Since my post on leaving crypto, I’ve gotten questions about what I’m interested in working on next. Though I gave a little at the end, maybe you didn’t get that far down or just want some more details. Having the freedom as a creator to choose what you want to work on is incredibly liberating, and having done just that for quite a while now, I guess I simply want to be open to sharing more of that with more people. Don’t worry, I won’t keep you here long.

My role is not as some esoteric teacher; I'll leave that to the professionals. Though I do appreciate them and I'm happy to share what I've learned, the purpose here is to facilitate stories, something we all do. Embracing decentralization as a cultural and creative philosophy, not as a technical framework. A middle ground.

If you know me, all of this is very obvious.

🌞 Kimiya is a creator-first independent magazine welcoming researchers, curious writers, and makers to consider the ways new tech can change our relationship to storytelling.

It’s called Al-Kimiya, shortened as just Kimiya, translated from Arabic and many other languages to Alchemy. A merging of futurism with cultures sharing the challenges of transformation and transfiguration. And also, shamelessly, a simple place for me to share things I find interesting without annoying friends in crypto spaces.

Transfiguration & Transformation

In late 2023, I descended into ancient teachings from all sorts of civilizations. After going through this (often insanity-inducing) rabbit hole, I found the alchemical texts of Hermes Trismegistus most fascinating.

As we move through the chaos of transformation under the dance of Pluto in Aquarius, now is the time for a explorations centered on care within this challenge of change. I have a few theories on the next steps for humanity I’m excited to test out. I believe those can be facilitated through integrating new interfaces for storytelling. Using our collective merge with more intelligent technologies to better share cultures from around the world will be what helps spread new ideas.

In my lifetime alone, we’ve been challenged by multiple transformations: from analog TV to digital, from dial-up to gigabit home networks, from going outside to being deeply integrated into smartphones and wearables—the list goes on—you get it.

I’m not interested in focusing my attention on some kind of AI transformation course, content, or anything like that. That sounds like a colossal waste of personal resources and can easily be done async when, instead, I could just build things that actually help people, right?

As Above

With that in mind, I see two sides to my interests coming together here: the first is a space for builders and cultural anthropologist types to create real tangible interfaces (empheral apps that help when needed & physical interfaces because I personally have a great admiration for hardware) that help bring solutions to challenges, whether through closing knowledge gaps or lack of various resources.

This research should center storytelling to the ways we interact with imaginative technologies like smart glasses and human interfaces such as optical light-based modules, energy-efficient conductive materials to power smaller analog devices, and many more dynamic opportunities to connect with media beyond screens and paper.

Starter ideas here

So Below

On the other side of the proverbial coin is the need to actually visualize and tell the stories from these far-flung locations so that others may better understand their challenges. In theory, this should lead to better products, better understanding, and greater access to the questions being asked, not necessarily their immediate answers.

The localization movement is accelerating and I’m interested in exploring where we may poke our nose into and tell of new possibilities. The purpose for this focus is to deliberately seek stories that challenge our outer world in order to find inner collective joy.

In Bangkok, I met loads within crypto who were writers, editors, and designers of magazines in their past lives and I got the impression that a great many would jump at the opportunity to write about things unconnected to that work that centers care and the ideology of decentralization, without a focus on a specific protocol.

Before that, I've spent 4+ years cultivating a network of writers, researchers, and builders and to you reading this, I happily invite you to join me in building more wholesome creations.

Here’s how it works for now:

Option 1

1. Visit the Guild page 🏰

2. Fulfill the requirements to join [will need USDC or fiat (stablecoin good)]

3. Enter the telegram chat you’re taken to

4. Build, write, research, chat

Option 2

1. Subscribe to this Telegram channel

2. Get free access to daily read-only correspondence 🌞

3. Bask in the glory of collaborative building

Your support will help me pay my rent, design costs, the time and energy it takes to write each week and research new experiments and interviews when traveling.

That’s all for now. I don’t know about a release schedule or have any other details besides what you see here. Further updates will likely be found on this mirror blog, in the Telegram channels above, and Substack newsletter.

Why Telegram? The idea is to get away from algorithmic feeds and push away from the noise of social posts. Quiet contemplation with fellow creatives will vastly improve output.

Where that takes us? I haven’t the slightest clue. What I do know for certain is it will be challenging, cooperative, and, most of all, fun. :)))

If you're interested in sponsoring or investing in things we build there is a secondary Unlock membership for sponsors and if you'd like to do more above that such as hosting a member or myself, please send me a DM.

Polynya was right; there is a lot of good in crypto. However, it appears crypto’s moral compass may be beyond repair, yet even bigger macro problems remain.

Since being back from Devcon, I've had time to think again about the role I can play as social structures and narratives continue to shift toward destruction through chaos. I've also become hyper-aware of the reality that is working in the crypto industry. Even when things are going well, there's this feeling lingering in the back of your head that a lot of this is simply unacceptable on many levels.

When good people and real businesses not meant to dump liquidity on friends go unfunded or underfunded while the casino spits another flame from hell, you know we’ve gone too far.

As the title suggests, the chaos has consumed far too many. Moving forward, my skills and perspectives will be better utilized in spaces and with founders or communities that do not consider themselves crypto-native or operate under the assumption that rampant speculation is a net positive for humanity.

This isn’t much different from where my exploration has naturally been for quite a while. Here, we’re just simply affirming focus. First, I want you to know that I don't judge you for doing what's right for you if that means working on crypto products; we all have choices to make, and some of them are genuinely good to have around. What I do judge, and you can see for yourself below, is the abysmal state of things.

From my perspective, I can choose to continue muddling through the crypto industry’s meat grinder, beating my head against a brick wall, or focus where all of me can be better used. Today, I choose happiness. I choose to build a more sane internet and be of meaningful service.

My message to those building for chaos, unnecessary destruction, and dark patterns in crypto is this: Grow up. Build better positive-sum apps. Quit the grifting and scamming. We all know that there are only a limited number of people who genuinely care about the next vaporware L2 launch. We all know shitcoins and memecoins are only to benefit the few. Meanwhile, it’s near impossible for cypher/solar/lunarpunks and the like to get any mindshare for their impact.

tl;dr

• I’m no longer able to stay on as editor-in-chief at EIC (explained further below)

• If you want media (and creators) to exist, you have to fund it, but leadership matters more (reason for above)

• I’m also no longer working with any team or product described as crypto-native or that adds zero-sum speculative elements

• The -punks shall inherit the internet

• A lot more good people have checked out of crypto than you might first realize

Let me reiterate as clearly as possible before we get into the meat of things:

Crypto, as it has operated for the past 4+ years, has become a complete joke. Why? Because there aren’t enough of the good projects and good people powerful enough to push out all the bad actors. But that’s only part of the truth:

The Morality Problem Continues Accelerating

Almost a year after their final post under the Polynya pseudonym, crypto has gotten to the point of love-bombing oligarchs and Presidents who create and then dump memecoins and scam DeFi projects onto American citizens’ heads. Of course, crypto graciously and blindly celebrated this returning President due to ultimately false promises, all because they care about nothing more than trading against each other into a black hole. The worst part of all is that none of the spiritual leaders of protocols and chains will speak up to deter this bad behavior because they’ll be crucified by the mob. Excuses of permissionless are not the answer here. People are entirely exhausted by the endless criminal (or otherwise immoral) activity, often former supporters.

This entire industry was built on the foundational belief that finance can and should be dictated by free and open code and smart contracts that make money accessible to all. This is all well and good unless you’re prepared to also combat the toxicity of an increasingly right-leaning user base. Yes, Ethereum has accomplished its protocol-level goals, but it has not properly protected the social layer. Solana and the other major chains are no better. This, in turn, has influenced an entire generation into deranged financial lunacy.

I don’t think Solana has actually won this cycle, either, pumpfun is the most egregious consequence of it all. In fact, it appears as if there are no clear winners among the speculative types besides maybe Polymarket.

