never going to be good enough to make money playing football, but that didn't stop me investing a lot of time in it, in one form or another, until my late 20's.

From playing competitively until I was about 20 and then competitive 6-a-side as a goalkeeper until I was about 30. I had (maybe still have) good reflexes and agility and I didn't mind saving the ball with my face! I watched a lot or premier league football but fell out of love with watching the game in the early 2000's, too much money and posturing. Then Brighton & Hove Albion FC got their new stadium in 2011 and I started going to games. Until Covid I went to between 5-10 games a season.

Watching Brighton gave me the passion back and I started to go and support my local club. Football has a lot of semi-professional clubs. People that work jobs but get paid a little to play football and a few hundred people pay to watch. There is a real community feel around Burgess Hill Town FC and I miss watching them almost every week, home and away. Covid put an end to that and then I moved to a different area. They are also one of a few reasons for a green heart or two and I will always be my football club, no matter where I live.

I mentioned watching a lot of sport and I did, I still do watch some. I would go to watch live sport regularly, mainly football and cricket. I very rarely watched anything else on TV, unless it was someone else's choice or a Disney/Pixar film. What, there is nothing wrong with a Disney/Pixar (or any good kids film). I do watch other things, occasionally but TV really isn't part of my life at the moment.

I have read a lot in the past and that is something else that I still do, but do in a different way to how I used too. I have spent a lot of time reading science fantasy books in the past. My favourite author, Terry Pratchett. The man was a genius, and captivating with it. His books are a mixture of humanity, magic, comedy, tragedy and philosophy. And that's just to start. I highly recommend reading a book or two.

Now I read a lot of articles and information. I look to build my knowledge. I have started The Bitcoin Standard, and recently read What We Owe The Future (a modern philosophy book). One of the things that has eaten into my reading time is the research I do for the articles I write. There is a chunk of reading and watching that happens before I post an article.

I like poker. It mixes humans and numbers. Patterns are everywhere and I have a lot of fun. I am a reasonable poker player but I cannot stand freeroll tournaments. I play different types, but am only confident with hold em. I need to be playing with skin in the game, a little jeopardy. I don't need to gamble a lot but $5 or $10 dollars makes a huge difference in how I play and feel about the game.

There is a lot of theory about poker, a lot and you can easily get lost in it. It is always a mixture of value and equity. How you play that value or equity is how you win or lose. There are clearly hands that will give you a huge advantage. AA is a obviously a great hand, most people don't need to be told that. The thing is, it is never the hands you are dealt, it is how you play them.

The size of the table makes a huge difference too, heads up is a completely different game to a 9 player table. My biggest weakness, I can get emotionally attached to my cards, I will keep playing a hand I know I should fold, because I don't want to put KK in the bin! Poker is a mixture of luck and skill, but there is far more skill involved than luck. I intend to organise a game on Pokerstars in October.

Whilst I am reasonable at poker, I am good at pool. Not elite, but not far off. I need to play more, since mum passed away I have only played competitively twice. Both times for my old interleague team in national competitions. I captained a local pub team for 10 years and have a really strong record in competitive pool. I mostly play 8 ball, but have won 9 ball comps in the past.

To be competitively good requires a high level of skill and technique, and an awful lot of practice. And having practiced a lot, I can tell you that nothing beats competitive practice. The more you experience the match situation, the better you are at handling the pressure in the big moments. The easier it is to trust your technique.

It is a game of angles, a lot of them natural but some unnatural. At times you have to manipulate geometry. Trust me, it makes sense. It really does. Another thing that took my a long time to realise, it is hugely creative. You never face the same lay out or pattern twice, and you rarely play the same shot twice.

Pool has taught me a lot. Discipline, focus, controlling nerves, managing emotions, what the appearance of confidence can do (to me and an opponent), how to lose and maybe more importantly how to win. In more ways than just getting over the line.

There are other things that I enjoy. I like being outside and taking walks. I can take a short walk or an all day hike. I enjoy doing physical work outside and I kind of wish the gardening gig had gone down different but this world and self employed gardening were unlikely to mix, even without Covid in the back ground.

Photography is always something I have enjoyed to a point. I take pictures of things I like, mostly landscapes, occasionally flowers or animals. I only started sharing them because some family and friends said that they were good and should be shared. A couple got a lot of likes in a Facebook group and it was natural to share them on my X (Twitter) account as that started growing.

And golf, I am OK at it. I play with a handicap (my clubs!), seriously, my handicap is 19 at the moment. If I had the time to practice, and I mean have dedicated practice, then maybe I could be a single figure handicap, but it is a maybe. I believe I could be an elite pool player with daily practice, I am not sure I could have ever been an elite golfer, even with all the practice.

It's been nice writing about some hobbies and things that I enjoy. I definitely need to get back into being more active with some of them. I am good at some of them too. I am naturally competitive, but with myself not others. I want to be better than yesterday, or the best I can be and I hold myself accountable when I am not.

I hope you enjoyed the read today, I certainly enjoyed the write. Thank you for your time. Reconnect with an old hobby, with something you are good at or something that makes you smile. Enjoy your week and I will catch you in about a week's time.

I won't go into huge detail, but I found NFT's in July/Aug 2021. I can't remember the project I found first but Sorare and Upland where among them. Sorare is a trading card game. For football (the round ball and foot game!), basketball and baseball. It mixes their own fantasy game with stickers or trading cards from the playground. And this is what captured my attention. The ownership aspects with something from my childhood.

Upland is a metaverse and one I heard of before Decentraland, Sandbox or Spatial. It has mapped various cities and you can buy property on it. I own some New York property and really should log in and check it out again at some point. I know that there are more cities available and there will be more coming. Just a quick look on their homepage shows quite a lot.

And then there was Jailbirds. An Eth project, fell for the art, still have the art to be fair. Shouldn't complain too much I guess. The upshot of this was a very low budget. I met some people on Wax and on Polygon. I still have many of those early friendships and am insanely grateful for them. That early journey was hard and had a steep learning curve, but those decisions and errors forged what I am today.

https://twitter.com

Dave Swinbank on Twitter: "My first proper rug 👀💚@jailbirdsNFT - damn they still have a account here 😅💚Slow rug, dev rug, clueless rug. Call it what you will, what was promised was never delivered. The art is still captivating 💯💚I made a few of my oldest friends there and one day I really would... pic.twitter.com/eG1HW20D9p / Twitter"

My first proper rug 👀💚@jailbirdsNFT - damn they still have a account here 😅💚Slow rug, dev rug, clueless rug. Call it what you will, what was promised was never delivered. The art is still captivating 💯💚I made a few of my oldest friends there and one day I really would...

In early Sept 2021 I found Goonz (Chris) on a Twitter giveaway and Matty from Cartridge Punkz (on Facebook of all places). Both of these just after I met Yan from Friday Night Punkz. These three guys are friends for as long as they will have me as a friend. They are all heavily invested in this space (with time and effort, maybe money too), and I am so very grateful I met them.

Goonz has been a journey so far, and still is. Lots of things have gone well and lots of things haven't. We will keep going and have no intention of stopping. We need to finish the half done things that we can and make it clear what we can't finish. This is happening, step by step and we will be vocal about them when we get them finished. Cartridge Punkz has stalled, but Matty is busy and that's OK.

https://twitter.com

Dave Swinbank on Twitter: "It's an idea, kind of. One we think we like @Crypto__Goonz. Something for holders. And a nod to 2 years ago. Want to have your say and find out what it's for. Head to discord 👀💯💚🥱😴💚#GoonzGang #LFGoonz pic.twitter.com/TTNSqCyX92 / Twitter"

It's an idea, kind of. One we think we like @Crypto__Goonz. Something for holders. And a nod to 2 years ago. Want to have your say and find out what it's for. Head to discord 👀💯💚🥱😴💚#GoonzGang #LFGoonz pic.twitter.com/TTNSqCyX92

If it wasn't for these early errors and relationships, there never would have been a Polygon spaces and Polygon Alliance wouldn't have happened. What we have created and curated, the amount of people we have supported and lifted is exceptional. We have changed days, weeks, months, years and lives for people. These things may be a little quieter at the moment but that's OK.

There will be more regular content coming from Polygon Alliance in several areas and I look forward to sharing. Our content will be educational and uplifting. We want any content curated or created, to be in alignment with our values. They are incredibly important and are one of the reasons why Polygon Alliance has never got on the whitelist thing.

Twitter Spaces are a funny beast. Everyone says they don't want the hype spaces but they don't go anywhere else. I guess at the end of the day sales are what most creators are looking for, and I get it. The hype spaces, not my scene. One thing I will say about #ThisIsNotAShill is that I won't stop until I stop enjoying them. The calibre of people that come through is insane and the consistency levels are unmatched. Spaces stays.

https://www.polygonalliance.com

Polygon Alliance - #1 Polygon Community

At Polygon Alliance, our vision is for Polygon projects to work together to make each other stronger, help each other grow and make Polygon YOUR number 1 destination for NFTs and DeFi.

9 months after I got into this space, Mum passed away from secondary breast cancer. Her end of life was much shorter than any of us expected and the 28 months since she has passed have been difficult for lots of reasons. I have lost a confidant and safety net to start. But it has led to other things. It has led to a lot of things being difficult this year, the second year of my time in this space.

I helped support my stepdad whilst he bought a property, the first property he has purchased by himself and it was difficult. Trying to support him in his decision making without telling him what to do. Encouraging him to find his answers, not someone else's. This is mostly done now and I am more settled off of the back of it.

I have a place, in the area I want to be. It is a tourist trap and now the tourist season has ended I should be able to move from my rented room to rented flat (apartment). Around the personal turmoil of not having a home for nearly 6 months, I have managed to maintain visibility in the Web3 space, only just. One thing it has done, it's shown me who means friend when they say friend.

https://twitter.com

Dave Swinbank on Twitter: "GM 👋💚I still wear this shirt occasionally. Mum brought it back from the US for me. I wear it as a reminder. A reminder of mum and of how far I have come 🌼💚This used to fit 👀💚Big change is possible, but it starts with you. Have a wonderful week ☺️💚 pic.twitter.com/yywkQoLB5a / Twitter"

GM 👋💚I still wear this shirt occasionally. Mum brought it back from the US for me. I wear it as a reminder. A reminder of mum and of how far I have come 🌼💚This used to fit 👀💚Big change is possible, but it starts with you.

What is next? I don't know. I know what I want to do, that it is taking longer than I would like and I am OK with that. This space demands being OK with so many things and it's been a real eye opener in so many ways. Change is part and parcel of the tech landscape. For me, the constant change and relentless drive for sales does not change my values. Much like having 30K followers has not changed my values.

What's important is that I continue to facilitate places that anyone can come and have a chance to succeed. Where it is isn't who you know, who is willing to invest in you or even what budget you have (admittedly a high budget is very useful), but what your drive is. What you are are willing and able to do when you have tools and resources at your disposal.

What I do know is that I will find more incredible people on my journey and more people that want to support the same values and goals that I have.

Kind of short and sweet today, an overview of my journey rather than a celebration. There is plenty to celebrate in all of that and I remember it as well. Especially in those harder moments.

As ever, thank you for reading, I appreciate it, a lot. And in the harder moments, it's things like this blog that keep me pushing through.

Governments, Global Organisations and Businesses are taking crypto seriously. Even if they would like us to think otherwise! There are any number of news articles on any given day. There are many spot ETF's being applied for. Mostly for Bitcoin, but we are seeing some for Ether now too. Greyscale recently won an appeal against the SEC ruling that reject their proposed spot ETF without explaining it's reasoning. I will come back to what a spot ETF is later.

Crypto is on the agenda at the G20 this weekend with the International Monetary Fund set to deliver a paper calling for global coordination on crypto. Unsurprisingly this will be to talk about regulation on a global scale. Very little is likely to be decided but a lot will be talked about. What comes out of it will be interesting and could be defining. Just after Vitalik Buterin and Jacob Illum released a co-authored Privacy Paper. Coincidence, I don't know, but I have been known to be sceptical in the past.

Other news about some massive brands/corporations. Amazon gaming now has Web3 games within it's gaming ecosystem. There are rumours about GTA6. You can find them if you look. Google is about to allow Web3 gaming adverts for the first time. Justin Beiber did a thing with NFT's and royalties, and his song 'Company'. Disney are still playing, this time with Cryptoys. And Adidas has unveiled an NFT artist residency. One way or another, this tech is here to stay.

https://collect.adidas.com

RESIDENCY - adidas /// Studio

A digital art project from the adidas /// Studio

There has been a lot of talk about Spot ETF's for Bitcoin recently and this relates to the stock market and Bitcoin being traded on public exchanges. This could lead to investment companies getting involved and that would be good for people that held. What's an ETF? This article on investopedia goes into more detail about ETF's.

In summary, an ETF (Exchange-Traded Funds) is a type of pooled investment security that holds multiple underlying assets. An ETF is traded on an exchange like stocks. As it's traded like stocks, the ETF's value changes as the trade changes during the day. ETF's typically track indexes (S&P500 or FTSE 100 etc.), sectors, commodities and other assets, like maybe Bitcoin.

A spot Bitcoin ETF is another type of ETF. This type of ETF would be backed by 'physical' bitcoins, these underpin the value of the ETF and you would expect the value of the ETF to go up and down in line with the price of Bitcoin. When a spot Bitcoin ETF happens, and I believe it is a when, it green lights institutional investment. That would make a difference to how cryptocurrency is viewed and who is investing in it.

You can see from all of the above that a lot is happening in this space, like all the time happening. It's impossible to keep on top of all the news, even with headline newsletters (and there are some good ones). Social Media intensifies this. There is an insistent and incessant demand for our attention, from every angle. From the tools that we use to the communities that we are in. From our own content creation, to supporting our friends, and everything in between.

We get rewarded for engagement and penalised for not engaging, in almost everything we do. And this brings me to a personal bug bear. I hate that I have to jump through hoops to access the benefits that are offered to me as part of a sale price. Get the info on a website, tell me where and how I access it. Essentially make it easy and accessible. Not just for me, the average person using anything wants it to be easy.