I’m not at all saying it won’t get better. Maybe some miracle happens and Farcaster and Lens do actually pop off this year. Maybe people will start implementing interop in apps now that it’s supposedly “solved.” Maybe teams will start to build with more wholesome capital allocation mechanisms.

The more frustrating part is that well-meaning builders are often eventually pushed out or pressured to add speculative elements and gamification riddled with dark patterns to their projects due to coercion from peers or other temptations.

💡 For EIC04, I commissioned polar (pg. 10) to write an introductory piece to his recent research on the Ethereum social layer. I knew his research was coming to a conclusion, and this was the time to bring even a sliver of hope to the Ethereum community by putting names and definitions to what we do. I believe that no matter your opinion on the state of things, you should absolutely read his piece. I still believe the -punks will win in time.

The real winners are, ironically, the friends we made along the way since the only teams I’ve seen who aren’t making exit liquidity out of one another are still having a great time. Looking at Boys Club, SheFi, Chipped, Greenpill, and Kiwi News, just to name a few that I’ve enjoyed engaging with.

Some of you reading this aren’t building solely for crypto-natives, virality, or volume at all costs or to spread toxic hate. You’re building storage products or governance protocols. You’re exploring coordination mechanisms. I notice the ones battling Moloch. I see you. You’re creating content, making art, and writing essays. These are the people I love celebrating and will continue to do so as long as they continue to align with my values and boundaries.

The truth is, due to massively overinflated egos and various dog whistles inside the crypto industry, such as “meritocracy,” “milady,” and other gatekeeping measures that happen behind the scenes, the space will likely not truly live up to its stated goals. If you didn’t figure it out for yourself, meritocracy here, for a certain subset of loud people in crypto anyway, is based on skin color or wealth or, for some reason, a strange fascination with autism.

Ethereum leadership has refused to acknowledge problems in the part of the social layer that reveres the Milady cult and has instead leaned into them by signing off tweets with the callsign. Considering the truth about Elon becoming so glaringly obvious (Nazi) and the connection between his popularization of the milady meme, one only needs so many dots to connect.

Anti-intellectualism is the core of any fascist government, and it’s tearing crypto apart at the seams. Crypto has a unique opportunity to fight against this type of centralization of power if we put our minds to it.

To that point, where have all the hackers gone? Why are developers busy fighting on Twitter (we know this answer from above) instead of banding together? Your individualism is quite literally killing you.

Privacy, DAOs, public goods, and blockchain-based solutions ARE important for the future. But I cannot spend my energy supporting a part of an industry that is so broken and I refuse to fight alone. Join a resistance or roll over for the next Billionaire.

The Year-Long Tumble of A Media Venture

What have I done to contribute to Ethereum? What have I done, you ask? I've contributed to multiple communities, physical books, zines, magazines, and podcasts that provide accessible entry points into what it means to be an Etherean. So yes, I have taken action in the way I know how.

Crypto encourages bold builders—people who think big, who are new to building something on their own, and even those who have prior experience as founders, inside prior startups, or web2 giants—but who remain mostly unprepared for the realities of building in crypto.

Some of this industry's founders knew when to quit. Some of them were entirely delusional. Others were confused as to why their idea wasn’t working, unable to pivot in time. All or most of those challenges could have been avoided. So, while this is not meant to call anyone out individually for any true wrongdoing (obviously, since no major infractions occurred under my watch. I made the choice to engage with certain people, and these are simply observations from my perspective and mine alone), it is important to give you a little context on how this recent adventure with EIC broke the camel’s back so to speak.

By now, the latest issue of EIC Quarterly magazine is out and available to read, mint, or buy in printed form. EIC04 features many crypto figures, including Polar, MP, Owocki, Naomi, and others I call friends. In the five months I spent working on this magazine as editor-in-chief, I fulfilled a life goal by getting another stab at print media production.

Unfortunately, several challenges have led to EIC’s inability to continue paying an editor-in-chief, primarily due to a lack of ongoing funding. Personally, I’m not happy about the conclusion since I poured a ton of effort and love into the last two editions of the magazine. Even without new funding, there were issues leading to my needing to step away regardless. But I’m not without the ability to provide some form of reflection and feedback so we can all improve going forward.

It is incredibly important that we continue to give feedback to teams and communities when things don’t work out so everyone can learn together, not keep the truth behind closed conversations. The more we are willing to be intellectually and morally honest, not just shitposting and arguing all day long, the faster we can all grow as builders.

I’ll start by acknowledging that starting any kind of crypto media company is an uphill battle without some kind of injection of millions, as often occurs via VC funding or extractive token launch, or a team willing to grind it out unpaid for a while. Not in every instance, but in this case, “team” implies more than two people. AI is getting really good, and while you can replace some functions now, it is still best to have human collaborators. I would know; I learned the hard way with the first thing I tried doing and failed miserably.

I began working with EIC in September of last year with the third issue, a month into Q3 planning. It took a couple of weeks to devise an action plan for how to turn the magazine around with a relatively large number of necessary design and organizational changes to be made. Not only did EIC02 have several blank filler pages, but the page designs in both published issues were often AI-generated using Dall-e. This is very normal for a team with little experience in media publication, and I don’t fault the EIC founders for needing this kind of help. It’s why I was brought on.

I saw a tweet recently that reminded me of what builders can face in crypto, explained further below.

keshav

@keshavchan

the worst position to be in is lacking both the agency to be a founder and the tolerance to be an employee. unable to build your own vision yet unwilling to execute someone else’s. kind of like a self-imposed exile from both ambition and stability

9,738

9:41 AM • Feb 3, 2025

Other lessons learned from working with EIC:

• Personalize your outreach and don’t ever send blast scripted requests. This will kill your credibility as a curator or editor or builder. Blasting off to a list of 100+ begging them to take time out of their day to do something for you is hardly ever the answer.

  • Most contributors who wrote for EIC03 and EIC04 are writers or researchers I’ve had a direct, often ongoing relationship with. I reached out to them with a clear ask and prompt for a topic they would excel at providing for the community after doing my own research on prevailing narratives that quarter.

• A network of established designers on your side is worth its weight in gold (or ETH)

  • Friends can help you get to where you need to go a lot faster if you’re a genuinely good person. They’ll stop you from embarrassing yourself more than you’d like to people seeking credibility.

• Communication isn't a one-time event.

  • Building a media company demands consistent interaction through regular meetings and async communication - multiple times per week if not short times daily - to maintain alignment on vision, strengthen team bonds, and ensure operational excellence. These are problems I’ve seen in many crypto teams, but on the other hand, things can go too extreme and become distracting, so of course, a balancing act is in order.

  • Further nuance: Its not even that more meetings are necessary, there is a massive problem with communication standards across this industry in general. This has a lot to do with the maturity and general experience level on a foundational level. If you’re on a very small team it is your duty to communicate as often as possible, as clearly as possible, and keep communicating what’s going on about most aspects of the business.

• Budgeting is a major aspect of building a product and should always be given priority.

  • If you don’t have a transparent budget internally at all, well I don’t think I’m the first to see how destructive this can be. This need may change soon, we have maybe a year or so I’d say, but the revealing of irresponsibility here is clear.

• Incentives should be for those who actually read and engage with content.

  • I can’t be the only one sounding the buzzer here. Yes, crypto lets you cater to bots and extractive incentives to go viral and make a ton of money at once. However, if you go that route, you should know you’re giving up authentic loyalty for a short-term win that will grant you little real credibility as a media outlet. The only team I’m seeing with the leverage to make this work without PvP is T2.

• Building a community of fans around a media venture isn’t something that just happens overnight, particularly if you have a boring, lifeless brand, and doubly so when your only product is a niche quarterly magazine (slow) with no way to share the content.

  • When you never advertise how people should find that community or how that community, no matter how small, should support you, how’s that supposed to work? A Discord server is also rarely the answer to this problem.