Distractions aside, the engagement reward mechanics is still in it's early days and who knows where it ends. Earn to earn, learn to earn, play to earn, burn to earn and whatever else to earn. It doesn't matter what the mechanic is, everywhere we see it, it reminds us that we have to do something. It's constant and adds pressure. It draws our attention from what truly needs it.

All of the above provides us with countless opportunities too. There is a need for education and knowledge. There are always new skills required. There are relationships to be made everywhere. It is challenging and exciting. And it should remain this way, if the pressure builds up to much then we forget to be excited. To explore and discover. To innovate and teach.

The last couple of issues of my blog have been written about similar subjects. This is clearly a feeling that is still hanging around. Anecdotally I hear it regularly from people I know and care about. I think talking about it helps people find solutions for them, it makes it OK to talk about the pressure they feel. It hopefully stops people from bottling things up. If nothing else, it certainly helps me express my thoughts and feelings!

The summary for me is communication and finding time to do the things you enjoy. There are plenty of mindfulness and wellbeing tips you can find, but nothing quite so good as doing something you love. If it is something creative then not only is it rewarding emotionally, it is rewarding in terms of output too.

I want to finish this with a reminder. A reminder that at the end of the day, unless there is a monetary pressure, that pressure is pretty much all internal, or all internal by proxy. As in you can never know what someone else truly expects of you until you have the conversation. If you are feeling the weight of expectation, talk to the people you love and care about. Let them know, who knows what pressures they can release.

Dave Swinbank

@Davc_s

What's A Customer/User Journey?
An explanation of customer/user journeys and some tips to review yours.

This sounds a bit Web2. They are marketing processes and thoughts that have been around for a while. I can't deny it.

Doesn't mean they aren't useful or valid

Treat this…

26

0:00 • 5 Sept 2023

I touched on it above, users want things kept simple and easy. I hosted a spaces called the customer/user journey and wrote an article on it this week. It is the first part of a marketing story that maps the customers journey and experience. That wraps into everything you do from a marketing perspective. Without a customer/user (collector), you have nothing but some art and an idea. And I will continue to share knowledge about this.

The customer/user journey talks you through the steps a potential customer/user has to make before they would by a product, use a service or spend any time in a community. From their very first thought that they need or want something. They then research it. Then they commit or purchase. After that you have to onboard that customer user. There will later be a retention or upsell moments. And if you have done a great job, you will have advocacy, at multiple points in that journey.

You need more than this to make your processes and journey better, but understanding what a customer or user journey looks like allows you to work out touch points. When and where you connect with a customer/user. Once touch points have been figured out, you can work on the experience that customer/user has. And if you document this, you can wrap your goals and values all the way though it.

Dave Swinbank

@Davc_s

How to get 40 people collaborating? Just ask people to share a photo that makes them smile

I had a lot of fun, enjoy the smiles and check out the long list of collaborators below

Thank you all for all the bonus smiles I got

56

14:01 • 3 Sept 2023

It's been a tough week for me in terms of pain, I don't want to dwell but add in heat and it has sapped my energy, I was worried this blog would be more than a day late at one point. I look better though. It is what it is, it will be what it will be and you can be sure I will be looking for smiles.

I always appreciate your time and aim to add value with what I do, whether it is writing articles, making my first video, writing a blog, hosting spaces or anything else. Thank you for reading, I will be back at the end of next week. Until then, look for the smiles. They are out there.

One of my regular Spaces this week was about exactly this. I title it Enjoying Your Craft. Or how to make the grind not a grind. There are a lot of reasons this topic should be discussed and I will get into that shortly. First, we spent the first 60-75 minutes of the Spaces chatting about this, with some jokes and a couple of other interruptions that is exactly what our Spaces are about. You can find the recoding on the post below.

The Blockchain, Crypto, NFT or Web3 Industry feels like it moves at the speed of light. The technology can move that fast that what was a known fact yesterday could be false tomorrow. There is a pressure from within the industry that you have to work fast and be doing many things at once. Social media amplifies those feelings. If you are a one man band, or a sole entrepreneur than you wear many hats. It's a lot of pressure and it can be overwhelming. It can become a grind.

For people that do want to build their dream, how do we make sure it stays fun? How do we stop ourselves from feeling resentful? How do we find a smile when it feels like we have ran into thousands of brick walls? How do we make sure we get up and go again and take the next little steps to making our big dreams a reality with a smile on our face and spring in our step?

Dave Swinbank

@Davc_s

From do you wash your feet to a song about foot fetishes, all while talking about making sure your grind doesn’t become a grind

You missed a treat tonight

Thank you to all the speakers for their insights and the smiles. My face hurts

Dave Swinbank

@Davc_s

6

21:18 • 1 Sept 2023

We talked about a lot of things on that Spaces and it is conversational. People share thoughts about how they lost their smile and what they did to get it back. And I want to summarise some of them, then I have a little space to chat about them and how I make sure I have fun. And how I pull myself back into that mindset when it starts to slip.

Here are 5 things from that Spaces that I think are huge.

1. Set, or Reset Expectations

2. Book Time Away from The Space

3. Turn Off Notifications

4. Find and focus on the things you enjoy doing, or realign with them from a creative output perspective

5. Build connections and build a trust circle/find an accountability partner
   

You can take a lot from each individual point, and as ever they wrap into other things as well. All 5 of those things will improve your mental health in general, not just help you manage your mindset in this space. They take work and practice. It is hard to change habits. If you have got yourself into a resentment cycle and you are in this space because of your passion, lets break that cycle!

Set or Reset Your Expectations. Take time to remember your why. Why you are in doing what you do. Why you are in this space. Work out which of those expectations are internal and external. Work out which of the eternal ones are needed to push yourself forward and read last weeks blog - Our Expectations of Ourselves - for more of my thoughts on expectations.

Book regular time away from the space. Whole days as well as time in each day. Block book it in a calendar if you need to. Use that time to get outside, spend time with friends or family, pick up an old hobby or relax. This ties into turning off notifications. Noti's will put pressure on you, you will become addicted. They will distract you from important things, like quality time with your family. Turn them off. Anything that buzzes, beeps or flashes. Turn it off. And do it yesterday.

Doing those things above, will help you with focusing on the things you enjoy. You are here for a reason, a reason that excites you and lets you explore your passion. Do not become resentful of that. I cannot emphasise this enough. Resentment kills relationships, spirit and opportunities.

Building connections. We are people people, for the most part. Humans are also sociable creatures and our own company can irk us, well I know mine can! Don't pressure yourself but keep connected. Aside from that, find a trust circle or an accountability partner. Someone that can hug you, lift you up when you are beating yourself up, pull you down when your ego won't fit through a door and slap you when you need it. We need mixture of all 3, we really do!

A Taste of the Metaverse event, by The Diner Studio, was a live event that crossed over The iMAGINE Upstate STEAM Festival in Greeneville, South Carolina and Spatial. A metaverse, or a Virtual Reality, environment. The Diner Studio have been supporting educational opportunities in the Web3 space for over a year and this is just their latest endeavour. Go check out the Spatial environment below.