  • I should have done more to create a communal base around the magazine itself. We could have gotten more distribution and more support. I failed at this. My excuse was that I didn’t want to spin up another community if its future was uncertain from the start (and it was communicated as such), which seemed like a reasonable view at the time.

• As mentioned above, one must ask oneself what work is needed to allow supporters to share content produced by the said media outlet. It is 2025, and social sharing was the bare minimum 10+ years ago, and it remains so today.

  • Without a CMS/blog/newsletter/active social account/whatever, you’re dead in the water, it is quite literally the job of a media company to allow many ways to share the content. Relying solely on sporadic Twitter articles cannot be the only option.

  • This is where I should have stepped in harder, again. I was asked to do social media on top of editor duties, but I set a boundary and could not handle being even more online than was necessary for my own sanity. This is my fault for not fixing this issue in some way. Making a blog site with full CMS features isn’t difficult, but it would also have cost time and money, and design resources were running low as is.

• Things done differently with EIC than other independent media operations:

  • Instead of bringing everyone into a single group chat, individual 1:1 relationships were leveraged for less chaos and a more controlled creative environment. This can have positive and negative consequences. Remember, writers often have vastly different personalities from degens.

  • More people with more perspectives help contributors think collaboratively. However, an editor doesn’t always need this solution. It’s a balancing act and not everything needs to be a community effort in all aspects. Though the benefits are there, the chaos can be disruptive. These are patterns I noticed when editing two books for Greenpill Network Writers Guild in 2024, the balancing act isn’t easy and leads to unnecessary coordination (and often personality) clashes.

  • Those in the crypto space are in far too many group chats as is. I know that feeling of overwhelm. Why should I contribute to the problem if it is truly unnecessary?

If Not This, What?

As I alluded to earlier, I hadn’t exactly been creating content centering crypto for quite some time anyway. Joining EIC got me back into creating and curating for the Ethereum ecosystem and kept me there.

I had stopped writing my previous newsletter last summer and essays on topics I was exploring previously didn’t feel necessary any longer. Now it’s time to get back to being a full-time content creator with fresh ideas, communing with friends, and likely building something creators like me can be proud to use. I’ve thought a lot about what that should look like.

More than anything though, I’m interested in chatting with people in various cultures to explore how they are overcoming challenges caused by increasingly intelligent technology to better preserve their storytelling. If all goes well that looks like more print media, more novel, collaborative writing, and a fight for a more magical internet. It’s time to give more energy to soft power.

While I will no longer work for a crypto-native startup, I will, however, continue to build within tech and write about culture, meaning, coordination, connection, and media.

As we move toward artificially intelligent futures, times are getting more serious by the minute. There is no more time to waste. Shed the things that no longer serve you. Get your head on right. Seek peace and love before you destroy Ethereum from within.

I was beyond excited for this year’s Devcon to be in Bangkok since the moment I heard about it. I had been planning a trip to Thailand for multiple months leading up to the announcement. The location, people, and Ethereum truly showed up to be the top ETH event of the year.

The two other events I went to this year, ETHDenver and FWB Fest, were in stark contrast to what was on offer at Devcon (this was my first Devcon, so I wasn’t 100% sure what to expect). ETHDenver had endless booths with scattered narratives and felt more like a baby expo with an attached hackathon, while FWB Fest is all about culture creation and cultivation. I learned more about the entirety of the Ethereum ecosystem in one week at Devcon than in the 3+ years I’ve been working in crypto. That’s a massive win in my book.

Not only was Devcon one of the coolest events I’ve attended, it actually did a few of the things I’ve wanted the space to embrace: community hubs, attendee participation, side classrooms, and a large enough venue that would hold all 12,000 people attending even if there were no side events (will definitely give some hot takes on side events in a bit). Overall, I didn’t get a chance to see nearly as many talks as I wanted, but thankfully, they’re all on the Ethereum Foundation YouTube channel and were released so quickly that anyone could follow along from home!

If you saw me anywhere around the city, I likely introduced myself with something along the lines of “Hi, I run an Ethereum magazine.” - the level of interest and appreciation for the work we’re doing at ETH Investors Club is so loved, and I enjoyed each opportunity to get to know what people are building! I spoke about EIC at the Creator Hub, check out the recording here!

My main takeaway from Devcon: The world is in such an uncertain, chaotic state, and while not one of us can make enough change to alter these events, when we work together to build a better internet that brings decentralized money and a world computer to everyone we all become a significant force for good. The EF delivered on and exceeded expectations.

This is just a sort of basic overview, but if you’d like more thoughts on something specific, please feel welcome to send me a message on Warpcast, Twitter, or TG for more chats about the week or anything else I’m working on!

The Main Event

I’ll say it - Devcon is the absolute best main event that Ethereum puts on. For the fact that the venue is gigantic, it could have held everyone that came to Bangkok this week with no problem. For me, that’s the whole point, to spend as much time at a highly valuable main event. More Ethereum events should take note of the features on offer:

Audience Interaction: Q&A sessions at the end of talks were facilitated by DIP-45: Meerkat, an upvoting system for surfacing the best questions to ask.

Community Hubs: While I participated in the Onchain Creator Hub, there were many more community-organized hubs hosted by experts on-site for curating sessions each day. Check out all the other Community Hubs here, where you’ll find info on AA Hub, Gardeners Hub, Governance Hub, DeSci Hub, and many more. A very special thank you is in order for Isaac and Kitty for organizing the Onchain Creator Hub. I believe every single main ETH conference should have meaningful community hubs!

Classrooms & Workshops: I loved that there were so many little side rooms you could pop into for demos, discussions, and workshops on various things being developed. On the ground floor, you’d find a massive area called Hacker Cove, a Decompression Room to unwind and relax (with free massages, too), treasure hunts, and so much more to explore.

D/acc Day

My favorite of the community session event days was d/acc day on the 2nd floor of the venue. A whole day dedicated to decentralization, democracy, differential accelerated progress, and defensive tech.

Watch the d/acc talks here

↓

Ethereum Foundation

We're the Ethereum Foundation, a non-profit supporting the Ethereum community and network, a decentralized technology for building a more open, human-centric internet. Here you'll find clear, approachable intros and deep-dive technical explainers. Most videos come from our global gatherings, Devcon and Devconnect, the largest Ethereum events worldwide.

https://www.youtube.com

Outside the main talk area, there were free masks and a couple of vendors. One of these vendors had created a device called ucritter to monitor air quality levels but made it into a pet simulator. Sadly, I didn’t get to take one home, but you should definitely check it out! D/acc day, from what I could tell, had a major focus on disease defense and prevention, vaccines, and science acceleration.

Side Events

My hottest take of the week is that side events are becoming increasingly less worthwhile and more of a waste of money UNLESS done really well. While I didn’t get to go to all of them, from what I did see and hear, the ones that had the best reception were Aggregation Summit, frENS Day, g(t)m con, Bankless Summit, and Ethereum Interop Forum. These all had one thing in common: they were all-day affairs bringing the top industry experts together for discussions, panels, and extremely focused talks.

My personal favorite side events will always be the ones that are significantly less crowded (Aave DeFi Day, for example, was nice but extremely overcrowded). Examples of these smaller, less crowded side events I attended were Starknet + Hype Marketers Happy Hour and g(t)m con (less crowded because it was in a large room w/ seats). I was so honored to get a 1:1 demo of Cookie3 by Krystyna at the Starknet Marketers Happy Hour. That’s the kind of thing you can’t do at most side events!

Lessons event organizers should learn (and are obvious tbh): curated attendance is really important - I saw so many people at events only there to hawk conversations to do BD rather than learn or literally anything else.

There’s a lot of… weird stuff going on in the marketing space, but the absolute stars of the week are Emily and Reka, hands down the most competent, compelling, kind, brilliant marketers to grace Ethereum. They both bring valuable insights literally everywhere they go. If you don’t already know them, you need to fix that asap! One thing I’ll add here that is relevant is a note that you don’t need to shitpost 24/7 on CT to be well-loved, and your insights go a long way for your credibility by actually being nice and supportive.