A little about the festival. The iMAGINE STEAM Festivals are designed to showcase PreK-12 education and career pathways in Science, Technology, Arts, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEAM) through fun, hands-on learning for families. The festival is a highly visible street festival that engages companies, schools, and non-profits in providing exciting, interactive STEAM learning exhibits for PreK-12 students and their families. The purpose of the festival is to ignite the interest of students in STEAM learning and career pathways.

Being able to interact with young people in the Metaverse and upload over 100 pieces of their art and their 3d Scanned models was a fantastic experience that fully fits in with my goals. The technology we use is exciting, fun and offers opportunities. Myself, and Jay Stansfield & Vans, where lucky enough to be able to show our tech and space to the next generation of dreamers and entrepeneurs.

https://www.spatial.io

A Taste of the Metaverse by The Diner Studio and Friends | Spatial

Unleash your creativity with Spatial! Explore worlds, create characters, play games and connect with millions around the world on web, mobile, and VR.

I am going to end this with a short bit about losing consistency on a couple of things and what I am doing to regain that. After I have chatted about how I make sure I keep having fun in this space, whilst I chase some pretty big dreams.

I keep myself motivated, smiling and having fun in all sorts of ways. I remember that I am here because of what this tech could be capable of. I embrace opportunities like the one above. I seek them out for myself and others. I work hard on communication, relationships and networking. I remember my achievements like building a global community that has just raised $6,000 for LetsFCancer. And recognise the growth, last year we raised less than half of that. That's insane growth and I celebrate it. That's another important thing.

My blog has been irregular and that will continue. I may move it too a weekend release, I may try and keep it on a Friday. Blogcast plan is similar. Catch up and then release every Monday or Tuesday. Other things are moving and we have regular content planned for Polygon Alliance. I am looking forward to being able to release that, including dedicated space for young people and mental health/wellbeing.

Polygon Alliance

@PolygonAlliance

Thank you for your support with our 2nd Annual @letsfcancer event

We raised, and donated, $6126.58. A remarkable achievement that we are exceptionally proud of

Keep your eyes peeled for blog post and head to our website to read the full round up

45

18:01 • 30 Aug 2023

I am going to give this article to Chat GPT and Bard to summarise and then use one of them for the write up for X. It's going to be interesting and the first time I have trusted AI with written content on X. Lets see what happens... I may edit it and add a human element if needed!

Thank you for reading today, I hope you found some use from it. I certainly did. These things are often not focused on as much as execution and delivery of plans. Or the pretence of it at least. Hype can be fun, but it is intense. Remember to Enjoy Your Craft. Cath you next Friday/Weekend, take care.

Managing our expectations is something that we all have to learn. We can be told, we can have techniques shown to us, but it is managing our own heads at the end of the day. That is a rather unique experience that no one else shares, even if there will be similarities. For large chunks of my life I did not understand what were my expectations and what was me placing external expectations on myself.

I am much better at this now and there are many reasons for that. Accepting who I am, understanding my flaws, as well as my attributes, has allowed me to understand what I am capable of, and when I am capable of it. And my journey with physical pain has had a huge say in what I can do over the last decade. Learning to accept my pain (and that it is a daily thing) has been a huge part of this journey of me managing my expectations better.

Pain is also one of the reasons this blog is late. It's been a tough week in terms of higher levels of pain. Not only does this impact me in the moment, it eats my energy. It means I need to sleep more, everything is more effort, I feel far less rewarded by the results from effort put in and frustration is real. I accept this and am aware that these bouts can come at any time.

https://podcasters.spotify.com

A Week Away From Web3 - Episode 54 by Dave Swinbank - A #BlogCast about me, web3, my Insights, Thoughts and Opinions

Welcome to the spoken version of my weekly blog, a #BlogCast about me, web3, my insights, opinions and thoughts. A Week Away From Web3 - Episode 54 There are a lot of reasons to take some time away, even if this space is a passion.

The point of talking about pain is because it is uncontrollable. When it comes to managing our own expectations of ourselves, it is very easy to not consider external factors. External factors that can impact us and the amount of control we have in any given moment. Whilst we can choose how we feel about something (most of the time), external things can have a massive impact on our time, energy or money. This can then impact what we want to achieve.

Going back to pain, and what is essentially an invisible illness. Other people expect me to be a fit and healthy person. That's how I look, even if you saw the skin blemishes they look odd, sometimes painful, but not crippling (I can tell you the pain has been at those levels in the past). The pain is normally worse as they look better strangely enough. I spent a long time placing those expectations of being a healthy person on myself. From work, my ex and sometimes family and friends.

When I can't go to a social event that I am committed to I feel like I am letting people down, even if they understand. The want to work and be effective at work, knowing that the best you can do is about 60% of your maximum. Knowing that questions about your performance are being asked. Luckily, this is not my current situation, for a number of reasons. Primarily understanding what expectations were real, and mine. And accepting some of the above. Both of these things took time.

It took momentous and life altering events, that I wouldn't wish on anyone, to help me learn what were my expectations, what were external, what external expectations I had an obligation to and how to react to any external expectations in a positive manner for me. I am grateful that I have come out the other side of those events as a stronger and more rounded person. Certainly from an emotional level. I am not sure I have many insights other than giving yourself room.

Give yourself room to move, to have an off day or longer. This is thee biggest input and advice I can offer. If you expect 100% from yourself all of the time, what happens when you can't give 100%? For me, I started feeling like a failure. A failure of a person, not even someone failing at their own goals. Then I started living like that. It is not a place I wish to go back to. I give myself room and on top of that I don't judge myself when I am not physically capable anymore.

I can tell anyone how to accept themselves and how to love themselves. It all sounds rubbish unless you have been there, done it and got the t-shirt. It used to sound dreadful to me, you choose how you feel. Really? The truth of it is, you really do choose how you feel. External influences are just that, external influences. These things take time, effort, determination and more. You are breaking habits that have built over a long time. You are breaking your mould.

Dave Swinbank

@Davc_s

Curating or Cultivating your Twitter/X feed

It's called Crypto Twitter (or Crypto X) for a reason. A lot of the news, people and developments within The Blockchain industry are shared here first. This is where we come for breaking Web3 news. Including for NFT's

It's a…

62

21:26 • 7 Aug 2023

Expectations wrap into X (or Twitter). Many people have been using that platform for some time, including myself. It doesn't work how it used to. If you expect it to work how it worked 6 months ago then you are setting yourself up for disappointment. You will attack the platform, expect certain results and then not see them. This leads to questioning of all sorts. And the facts could be, you are doing nothing wrong from a marketing perspective, you just haven't curated your audience.

X, or Twitter, is much more that than it has ever been. It truly is representative of who you connect with and how. The reply metric is incredibly strong at the moment and it makes sense. The platform is a text based platform that wants engaging content. Is there a better measure of this than a reply? Something that sparks conversation is everything. I have shared a Post/Tweet above that will offer some insight into how I am working with the platform (and the one below is a bit of rant with what I feel are some pertinent points).

I think the platform can still be something good. I know the changes haven't even truly begun and I have set my expectations that there will be a lot more change happening. I am choosing to be excited rather than negative. That I will use the changes to learn and meet new people, rather than stick to my old ways. The platform is still people and patterns. People still want people even if they act otherwise. The game has just reset but we still have all our knowledge!

Dave Swinbank

@Davc_s

Why Rewarding Impressions Wont Work

And why it is destroying any chance this platform has of becoming a trusted news source, let alone The Trusted News Source

Firstly, 41,004 impressions a week equals 533K impressions in 3 months. not 5M. I am aware of this. It's also…

23

22:18 • 22 Aug 2023

It feels like Crypto, NFT's, Web3 has done the same. It feels like we have reset and are going through the same old... just a new day. $PEPE was inevitable wasn't it? I know I called in May, but who am I to fight against the hype, the ponzi's and the pyramids. I know the answer to that and I am comfortable with it. I don't expect to win, certainly not by myself or soon, but I will keep fighting. I think this tech is worth too much to too many to give it up.

Ponzi's and Pyramid Schemes are everywhere, not only in crypto and NFT's. Some of the worlds biggest financial players have been involved and are still going despite the insane fraud they have committed. It is almost like human nature is wired into believing the things that are too good to be true. What is the difference between a Ponzi and a Pyramid?

• A Ponzi Scheme is a fraudulent investing scam which generates returns for earlier investors with money taken from later investors.

• A Pyramid Scheme is a form of investment in which each paying participant recruits two (or more) further participants, with returns being given to early participants using money contributed by later ones.

The red flags are the usual's. Lots of hype, unrealistic returns, an unwillingness to answer questions, more hype, generational wealth being created, unregistered companies (with SEC etc.), complex strategies, emphasis on recruiting, complex commission structure, no demonstrated revenue etc.

In Web3, you have to do the due diligence, others won't do it for you and it is always not your keys, not your coins.

Expectation management is one of those subjects that is hard to write about in a way that I want to. I want to share experiences without coming across like I am telling anyone what to do. For me, these things are always a work in progress and anyone that tells you different is likely lying to themselves and you.

Thank you for bearing with me, your patience and understanding makes it easier to manage the delays that are sometimes inevitable, no matter how hard I want things to be otherwise. I hope you have an awesome week, and all being well, I will be back with more thoughts on Friday.

Some questions beginning with W. Why do I want to talk about this? Why is it important? What is a free market? Will this always be relevant? What are the outcomes? Maybe I answer some more w questions, maybe I don't answer those coherently, as ever this blog will have some of my answers and thoughts. It is a big topic because it impacts everything we do if we want to sell or be seen.

Lets start with why I want to talk about this. Numbers and people have always interested me, I just didn't know quite how much when I was younger. I studied business studies and economics between 16-18 years old, but I was having too much fun away from studies to understand how passionate I was about these subjects. Economics to me is how and where people and numbers mix.

Economic markets are essentially anything that involves, raw materials, manufacturing, products, services, money or people. Those markets can be anything from something specific like brick production to something all encompassing like banking. Markets are regulated by governments, some of them regulate with a heavier hand than others. Some regulation is vitally important to protect consumers health and rights. There are problems with regulation too, for example the who makes political donations and why, lobbying being a key word.

Dave Swinbank

@Davc_s

GM

More swag. Had @Cynthia_Stnkmp, or Funky Heart, stickers a long time, but not the seed phrase keeper. That came back from NFT NYC with @hombreave17

Have an awesome day and share your physical NFT items below, if you want

43

11:14 • 17 Aug 2023

What's a free market? And do free markets exist? A free market is a market dictated entirely by supply and demand with no government control. Do they exist? Maybe criminal or black markets are the closest thing we had before we had The Crypto/Web 3 markets. A good question to ask is how free are Crypto/Web 3 Markets? While there are regulations, people treat this market like a completely free market and we see that in the patterns of behaviours as well as individual behaviours.

Free, or open markets, lead to private individuals or companies controlling trade and industry. I am not trying to debate the merits or problems of living in a capitalist society, but one thing I don't see is it changing until we can drastically reduce the cost of energy or production. A 2% growth model has been so key to everything achieved politically and economically in the last 80 years that it is institutionalised. And from my perspective, the fractionalising of banking has only solidified that principle.

Why is this important? Because it drives societal behaviours and standards. How we interact and what we purchase defines what businesses succeed and fail, with the exception of core societal utilities, which are things our taxes mostly entitle us to, or are seen as basic requirements of living by our governments. And this brings us back round to supply and demand. It's an incredibly intricate relationship but also simplistic at the same time.

In summary, prices go up when demand is more than supply and prices go down if supply is more than demand. Demand is the want for a good, product or service. Supply is the amount of a good, product or service available for purchase. If there is no demand then the good, product or service is at the end of it's life cycle, unless it is propped up by something. Think major banks in the UK after the 2008 mess that the globe is still kicking down the road.

For all that free markets can be seen as a leveller (anyone can play), they are open to incredible amounts of manipulation as well as being heavily impacted by 'market makers'. Especially if people can leverage your liquidity with bets on either side of the line and all of those bets are visible. And we see this happen with the regular liquidations in the Crypto market. e.g. people who have shorted BTC and leveraged 10 times their portfolio, then BTC goes long. You can easily find liquidation stats and numbers if you want to go looking.

What's to stop someone making their figures look better by making deals with their friends/partners. If you conform to this style, we will make sure you get seen or I'll buy yours if you buy mine kind or thing. Maybe purchasing their own products in an effort to make it look like there is a high level of volume, or demand. Just a few places the line can get blurry and where we don't have answers yet.

Will this always be relevant? I don't know is the answer but I think it will be relevant for as long as there is money in society. And for as long as we want goods, products or services we will need to find a way to make the value proposition worthwhile for all involved parties. I think there are only Three possible things that move us away from money in my lifetime and both of them will be a huge shock to the systems of society as we know it.

AI and robotics. If AI can complete all cognitive tasks to a level that is above that of a human, robotics has the dexterity to complete all physical tasks better than a human and the two are compatible with each other. At that point humans will not need to produce any goods, products or services. They can all be done by AI. At that point we will need a Universal Basic Income to buy perishable goods, or money won't be a requirement.

Energy production costs drastically reducing. If we don't have to pay for energy, including transportation, then everything is vastly cheaper (possibly incomprehensibly cheaper). What are the potential solutions? Nuclear fission, not fusion (although fusion is useful and a possible short-medium term solution). Fixing the nitrogen storage problem, it's got insane amount of energy in the right circumstances. Or geo-thermal. If we can dig deep enough. None of these are likely tomorrow and even with breakthroughs there is no telling if they are attainable and sustainable.

A cataclysmic event that takes us back to an age of self sufficiency. It could be a solar flare that wipes all tech, I assume that is possible, I believe I saw a video of Neil deGrasse Tyson talking about it! Or asteroids etc. An event that would not be fun to live through, by any stretch of the imagination. We have become very acclimatised to the comforts and conveniences we have created for ourselves.

https://podcasters.spotify.com

A Week Away From Web3 - Episode 54 by Dave Swinbank - A #BlogCast about me, web3, my Insights, Thoughts and Opinions

Welcome to the spoken version of my weekly blog, a #BlogCast about me, web3, my insights, opinions and thoughts. A Week Away From Web3 - Episode 54 There are a lot of reasons to take some time away, even if this space is a passion.