I also attended two Serotonin events, the full moon festival, and one lunch session on stablecoins. I love the Serotonin team so much, and I’d like to give a very special shoutout to Yuna and Will for chatting and being SO kind. Everyone on the Sero team is top-notch and really proves how much value they add to the ecosystem as an agency.

In Bangkok

I’m loving Bangkok so far! This was actually my first time leaving the US, so it was definitely a moment to remember. I think this city is one of the most perfect locations for a massive conference: diversity of transportation, amazing food options, happy people, and an abundance of massages for tired feet after a long day of walking.

Bangkok is such a picturesque city with a new story to unveil on every corner. I hope to write more about my adventures over the next few weeks here, so hopefully, you stay tuned for that, too! And if you’re still around, lmk maybe we can meet up for Thai tea and mangos!

I saw this quote just now and it reminded me why I exist.

As I write this on Thursday evening, I am once again taken aback by how inspiring it is to be engulfed by media.

I watched this two-hour video essay by the channel Then & Now on the rise and fall of media, and while it was illuminating, it still left me wondering how we can fall in love with technology again via more loving media.

I started reading The Editor’s Companion by Steve Dunham this week. It’s a timeless, indispensable guide for writers and editors of all media. You should check it out!

I’ve also continued catching up on the Print is Dead podcast. Hearing from founders and editors of magazines has been beyond inspiring and confirms that a lot of us, while all figuring it out day by day, really are on the right track. These women (and some men), veterans in their industry, like Kerry Diamond, founder and editor at Cherry Bombe, hint at print media’s relation to community building. Emma Rosenblum, Chief Content Officer at Bustle, mentions how the NFL tackles sales by going hard one day a week rather than going all out every single time at the printer.

Many of the editors I've listened to are just as happy printing two or four magazines a year as they were working on monthlies. The dedication to a craft is incredibly clear when listening to their stories. If you're a writer, I highly recommend this podcast.

In her episode, Emma says they have a virtual monthly member event for Cherry Bombe subscribers, with over 100 people attending each time. Combining a quarterly magazine, a fully stocked site with recipes and travel tips, multiple podcasts, community, and events, that is the modern media business. Oh, and Cherry Bombe also has a yearly conference called Jubilee for women and creatives in the food industry.

Here’s a look at their subscription model:

And I imagine every single subscriber of Cherry Bombe has no problem paying for the quality experience they get from the support.

So, if this is what it looks like to run a (print) media business in 2024, I wonder what it might be like 5 years from now and how we, as editors, writers, reporters, content creators, and the like, can prepare ourselves for that.

I will try to explore in future weeks.

To do that though, we in digital and print media, we’re eventually going to have to talk about the internet.

steph 🪽🎀

@hhhuuunnn333yyy

why is it so embarrassing to talk about the internet???

34

11:12 AM • Sep 16, 2024

Maybe the answer is that we need to fall back in love with the Internet—with ourselves on the Internet—with how we build products for a dynamic Internet.

Maybe it’s embarrassing to talk about this maturing entity and wish, if not so secretly, that it was something it is not. If all we do is try to improve this thing beyond capabilities, attach it to our bodies, abuse it, and drone away at its casinos, what message does that send? Mixed messages, really. If the internet is the heart of an evolving, connected humanity, it seems like we’d want to collectively keep that organism and our use of it healthy.

Media on the internet and access to said media, however, needs a makeover and several years of therapy sessions. Rather than slapping the word capital New in front of the Internet and calling it a day while attempting to put power back in the hands of creators, we must consider the content and those distributing it.

It may also be embarrassing to talk about the internet due to how intimately connected we are to the things, and people, it produces. Being an internet person is a weird kind of relationship, or so I’ve heard. And now we’re all so disillusioned that we've turned a tiny hippo into an overnight celebrity via yet another microtrend.

That's fine and all but do you even remember demure? Ahhh yes, the good ol days of what… two weeks ago. You people will drop the meme as soon as the next one hits your feed. So what, right? Anything for the bit and a few likes.

This is probably why dating, too, has turned into media. Again, everything is content.

Maybe this is why dating apps are crumbling. We’ve fallen out of love with our connection to the internet and the people we find inside it. Maybe we wouldn’t have “gooning” as a new term if we weren’t so lobotomized by the reality TV celebrities and tech henchmen of the day feeding us “news” and entertainment in the form of stoic slop media.

Who are the sane ones here?

Who are the sane ones here?

Maybe the internet you end up falling in love with is better than the one you remember. Maybe it’s permissionless, where creators get a say in what happens with their IP, more programmable, and more useful to those traditionally underserved by an industry built on a foundation of manipulation and harmful propaganda.

Print magazines, on the other hand, are sacred, a moment in time unlike the digital space. There's a different type of creativity and intimacy with print media. As in, a relationship to media chosen so thoughtfully to solidify with ink.

We could, of course, spend an entire day talking about legacy media though I admit I'm no savant at this stuff. All I know is I'm having fun on the internet again and maybe that's all that matters. As for next week and the weeks after that, my focus at EIC is clear: enhancing physical media with onchain creativity and reporting that maximally benefits both writers and readers.

This next wave of media to fall in love with is narrow. It is more thoughtful, energizing rather than draining. Media deserves a little glow up. Maybe we got a little taste of it with this summer’s pop hits. Not looking at you Katy Perry.

Anyway enough of me being a hater. Back to the internet and media.

This love is why I’m so happy to be Editor at EIC Quarterly. It gives me the chance to share with readers a love for Ethereum and its developments in a way I understand.

I have no one's shoes to fill but my own, so that's… comforting.

It's also why I want to reduce the number of advertorials to as few as possible (though please feel welcome to pitch them). We do and see enough shilling on the timelines. In their stead, I want to see feature stories that highlight the world computer of today and tomorrow, what is being created with ETH through an analytical lens, the dreams being brought to life, and ultimately, a shared love for the internet. The vision is clear, the task is massive, but I’ve been here doing this creator thing and bringing Ethereum people together for the past three years without quitting, I think we’ll be just fine.

Previous issues of EIC have held space for 12 and 13 stories, yours could be next!

If that sounds like something you’re into, or you want to sponsor EIC03, send me an email at riley@ethinvestorsclub.com

Closing question for readers: What are your thoughts on Letters to the Editor sections or other magazine mainstays?

Bonus YouTube video for the week on how to publish your own magazine.

And you should see this week’s announcement from the product team at YouTube.

At the moment, I’m editing a new book for Greenpill and EIC03 for ETH Investors Club as Editor-in-Chief. If you have a story for us, feel free to send it my way!

Don’t forget to check out my latest writing on t2world for Lens, Questing into a New Experience Economy.

Oh, and if you’re looking for a new editor role, check out the ASME job board.

I went on a little hunt recently through Reddit, Spotify, and YouTube to try and track down the latest gossip and struggles editors face these days. There are actually a couple of decent podcasts, like The Editor’s Half Hour and another favorite, Print Is Dead (Long Live Print); check out this episode with American Society of Magazine Editors Hall-of-Famer Tina Brown. I also like this book called Write Articles About the World Around You. The r/writers, r/freelanceeditors, and r/copyediting subreddits have some decent conversations going on if you can deal with venturing over to Reddit.

I've been a longtime fan of David Perell’s podcast How I Write. One of my favorite episodes is the one with Kevin Kelly. Maybe someone should start a show called How I Edit…

I haven’t always been the best at this job. Honestly, it took a lot of pain, effort, and stress-induced bouts of crying trying to meet deadlines. When I was editor of my high school monthly newspaper, managing teenage writers, that was the worst of it—breaking up shouting matches in an open-door room about stories to feature, mending friend breakups, calming writers who couldn’t figure out how to get an interview, pages filled with red ink spilling over the sides. Everything was better at the end of the month when we took to print. Later, I got to see huge smiles on those same writers and saw a byline with their names. Today, that kind of thing seems to be taken for granted, with online media churning out content at wild rates.

My timeline for writing and editing a substantial essay or article typically looks like this:

I’ve been known to write super quickly as a journalist. I like at least a week or two of complete obsessive research. This is enough time to put my head in the right space for a coherent opinion. Usually, it takes around 2-4 hours to write, and then I let it simmer (while celebrating, of course). Since I don't believe in editing or thinking much at all while writing, all that happens the next day when possible.

Sitting down for an editing session, I take a quick pass with Grammarly, though I do not use the other AI writing features Grammarly offers. Not too much happens here, but it's a decent gut check. With some whimsical lo-fi in my headphones, the hyper-focus begins.

Though I struggle with dyslexia, one of the strengths of a natural editor is the ability to know what sounds correct by placing yourself in the right headspace. Many years of experience don’t hurt either. Beyond being “correct,” which is simply a symptom of knowing grammar rules, style, and structure, it’s often more of a third thing.

What I like to do is put myself not in my mind as the reader but in the perspective of several different types of readers. By gaining this particular perspective each time, I can better adjust certain language and balance out technical terms with context clues rather than having to explain every concept in excruciating detail.

I go through this same process when editing another writer's work, with an added layer. Now, since I already have these personas in my mind, I add the author’s perspective as well. I search their profiles and go through any chat logs to get a feel for their personality if I don't already know them. Any edge I can get in making sure this writer is presenting themselves and their story as accurately and authentically as possible is best.

I believe this is one of the edges that editor types have. This also applies to marketing, community building, and being a founder. Again, this is where it helps to have true understanding. When you understand yourself, you can better understand others, and that includes how they write. I guess this is where Tina Brown might have a rebuttal about keeping the thing a job and not some sacred calling, and while I agree with her, it is a job, and one must be scrappy with things, there is some intrinsic feeling-making to this editing stuff.

Beyond that instinctual skill, I make sure that each essay, story, or excerpt has what David Perell calls POP. You can listen to him talk about it here. For David, POP stands for Personal, Observational, and Playful. Finding these bits makes a piece of writing more relatable, helping the reader find themselves in the story, especially when you’re editing a trendy piece that people want to plop their lives into.

When editing, I give suggestions off to the side rather than making corrections myself. I like the Suggesting mode on Google Docs, where a writer can more easily learn how to make future adjustments to their style.

One little quirky thing about how I edit is that, for me, the interface matters. I love writing in Notion, but I hate writing in Google Docs. I will happily edit in Google Docs, though… idk take it or leave it from the girl who has used all the writing interfaces under the sun besides a typewriter, from Corel Draw to Quark Express, and InDesign to MS Word, Google Docs, Notion, and all kinds of others; maybe I’m just getting older. I’m allowed to have preferences!

These are just a few bits of my editing process. I’m sure I’ll think of more to sprinkle into other pieces of this blog series.

Follow me on Twitter, Warpcast, and Orb

That’s why taking the role of editor-in-chief at ETH Investors Club and working on our quarterly magazine is such an important challenge— getting Ethereum ecosystem media right is a Herculean task.

I wanted to take a little time out to give a bit of a story on my relationship with media and, at first glance, how I see that evolving alongside this New Internet, especially since there isn’t a virtual bucket of Editors-in-Chief in this space to hear from regularly. If you know any EIC or are an EIC, please reach out. I’d love to connect!!

From an early fascination working with or starting newsletters, newspapers, and magazines covering all sorts of topics, writing, curation, and editing have long been passions of mine. Not only fascinated by writing for print or online publications, though. I’m particularly excited by the stories we tell on a daily basis between friends, in video games, in film, in group chats, and everywhere in between.

Since being part of web3, I re-ignited this love for writing through a newsletter, Mirror posts, editing here and there, freelance writing, and helping other creators. Brands I’ve been privileged to work with just this year include Greenpill Network, Boys Club, Take Up Space, Unlock Protocol, Tally Content Guild, and Celo, among many more.

I recall the purest joy of sitting down at a table in Barnes and Noble as a teenager with nothing else to do on a Tuesday evening than flipping through the latest Macworld, PC World, PC Magazine, or Scientific American with an iced coffee. That is the type of joy I want to evoke for readers through all knowledge levels—giddy, delightful, nerdy joy and optimism, no matter where you’re reading.

Looking Ahead

This is only week one, so no promises, but here are some things I want to accomplish in the next year at EIC:

I want to try getting EIC Quarterly in bookstores. I think it’s a really special space for the average person to discover new tech, and I want to get ETH stories in front of as many eyes with as little current exposure as possible.

Print does that, but being onchain also serves a purpose. I want to find more ways to challenge the ETH ecosystem to reward creatives, especially writers reporting on emerging tech.

I want to make it easier for supporters to redeem physical copies. Getting a physical collectible should be a seamless and rewarding experience. Since EIC is currently donation-funded in the form of collectibles, building out robust options for viewing, sharing, and collecting pieces each quarter is imperative for growth of Ethereum writers, investors, and developers.

I also want to start working on, or at least begin, the conversation about varying the ways we experience these quarterly stories. Are we super sure that media in the year of our Lord 2024 must only include interfaces for print, social, online/onchain, and podcast, and that’s it? I’m not. I think there are tons of new options to explore here.

Defining a few things

Curator: An editor curates words, features, and themes, knowing what needs to be said at just the right moment. For a quarterly magazine, curation is even more important.

Producer: An editor is also a producer of creative work, no matter the interval. Therefore, my aim is always to be easy to work with, treat each author’s work with respect, and provide consistent and timely feedback.

Narrative: An editor determines the voice and broad function of the pieces inside any particular issue. In this case, I view my role as important in maintaining and proliferating Ethereum narratives alongside my demonstrated sense of taste and ability to be terminally online/onchain.

Pitching

Pay: Yes, I'm happy to chat with you about that. We use a combined standard rate flat fee + mint split model. We hope this offers authors ownership, simplicity, and more upside for their work than any other industry.

Since EIC is a quarterly report magazine, one can naturally determine when we’ll be seeking new pitches near the beginning of each new quarter!

Beyond pitches, EIC regularly curates pieces written by ETH ecosystem contributors, so keep shipping great works!

That being said, my DMs on Telegram, Warpcast, Twitter, or email are great places to start the conversation. If you’re a writer with a compelling story on Ethereum or emerging tech relevant to EIC, please reach out at any time.

Here’s a quick guideline for sending pitches to EIC:

• EIC covers DeFi, culture, social, investing, feature interviews, research, and more - all pitches should have some effect on the Ethereum ecosystem

• Read previous issues of EIC. This will help guide the direction of your piece.

• Keep it short but eye-catching: Subject line (PITCH…), headline, short excerpt, list of published work, social links.

• If you need to explain yourself, send a 5-min Loom first before requesting a video call.

• Be curious, be creative, be analytical, factual, but most of all, enjoy the process.

• Tell, don’t sell. A pitch is not the time to sell me on your product or project.

• This is a video from Film Courage on pitching movie ideas. The concepts are similar.

• Here’s another super smart video guide from a writer’s perspective.

*Disclaimer: this may be updated or posted elsewhere in the future.

FWB FEST24 was a call to adventure in the woods, but it was also met with a standoff inside the liminal state between bear and bull we’ve been comfy in for all of 2024. For FWB and many on the Optimism Superchain, this year has been an era of validation. Validating ideas, concepts, and community care.

For the third year in a row, friends at FWB gathered in the woods of Idyllwild, CA, at Idyllwild Arts Academy to celebrate their accomplishments, one another, and the crypto industry. This year’s Fest was more than magical, bringing together some of the brightest, most culturally minded folks in the industry.

Celo graciously sponsored me at FEST to connect with artists and source inspiration for the next Creators Fund season. Check out each update on Twitter.