What are the outcomes? We will end up with tighter and more specific regulations in the Crypto/Web 3 industry for much of the globe. Hopefully these regulations encourage innovation, use of the tech and highlight the importance of end user ownership but I believe that will have to come from those that understand it, not those that potentially want to stop it.

Greed. Greed is definitely an outcome. Competition is also an outcome. Greed and competition together leads to bad things for this market. We see this repeatedly in existing financial markets (and outside of them too, if there is money to be made, there is often greed hanging around somewhere) and we have seen it more than once in this market. Just FTX. It is all anyone needs to say, and that is only the tip of the iceberg.

If you don't want to see behaviours like this played out over and over again, then take the time and effort to support the people you see acting differently. There are thousands of people telling you they aren't like that but a lot of those people show behaviours that say otherwise. Is it all doom and gloom? No. Not at all. This blog isn't about that and I don't want you leaving this thinking that.

The opportunity exists for us to make this the place where true equality of opportunity can exist and be protected and reinforced by the technology it uses. There are billions of use cases for blockchain technology, at least as many reasons as there are people on the planet. Make it a place for good. Aim to give people the potential to act differently and get rewarded.

I like numbers, I have always got on well with them. For the most part they make sense, at least until calculus. And I have always been intrigued by people and what they say. Group mentalities and how people lose their individuality is one of the things that fascinates me most about people.

I got to the end and realised I have more to say. Maybe I remember, maybe I don't. You will just have to come back next week! Thank you for giving me some of your time, I hope you found this blog insightful, if not interesting, and I will be back next week, until then. Take care.

Why is the Crypto market slower in summer? Lots of reasons. CryptoCasino said in a spaces that the big players, the market movers and shakers, are on their yachts. It is summer after all and they aren't focusing on making money from crypto right now, they want their good times. The retail market will always be quiet in a northern hemisphere summer. The vast majority of people live in the northern hemisphere and they are outside. Schools are shut so parents spend more time with their families.

Is this summer worse? It's difficult to tell. Last summer was hard but the turmoil going on was fresh in our minds and oil prices were sky rocketing. A lot of the world was experiencing a 'free' summer for the first time in 2 years and people were wrapped up in that. We did see Eth hit $900 for a moment last June. Maybe it was worse. It feels tough right now, that's for sure. Last summer was my first full crypto summer and my mind was still distracted by things away from this space.

The tech market is still struggling, it hasn't really recovered as a sector following a huge amount of job losses starting early in 2022. The main crypto social platform is undergoing swift and drastic change. It is very easy to let resentment seep in without realising. I certainly did earlier in July. I understand why and I have implemented things to make sure it doesn't continue to happen.

I've accepted where I am at. I know more than I knew at the beginning of July. I have a few things that I want, and need, to chase up. I have organised my calendar and have regular down time booked in for me. These have been massive positive steps for me. So has Twitter (X). I have attacked the platform to build my understanding of it and I will share a little of that in this Blog. That's been exciting, tiring and hard work, but I've found the enjoyment in that.

As well as working hard I have been remembering to have fun and join in with things that I like doing. The importance of smiles should never be underestimated, frivolity is good. I use the example of young people playing golf. They don't care if they just missed the ball, when they swing the next time, they just want to hit that one to the moon!

I have spoken with Chris about Goonz, Sandbox is a massive priority for us. GoonzWarz will likely be forever in stasis but hopefully remains playable in it's current state. The first part of our story is nearly there, I am asking someone to illustrate it with AI! We would also love to make it into an e-book. CartridgePunkz needs that same call, Matty and I have threatened to do this several times, now we need to actually get it done. I have spoken with my team at Polygon Alliance. And when this month is done I am hopeful to implement some next steps. One of our aims is to work out how can we offer our charity event knowledge and create more regular articles.

I have had to pick up and deal with some tasks that I would rather not this year. I have a couple more to go. Being accountable is massive in a space where so few are. I understand that right now it may not always be financially beneficial to be accountable and honest, but I am a firm believer that in the long run it will stand out that myself, and those around me, want to make this industry more than just a playground!

Not only have I had to do this in regards to the FCancer roll up mint and DrippyBullz. I've had to do it in my real life too (this is my real life but you know what I mean - my non NFT life). Tough decisions that I have had to make have impacted me, my family and my friends. This is unavoidable given some of the situations, but it doesn't make it easier.

I talk about core values. My core people values are focused on care, compassion, consideration, empathy, kindness, love and trust. I believe being accountable and honest wraps into all of these and strengthens them at the same time. One of the key aspects of that is communication. I may not always communicate as well as I can, but I am always open to communication and I try to resolve situations by communicating wherever I can.

Dave Swinbank

@Davc_s

I unfollowed 224 inactive people

I made that number up and they wouldn’t care if I had, they are inactive

But seriously. I started cleaning up the apps on my phone, continued leaving discords and unfollowing Twitter (X) accounts that no longer follow me

65

12:23 • 5 Aug 2023

Playing with my X... I am not sure that's something anyone should do! There are so many puns and I just cannot help myself, I'm not even sorry. The point is supposed to be about the platform as a whole but it is easy to get distracted. And that is a very pertinent point regarding X, or Twitter, at the moment. There have been big changes to the algorithm, to prepare for some of the changes Elon has said he wants to introduce to the platform.

This is a summary of some thoughts regarding that and then a little insight into how I am using it as a platform, not an in depth article on my findings. The first and one of the most important things is understanding the goals of the platform. Any social media's end goal is to keep you on their platform, that is how they drive revenue and therefore have a sustainable business model. The next step is to gain an understanding of how they do that.

Once you have some knowledge about the platform and understand how they are aiming to achieve their goals you have market insight and some important decisions to make regarding your aims, goals and values. What these aims, goals and values are and how important is it to achieve them on X? If you want people to spend their time, energy or money on you on X then you have to focus on using the platform for that, not as a social platform.

Dave Swinbank

@Davc_s

Curating or Cultivating your Twitter/X feed

It's called Crypto Twitter (or Crypto X) for a reason. A lot of the news, people and developments within The Blockchain industry are shared here first. This is where we come for breaking Web3 news. Including for NFT's

It's a…

58

21:26 • 7 Aug 2023

I have shared some more in depth thoughts on that specific aspect of X above and I have had some very positive feedback about that article. To take ownership of your account, your feed and where you are shown will require commitment, dedication and effort. If you want to use X as your social media platform then your expectations need to be that only the people that you regularly interact with, will see you.

I have decide that I am going to have a little more fun with X as a rule. Pun's, some occasional trolling of influencer posts, share my thoughts and continue building my brand. In line with that, you will see less far reposts from me, I will be clearing out the people I follow and I will be playing the algorithm game. I firmly believe we used to be able to beat the algorithm. The last few months have shown me that is getting harder and harder to do, and requires a much more focused and collaborative effort than we can muster right now.