If my biggest complaint was waiting too long in food lines, that’s hardly a deal-breaker. The food was incredible, though, so major kudos on the vendor choices! Especially for having refreshments everywhere… which is surprisingly rare for crypto events. The Uniswap Café was definitely the spot to cool off, make a bracelet, and get pierced.

This year’s FWB Fest was about more than just the crypto industry, though. It was a call to emerging technology at large, which is beginning to sense its greater narrative. That culture, which we collectively create through memetic life forces and storytelling, drives us toward a more validating future.

steph 🪽🎀

@hhhuuunnn333yyy

the problem with the crypto brand is that too many builders and investors get trapped in the narrative.

if we want to build culturally relevant and persistent cabals, then we can/should divorce the crypto brand from the underlying emerging tech and intended use cases.

44

8:18 AM • Jul 25, 2024

None of this would have been possible without the incredible group of people organizing FEST24. I would especially like to thank Steph Alinsug for impeccable CMO-ing this year, along with Iz, Nicole, Paul, Greg, and many others who brought this special weekend to life.

steph 🪽🎀

@hhhuuunnn333yyy

i killed cryptohun3y

68

2:34 PM • Jul 18, 2024

It was made quite clear the narrative “crypto is dead, long live crypto” from FWB CMO and friend Steph (RIP cryptohun3y) was the vibe. While yes, this was indeed an ethereal merging of art and technology, it was also a reshaping and unfolding of what it means to mold the future of culture and creativity onchain.

Of course, that doesn’t mean crypto is actually dead. In fact, we’re in for a good ol’ fashion rebirth. FWB FEST was a place for healing after being beaten down by policymakers, market stagnation, and otherwise weird times.

Reflections

While I managed to miss many talks, as one does at these things, I did a ton of observing. From overhearing conversations to walking around 10k steps a day to find the coolest spots, it was a lot to take in.

Of the conversations I had, there were nearly zero talks of “web3 social,” yet more talks about memes and what culture means to each individual. FEST proved that we in crypto have more important things to figure out. Social apps are just one way we create change and distribute ephemeral, incredibly niche memes.

Culture, the type we discussed on the hill and below it, is really about self-expression. On that weekend every single person found ways to uniquely express themselves IRL that just isn’t possible onchain, and that in itself is a beautiful thing to admire.

Another thing I noticed, and it wasn’t just me, is that there were quite a few people there who didn’t know anything about crypto. They were just there to hang with us. I think those are also magical moments to share. Whether you were there to listen to music or chill with nerds, we’re here for it.

Most attendees (from the crypto space, at least) were marketing professionals of some kind and artists of all kinds, from physical art to design. Many cool-on-the-internet types, many yappers in the woods.

I heard there was something like a 10:1 ratio of men to women at Basecamp before Fest kicked off. Not too surprising there since most builders in the space are men. But the girls really showed out for the rest of the week. So many friends, so many hugs to be had, so much joy all over.

I attended Member’s Day just in time for the Town Hall as my first experience of the week. All I can say is that room like I imagine all of FWB, was filled with brilliance. The introduction of Mesh, the undisputed future of event management, additional info on how Bend payments work, and thoughts from the FWB team were all such a caring sendoff for the weekend ahead.

FINALLY, an event that understands QUESTS! I cannot say enough how much IYK x OP & Mesh integrated side quests into the weekend. IYK seriously hit it with the scavenger hunt. Each spot to tap was in places where you would inevitably run into someone to talk to or at some side event. Mesh created a persistent chat for the weekend and incentivized connections through the app. Oh, and they didn’t need to call them quests nor have to go through a whole onboarding 101 to get people into an app. It was just easy.

Boys Club™

@BoysClubWorld

on the HUNT @ FEST with @CaitPoli & @blakefinucane

Cc @Optimism + @iyk_app

40

9:47 AM • Aug 5, 2024

Culture…

The entire schedule of experiences was full of one word: CULTURE, whatever that means today.

Learn more about how FWB thinks about culture at their wiki and blog. Between Boys Club and FWB - these are two crypto social clubs that I believe really get internet culture.

Each experience ranged from tangible play to dance and music to college-level conversations on Brat Summer memetics. In a time when it feels like internet culture is crumbling, held up by tiny wet sticks, there are still groups going hard in discussion on where we are today and where we go next. Were there sessions and speakers I didn’t necessarily care for? Absolutely! That’s the joy of diversity. Internet culture is meant to be divisive and crunchy.

However, I will point out that this crowd was extremely heavy on hipster vibes… highly unrepresentative of the internet at large. If we are to build a better internet, we should think outside this extremely small bi-coastal bubble. The internet of today is a lot larger than the party scene in NYC and LA.

On the other hand, the diversity among voices was so incredible to see. Again, the IYK x OP Creator Haus worked super hard to make this possible. Throughout each day, there were hard-hitting talks on creativity and onchain culture that frankly needed to happen. I hope these ideas come to life sooner rather than later and more of these artists get seriously funded.

It was more than clear (as proudly pronounced) that many in the sea of 1000+ people certainly needed some time offline. Then again, who am I to judge? I needed it, too.

Bringing together emerging tech professionals to a music festival was truly a magical merging of cultures.

Closing Thots

I wish I would have attended more of the talks at the main stage.

Honestly, I don’t have any real criticisms at all about the entire time. FWB FEST was everything I needed it to be and more. I will definitely be back next year, that’s for sure.

I’m beyond happy I got to see some new friends, especially glad I got to meet Kiana and Paff <3

What’s next for me from the Celosphere sponsorship? Well, I will be giving out 3x $1000 artist grants for the next Creators Fund, and I’ll be looking to artists who were at FEST for inspiration. So stay tuned to Celo tweets for more info on when that goes live!

See you in Idyllwild next year!

I’ve been wandering through past loves lately, spending time rewatching TV shows I was obsessed with from 2010 to 2017, sitting with the imagination of those stories we once shared. In my opinion, this was truly a golden age of social media, TV, the internet, and renewed support for comics.

When you step away for a bit, you get a rare opportunity to zoom out and see the holes you can fill unbothered by the noise of whatever space you frequent. This most recent time away from web3 has allowed me to consider if there’s a viable opportunity to bring fandom to the “New Internet” in a responsible way. I now think it’s possible, with a few caveats. That is if we collectively want meaning-making to get away from ridiculous, overintellectualized VC-led concepts like “scenecoins.”

When I look across the vastness of the onchain space over the past three years, I’ve seen a lot of experiments, from PFP collections that attempted to share a collective identity between 10,000 hopeful members to memecoins that hijack cultural moments with objectively horrendous art and frat-like behavior by 20-somethings.

While NFTs have made such an impact on a very small, albeit often obnoxiously loud part of the internet, we find that not only have we lost the plot when it comes to community building, but along the way, we missed an opportunity to create fan communities where interaction doesn’t constantly rely on financialized PvP games.

We tainted our systems with outstanding hubris when we created communities with money at their core rather than connection, care, and human decency. Even DAOs, in their attempt to upend governance, often resort to PvP, not-so-positive-sum games. Maybe it’s time to try some PvE (player vs environment) experiments, bringing stories to life that fans can connect with.

I will acknowledge here that artists and developers have been presented with new open protocols for receiving recognition and greater financial rewards for their work. These protocols are some of the greatest innovations of our time as extensions of the web. These experiments should continue.

Social is a People Problem, Not Just a Tech Problem

What may be obvious to some, namely community builders, content creators, and marketers, isn’t so obvious to the rest of the space, which is largely made up of developers. When we hoist developers on a pedestal simply because they are the people writing code, we invariably leave out the very sound voices of creators and caretakers of the web who are screaming for connection.

RYAN SΞAN ADAMS - rsa.eth 🦄

@RyanSAdams

Why hasn’t web3 social taken off yet?