Elon's longer term goal is for this to be a platform to be a platform where we can all do anything (or EVERYTHING) internet related. It's interesting and I am excited I am in the middle of it, you should be too. Video content is going to be a thing, the audible versions of my blog are a starting point and there are plans for other things, but they all take time and a level of commitment I don't know if I have yet.

https://podcasters.spotify.com

A Week Away From Web3 - Episode 54 by Dave Swinbank - A #BlogCast about me, web3, my Insights, Thoughts and Opinions

Welcome to the spoken version of my weekly blog, a #BlogCast about me, web3, my insights, opinions and thoughts. A Week Away From Web3 - Episode 54 There are a lot of reasons to take some time away, even if this space is a passion.

I thing Summertime Market Blues for Crypto and NFT's is definitely a thing, the changes to our main platforms don't help and the changes within our market create uncertainty too. Focus on supporting like minded people and yourself, it will be important. And make sure you add my BlogCast to your Spotify!

Thank you for reading my thoughts and remember, we choose our own outcomes in regards to feelings and perception. Choose a positive one for you. Mindset matters. Have an awesome week, all being well, catch you on Friday!

My Blog is representative of me. You can scan through previous issues (not all of them, not yet - I need to upload about 20... anyways... one day, along with many other things!), and you can find anything from personal thoughts, analysis, projects I am involved in, things I find interesting, events I have been too and more. The personal feel and aspect is very much by design and wraps into how I want to build.

For me it pays off in your engagement. Not all of you purchase these blogs, but a lot of people open them (and I am completely OK with this, because I view it a little bit like an if you want Patreon, I try not to pressure and appreciate those that do support). I have nearly 400 subscribers and a 40% all time email open rate. Thanks to Paragraph I am getting additional views from their platform, because I am very often placed in their trending section.

I get a decent amount of support on Twitter for my posts in regards to my Blog and I am hopeful that over time that will carry through to Spotify. #BlogCasts are back on the agenda and I am restarting from Issue 53. I appreciate the support you offer, it means a huge amount and I hope you continue to find value in my 'ramblings'.

One of my main aims with this blog is that I want you to feel like I am having a conversation with you, in an ideal world you hear my voice as you read this. The main reason, I hope this style continues to build on the personal connection we already have. In a world where anyone can be anyone, I believe in being genuine.

There are questions attached to the above and feel free to leave any I don't answer in the comments at the bottom! How much is too much is a big one! Why don't I share or 'promote' more? Where is this blog in 5 years could be another one. I will answer those specific questions (not that anyone's asked!) and likely some more. I also want to talk about what else I see happening from this. And explain how much work it is if I have room, before you commit to releasing regular weekly content!

How much is too much when it comes to talking about emotions, feelings, the past and other things? I think only the individual writing will ever truly know the answer to that. I want to share things that are relevant to how I am feeling or where I am at. Writing about them helps me work through thoughts and express some of the emotion and feelings I am having. I am one for getting them out there, because they fester if I leave them as internal feelings. I would rather have the conversation than grow resentment, where possible.

I use this blog a bit like a journal. It tells my story of where I am at or what I want to share. It is the moments and things that have been impactful to me as an individual. For one reason or another. They may not all of happened in the week I am writing but they will be relevant to what I am writing about, at least from my perspective.

VansCmkro.NFT | SR 💎 | Vanessa Camacaro

@Vans_Cmkro

Took Colin from @The_Squibbles on an adventure with my family!

I can’t believe he is traveling the world, and we have the honor to have him as guest in Denver, Colorado!

Thank you @jaystansfield for the amazing opportunity!

17

3:43 • 24 Jul 2023

Why don't I use this Blog to promote things? I do, to a point, but never as a hard sell. I don't want you to feel like the only purpose of this blog is to get you to spend money. I want you to read my blogs because you find them insightful or even entertaining. That they offer you a little escapism and hopefully a little information too. If I am 'promoting' something (or writing about something), like FCancer for example, then I am doing it because it is important to me, my feelings and where I am at in my journey.

I have no doubt I will spend more time talking abut Jay and The Squibbles for example. For a few reasons but mainly because I am due to look after Crocheted Colin (see a short video from the latest stop of his Worldwide Tour above), I help Jay out and am invested in supporting the brand build and the end goals of that business. I will want to share the moments in that journey, where I can and let you know the feelings associated with those moments. And one day, it will be a global brand, at least I believe it will.

Where do I see this in 5 years? Good question (whoever thought of that)! I didn't expect it to be this big just a year after I started writing it. I had simple goals like get to 100 subscribers, maintain an open rate, convert 1% of my Twitter followers (knowing a lot are inactive) into subscribers and explore poetry and photography in my way. To write limericks in a different style, thoughtful rather than amusing.

I smashed those goals. Far earlier than I thought. I currently have 1.22% of my Twitter followers subscribed and I would love to get that to 2% and maintain that. I would like 1,000 subscribers but who wouldn't (apart from those already there!). If I was to extrapolate my growth you could expect around 2,000 subscribers in 5 years. But that's far too specific and also something I see as a by product more than a long term aim.

My bigger aims are solidifying my relationships, continuing to be genuine and using the platform I have built to share things that help me. I have struggled in the past, more than I realised at the time. If some of the mindfulness and wellbeing things I share help someone else, that's amazing and a huge win. Vulnerability can be a huge strength, if you use it the right way.

There are targets alongside this as well. I really want to get to 400 subscribers, and maintain it. Even if some are family or second accounts! I want to maintain a 33% email open rate longer term, I want to link back to others to support things I am passionate about and I want to use this blog to hold me accountable to my values. I would love to do more, explore opportunities and potentials but every idea takes time, and there are too many ideas that I haven't delivered on yet.

Dave Swinbank

@Davc_s

Engagement v Impressions

What are you aiming for?

Engagement is about getting people to be invested in continuing their customer journey with you. Being willing to spend their effort, energy or time on you

This could be by clicking on an advert, signing up to a website,…

48

23:05 • 31 Jul 2023

All of the above takes time, energy and a little bit of money. If I am valuing my time at the same as my work do, then a lot of money! And that's before the content creation commitment. It takes a lot of time to write a blog that takes 5-10 mins to read. It takes a minimum of 60-90 mins to write, then I have to read it and edit it. Once that is done, I then need to do the reading again to make sure it is still a cohesive piece of writing that makes sense.

Then there is the final edit. 3 read throughs and normally it's still not perfect. There are very often grammatical and spelling errors. Copy writing for yourself is not the easiest task. My brain jumps because it knows what is coming next! I also have to find appropriate images, Tweets (not calling them Xeets, not today, not tomorrow and probably not ever) or articles.

I have learnt and improved a huge amount of skills since I have been writing my blog, my written communication being one of them, certainly in regards to how I want to put my content in. Maybe a dive into those skills is due... One last thing, for all my brain shoots out ideas non stop, it is easy to find yourself looking at a blank screen. Content creation is not easy.