352

9:31 AM • Jun 25, 2024

This week, Bankless Podcast co-host Ryan Adams started the conversation re: web3 social with hundreds of responses. Most of these boiled down to a need for better content rather than focusing on money, solving UX problems, and loosening the grip on niche experiences, not to mention that social apps are difficult to become sticky overall.

Many people pointed to Farcaster, a protocol I’ve been a big proponent of. I’m still fairly optimistic about the long-term impact of the network there. Still, it certainly has glaring issues that deserve addressing but will be more difficult to resolve in the short term.

The crypto crowd needs to understand that financialized social experiences don’t actually lead to richer cultural landmarks that stick around. In fact, they are typically only as good as the time it takes for a number on a chart to go up.

Capitalism is fine for most use cases of the internet, which has allowed technology to thrive thus far. However, it is increasingly clear that connections between real people require pockets of comfort, narrative, and a long view of stories those same people agree to care about together. This is where aligned incentives come in, something web3 has largely yet to agree on despite its values saying otherwise.

People using social media care about the story behind a meme (hello, Know Your Meme historians or meme pages on IG), lore in the form of serialization, or relationships between artists and their enjoyers. Plus, it’s just nice to have a place to chat with or make new friends. History and friendships take time to build. That’s the whole purpose of a slow burn. People aren’t built for short-term, meaningless relationships; even if ephemeral experiences are becoming popular, they still need help to create a narrative worth remembering.

Fandom Alieviates Loneliness

On the June show for The State of People (watch the recording here), I talked about how fandoms often solve loneliness problems. As I’ve mentioned previously in these newsletter issues, I was part of or helped manage multiple fan communities in a past life. These spaces were intentionally so wildly different than how the onchain space operates while at the same time having a natural, organic decentralized feel to them, all without tokenization.

Fandom has an inherent permissionless behavior built in that is not to be ignored by creators onchain. Here are some things that I, along with many other incredible builders, have done as a community builder to help bring fans together online:

As part of the Carol Corps community for Captain Marvel during comic writer Kelly Sue Deconnick’s run, the Carol Corps Yarn Brigade was created (on Ravelry here). A sub-community of craft girls who made knitted hats, scarves, cross stitches, socks, and other items. Rather than selling them to each other, they were made for and by fellow fans all over the world out of love. We also helped other fans who needed tips with their cosplay, even hosting panels at conventions just for Captain Marvel cosplayers. Another community member and I were also approached to be put in charge of adding fan-created crafts and cosplay to central Pinterest boards where fans could see their creations for years to come.

I don’t claim responsibility for the unprecedented success of the Carol Corps—only one small part made of many amazing women.

We were all fans of Captain Marvel because Kelly Sue was writing a story we connected with and cared about together. Maybe the alcoholism in her past wasn’t so relatable to us, but her tenacity, stubbornness, and feminist leanings at the time certainly were. We could relate to moments when her powers were stolen, even by a friend. This is the universal girl experience. Again, subtext is not to be forgotten in these spaces. So much so that when we came together at conventions, we knew we all had something in common: we shared a clear narrative with characters that was undeniably ours. We had breakfast walks together before conventions. We shared in-jokes and incentives to buy the next book to see how the story would unfold next. The community wasn’t financialized in any way other than buying the material, and the community certainly didn’t obsess over vanity metrics like points for a potential airdrop.

The thing to remember here is that when we were building this enthusiasm, we weren’t concerned about being called community managers or anything of the like, even if that is what we were doing. No, again, we were simply creators exploring a passion for a shared story.

We learned that fandom takes time and a lot of effort. Brie Larson, who starred in the 2019 Captain Marvel film, even went on to don a BFF NFT profile pic, still up to this day, where I was on the community team… talk about a full circle type of coincidence.

During the period from 2011 to 2016, I was also part of a few other fandoms for TV shows like Continuum, Warehouse 13, Eureka, Orphan Black, Battlestar Galactica, and Lost Girl. In a recent rewatch of Lost Girl from start to finish, I was reminded of how that community also created fan connections.

I remember walking into a 2013 Dragon Con panel room full of Lost Girl cosplayers donning leather gear, fake swords, and long brunette wigs. The room was energized by pure love for a TV show that exemplified what it means to build a story with adventure, whimsy, and mystery around such magical characters and their settings. No one was talking about the tech used on set; they were talking about their passion for a storyline with themes, mythology, or how they felt seen by LGBTQ+ representation on TV in a time when it wasn’t so prevalent. There were Lost Girl panels all weekend long, talking specifics about these things regular people were enthusiastic about—fans who, in their spare time, made fan edits or fanfic online found awkward, nerdy comfort in person.

That weekend, I happened to meet Paul Amos, who played the character Vex on the show, in a hotel lobby. We had both stopped for a drink and struck up a conversation. Besides being a fantastic actor, he’s just a regular guy, though, yes, he is very cool and gothy in person too (or was at the time). This was yet another wholesome fan connection that tied together how artists connect with their work in very normal, not-weird ways I’ll always remember.

Fan communities like the ones I’ve described here have yet to have their time in the sun onchain due to so few cohesive stories being shared. The narrative that PFP collections have typically spouted is one of IP or brand-building for the individual instead of shared storytelling. From 2021 to late 2022, users were advised to buy a PFP to turn into an identity marker rather than a character we share an adventure alongside. We were told to make a business out of a singular digital piece of art on which some spent thousands of dollars worth of ETH. This clearly didn’t work as intended.

Is There a Solution to This Madness?

I say all this not to necessarily encourage content creators or fandoms to immediately rush to financialize love for stories and their IP, but to at least consider the possibility of using blockchains for archival and social sharing.

The prevailing solution up until now has been to create a large number of artworks that all look similar, leaving it up to buyers to decide what to do with them. This gave collectors a few options: trade, hold, sell, or otherwise speculate on their value. To me, these actions are eternally boring.

With the MTV News website shutting down this week and no archive available, it’s clearer than ever that we need a way to preserve our cultures. We know blockchain solves this problem, but what about fan communities? We can responsibly build fandoms to facilitate human connection to media in a New Internet era.

First, we must slow down, recognizing that storytelling and mythmaking take time. For more on how we design cultures in an ontological, more holistic context, check out this article from FWB on Designing For Desire.

We must also give creators collaborative spaces in the form of connective apps that allow them to grow and share their creative works into mythologies. With more diverse tools to bring works to life, there will be more opportunities for fan-making. Yes, beyond Twitter, and I’m not sold on a new Farcaster client solving for this at the moment.

This is where my complaint against quests and seasons comes into play. See, many startups and small collectives operate in the onchain space in seasons or try to squish quests into their systems for airdrops or cheap shots at “partnerships” that don’t actually do anything significant for community members. This is flat-out extractive behavior that needs to stop.

As we’ve seen in forms of media like comics, TV shows, and book series, the path to fandom relies on a shared journey. A quest that asks disconnected people to sign up for an app or spend money does nothing to create a communal experience. A season that marks the completion of an experiment without shared episodes (rituals), any sort of plotline or a lesson/moral to be learned does not make for a memorable experience.

And yes, while more difficult, building fandom for a product or tool is possible. Fandom or fan communities are not exclusive to media companies. Developers and founders should work to move away from click-to-earn airdrop farming and instead move toward connection or narrative building. We’ve all seen how lifestyle brand enthusiasts react when launching new products. Again, this takes time and incredibly designed products people really want to use.

Thus, the solution is to find something that people can universally find endless enthusiasm for, which isn’t extractive nor pay-to-win. Love and shared narrative, specifically, should always be free.

Your task, should you choose to accept it, is to create a story (marketing) people can grasp onto. Design a story that people care about (community), a journey they easily gravitate towards when they need connection, both in person and onchain. If your team needs someone with extensive experience in these areas, contact me.

See, the thinking here is that agents mean autonomy, and autonomy leads to AGI. So, for a long time now, there’s been a focus on building agents that actually work.