The point of this, the final part of todays blog isn't for anything other than to help you understand how big a commitment writing a weekly blog or news letter is. Just in case you decide to make a similar commitment. I wouldn't change my journey to this point, it's been too enjoyable. I will keep writing (and BlogCasting) weekly and maybe some of those other ideas grow into something more than an idea. We shall see.

https://paragraph.xyz

A Brief-ish History of Me - Part 1 - Issue1

All good blogs should start with an opinion or a question. Well in my opinion, they shouldn't have to, although it does add that personal touch and drag a reader in. A personal introduction to brand #Davc_s

Long term do I have the foundations for a Web3 biography here, very possibly. And never say never right. I enjoy writing and expressing, I find solace and peace with myself when I do it. If you find value too (however you find it), then that's a huge win for me. As well as this issue, Issue 1 (above) is free to collect too.

Thank you for reading todays issue. Issue 56. Where does the time go, and I need to remember to promote this blog sometimes too. Otherwise I will never get to 400 subscribers! Have an awesome week and I will catch you next Friday.

Ever since I have started in Web3 I have had an end game or a larger goal/vision. That still exists and has always existed. The goal/vision may chance over time, and definitely has (not by a huge amount since October 2021), but there is always a long term outlook with everything I do. That vision is as big and expansive as providing a place that allows for equality of opportunity and doing it with the values that I believe are better for society.

What can happen, especially if your life becomes hectic, is that there is no short-medium term strategy from that bigger goal. Then day to day tasks turn into reactions. That could be with teams you are on, teams you run, your social media or it could go as far as your real life. And there are many reasons this can happen.

I spent a long time breaking habits that led to a lot of reactive behaviours. My relationship was definitely toxic, I wasn't 'allowed' to have feelings and everything became reactionary. What do I mean by not allowed to have feelings? They weren't relevant in any discussion. How I felt either wasn't how it was, or it wasn't important. Once the shoe was on the other foot, work or home life, how I made others feel (no matter what I meant) was the important factor.

I allowed the above to happen. That was a tough lesson to learn. Maybe the hardest of all of the lessons I have learnt in the last 5-6 years.

Dave Swinbank

@Davc_s

GM

Something finally arrived, not having a proper address for so long didn’t help @TMumzels. Thank you for your patience

Have a brilliant Tuesday

87

11:25 • 25 Jul 2023

I was adamant I wouldn't allow myself to fall into the same traps again, but here we are, over halfway through 2023 and I am in a very reactionary cycle. I know why I am here. Some of it is my fault, I don't believe most of it is, but I could have had a more positive response to most of this. I could have controlled how those outcomes made me feel a lot better, because we choose how we feel. Mindset matters.

I ask questions, a lot. I think it's vitally important, even if it annoys all of the adults when you are growing up "For the love of god, stop asking why", was a common sentence when I was younger! Either because it was annoying or they didn't know the answer... and that's an important point. It's very easy to get frustrated and reactionary when you don't know the answer.

If you are looking for an answer and you don't know the question, you're in even bigger trouble. This is my Twitter this year. The changes have come thick and fast. I don't know what works in alignment with my values right now and this is something I am currently experimenting with. One thing I have noticed, the algorithm is so much more responsive to you. Want more of your friends in your timeline, interact with them more. It's that simple!

Where am I going with all of this. I am not sure I am completely sure. One thing I do now know, after FCancer I felt a little lost. I had cleared my decks and was left a little adrift. The patterns of behaviour within our industry got to me, as did the patterns of behaviour among people I would call colleagues or friends. Being lied to over and over gain, deliberately or accidentally, the lack of transparency, accountability and honesty was very apparent.

Across all of the Web3 Space, not my circle. I mean did you see the last meme coin season (that devolved to buying editions of colours)? We have all heard about the commotion with Mario and bots, right? And that's before we dive into the attacks on people on socials, no matter how hard you try to stay away from it. We have seen Sandeep moaning (or getting frustrated) about Polygon being Eth's ugly step brother essentially (maybe there is a Cinderella story there, I doubt it but that's another story!). And there are many more examples.

Is it the deepest darkest pits of the bear? Is it just that all we have left in this space are the true builders/believers and the takers, the liquidators? If that is the case then this doesn't change until the next bull, likely a year away before we see the start of it. What does that mean? It means finding people who's values you align with just became even more important. It means that survival has to be the goal for people like me.

Dave Swinbank

@Davc_s

1/

A small thread

Do You Plank?

Isometric Exercise (wall sits or planks) is better than Cardio (running or cycling) for lowering blood pressure

Whilst Cardio, resistance and HIIT workouts were found to be beneficial, they weren't as beneficial as exercises...

11

0:02 • 28 Jul 2023

That's when it comes down to a strategy, without a strategy your goals aren't achievable, even when they are as simple as surviving. And whilst I say I haven't had a strategy. I primarily mean in regards to time management and social media. For me personally and Polygon Alliance. How am I fixing that? Or implementing a new strategy?

One of my first fixes needs to be where I dedicate my time and what reward I am getting for that. Do the values of the people I am working with and the potential of the outcomes make it worth my effort, energy and time? This is not an easy equation to work out. I am keen to give people opportunities, but there is a limit. I have spent a little time this month getting the thoughts in motion, then I will let my subconscious work on it at some point (that will involve a long walk) and after that I will make some key decisions on where I invest my most valuable resources. The things I can't get back.

The other thing that I have mostly implemented is an up to date calendar strategy. I have cleared the non recurring things and booked in regular time for me. Moving forward, if it isn't in my calendar, it doesn't happen. Unless I just happen to pick up (you know who you are!).

Is this industry still all just who you know? Without a shadow of a doubt, but isn't all the world. Maybe the technology can help that change but that can't be our first direction. We have to build trust first. We don't do that with the behaviours of the leaders we look up to and support at the moment. And it is across all of crypto, led by the liquidation mindset of some large investors and leaders.

And it feels more and more like the the leadership team at Polygon buys into and supports the values that promote these behaviours. We have seen it played out repeatedly in the last 7 months. The projects supported on the NFT ecosystem, the whitelists given, the bags held. There is a lot to see if you go looking. Polygon does still allow the ability to build the platforms and tooling that can solve some of these problems.

I will point to one example, one I know for sure. I was asked on an individual and a Polygon Alliance basis to be a mentor for Polygon Village. I haven't had time to address my whole team, but I think I know where I stand individually. I wasn't offered anything, other than supporting people Polygon are unable to or don't want to, and maybe some website space. There was no budget for Polygon Village. Two weeks later, the new CEO of Polygon Labs tweets the below (and don't forget £3M for y00ts to not deliver anything but volume...). Why is this relevant? If you want to build your community, you invest in it and you promote growth in areas you want it. And all of that comes from the top.

Marc Boiron

@0xMarcB

It's disappointing that members in and out of the Ethereum community spread many false rumors about Polygon Labs. One of them is that Polygon Labs has no money. This is comical but one that has required me to address it for some team members who now know that we have hundreds of…

358

19:31 • 27 Jul 2023

I wanted to write less about strategy and more about the 'boys club', however here we are. Planning, strategy, goals. They all interlink. We need them daily, weekly, monthly, yearly and longer, well I do. I enjoyed writing this, I feel that Polygon are a small part of a bigger problem with in web3, however it's where a lot of us play!

Thank you as ever for reading, for supporting and being there for me. To have close to 150 people open a personal blog weekly means a huge amount and I will have some updates for you about me soon. Enjoy your week, I will catch you next Friday.