Slowly but surely, though, these agents were able to do more things accurately and act as developers, program managers, or even executives to build entire applications from scratch. Following Microsoft Build this week, they are now being directly integrated into laptops like the new Copilot+ PC Surface Laptop and the new Copilot Studio.

It’s a fun time to be a dev, actually. I don’t think this has to be the end for developers. I think these are only baby steps, and there’s still much to be done.

Personally, I hate overhyping AI and its capabilities, but I paid close attention this week during Microsoft Build (aka, I stayed home and watched all the demos on YouTube). Let me tell you, this Copilot and Azure AI stuff changes a ton (for devs).

But there’s definitely something more brewing at OpenAI besides a ScarJo scandal and NDA drama. Especially with the latest model, GPT-4o, now being offered for free to all users. I’m just glad that, for a while, everyone now has free access to the best model available. Personally, I’m still mostly using Claude 3 Opus as my daily driver.

Why Does Any of This Matter?

When the developers get new toys, it usually means more new toys for the public, and while devs have been using Copilot Studio to make work faster and easier for teams for months, now these tools are generally available. This means you could start seeing more businesses tinkering with agents that finally actually work.

More devs playing means more data gathered from users, which means more powerful ways to siphon and extract from users. Yes, that’s real. It’s all just a game of who can collect the most data on you. But you already knew that.

It’s also already made life easier for help desk workers (my first “tech” job was tech support), and it seems with each passing day, another role gets upgraded.

Along with a slew of AI products shipped this week was a feature called Copilot Recall. No, not Total Recall… not yet, anyway. But we’ll probably get there someday.

While Recall looks like magic in the demo you’ve likely seen by now, as a former engineer, it’s not exactly magic at all. Here’s how you can build with Recall today. It’s essentially an interactive, searchable Internet Archive but for your laptop. It takes a snapshot of your screen every 3-5 seconds and holds it for a period of time. You can then search or scroll through your history to find and interact with whatever it is. The thing is, applications must enable it first. That’s why, in the demo, you’ll notice Discord set up in the browser rather than in the standalone app.

Not only does it take up storage space, and though Microsoft does have a hardcoded privacy and security setup, there are reasons to be concerned. Sure, maybe Microsoft isn’t collecting the data since Recall is stored locally, but what happens if you use a PC that has it turned on and doesn’t alert you?

It’s giving trust issues.

Also, it’s only available on these very specific new Windows Copilot+ PCs because they have a new NPU chip and on-device SLM (small language model) called Phi3. So, if you’re on a Macbook, like I imagine most of you reading this are, I don’t think you have anything to worry about just yet.

But that’s just one of the things shipped this week at MS Build. Things like upgrades to Power Platform for building low-code apps and updates to Azure AI. One of the things I continue to be amazed by is the advancements in accessibility tech. Whether it’s making general UI improvements or completely new products to make using tech more accessible for all, that’s the hope here.

The Internet is Evolving, and You Must Stay Sane

For the past couple of weeks in the Boys Club discord, I’ve been tossing around this idea of how the New Internet truly is evolving in front of us. It’s not a joke anymore or some great big wish. Even if we, the users, are often making a fool of ourselves (see: “scenecoins,” memecoins, AI girlfriends).

I thought I’d let you in on my half-baked ideas and see what you think too.

I think it’s time to acknowledge that the internet we know and haplessly love to despise today will look nothing like itself in five years’ time. I, for one, am relieved to know and observe this shift. We deserve a New Internet, one which could look like a total rebirth or a reimagining of how we interact with data, which is essentially what the Internet is to all the people funding it. For the sake of those people, I don’t think they’ll get their way and continue to extract while not providing outsized value.

In the meantime, though, the internet we have now is experiencing some growing pains. All as expected with new disruptions.

Consider this: In this week’s presentation, before a talk on stage with Sam Altman, Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott said that their team has previously deployed 2 huge supercomputing systems for OpenAI with a recent third the scale of a whale when compared to the orca and shark size of GPT4 and GPT3 respectively. Here’s the talk so you can listen for yourself. He noted that “the platform is becoming so much more capable and so much cheaper over time that everything you have in your imagination that’s too expensive to do right now is going to be cheap and robust before you can even blink…” So clearly, we have some massive exponential growth going on.

This all amounts to incremental nudges of an entire platform shift—as in rethinking what it means to be online at all. Of course, it’s a whole lot more complicated than that. But this New Internet is in the air, and as this Overton window shifts, we, the users, have the opening we need to build meaningful change.

And I don’t mean we’ll all switch to being exclusively onchain in 5 years. Maybe, but at this rate, I’m still a bit skeptical. At least not until the blockchain space can actually get its act together, which doesn’t seem likely anytime soon.

I believe that as these radical shifts in interfaces and information progress, one technology must die before another slowly takes its place. Just as AOL, Netscape, Windows Phones, etc. slowly died off, so too will various bits of the Internet fall away to create new, more dynamic, interactive interfaces for wisdom gathering and social connection in their place.

This is the New Internet moment. I don’t agree with everything Sam says, but when he compares this time period to the mobile era of 2008/2009, he’s not wrong.

One thing I hope to see as these shifts happen is new social contracts, new social networks, and even more personalized ways of connection that allow more creative freedom. As our social lives blur the physical and digital, we’ll be afforded new opportunities for discovering new communities and, most importantly, new people along with their creative minds.

Will Your AI Agent Match My Freak

Right now, all of our circles are so tiny. Even if we feel like our spaces make an impact on culture, it’s actually quite small compared to what we can do within communities of tomorrow. For example, here’s Whitney Wolfe Herd talking about recent nudges in the dating world toward personal AI dating agents on Bumble that might go on dates for you in advance to measure chemistry between potential partners.

The first dating app I ever used was OkCupid, circa 2008. If we're not careful, the dating apps of tomorrow could have even more features that keep us apart or even venture into Black Mirror’s “Hang the DJ” territory.

However, I have some hope that the discovery of new people and new communities and the proliferation of AI-everywhere devices will actually help us connect much more deeply than we could imagine today. I believe we’re waking up to that very dire need.

You’ll see more of this Internet Abstraction over time that pulls you away from the time-consuming frustrations of finding a match, like Google working on doing your shopping for you rather than the friction of returning or choosing the right item.

Soon, you’ll tell a device what you need, and it’ll be so personalized that it delivers exactly what you want. Why bother searching when the systems you use already know what you need?

At this point, I don't trust Google to deliver what I asked for, seeing as how they recently had to remove the experimental AI Overview feature from searches, just as countless news outlets like The Verge tell users how to turn the feature off due to inaccuracies.

Because of this platform shift, it's likely that more users will shift their social media usage as apps change, die off, or we simply get collectively fed up with how we’ve been slowly lobotomized over time.

The Next Battleground is the Mind

As the New Internet is born, the next space where humans will be challenged is the mind and the impending identity crisis.

We’re already being tested by a Metacrisis: a crisis of meaning, loneliness, and purposelessness. A few months ago, I watched a talk on this topic with Ian McGilcrist and John Vervaeke, moderated by Daniel Schmachtenberger. This is one side of the mind battle, but it’s far more multifaceted than this. Going beyond AI-generated misinformation and deep fakes, we’ll all be faced with challenges of the mind and purpose.

As people around you continue to lose their jobs and fail to get new work or take up the tools to do better work, they’ll be faced with a new set of challenges similar to the ones we see in any of the other Industrial Revolutions.

Every day, philosophers, spiritualists, and scientists unravel new information about consciousness and the mind that pushes the idea of human experience further to the edge. I’m sure, at some point, this will lead to concurrent realizations in the computing and robotics fields as they converge.

No matter how cheesy it sounds, it might be time to ask yourself, the passionate generalist, a few questions. I’ve been doing this over the past few weeks while reflecting on this writing project.

What do I actually want to be experiencing?

What career do I want?

What is my ideal workday?

Can I actually let go of the fear?

I’ve said this many times before, as the world around us expands, the place to look is inward. Personally, I’ve been frustrated lately by looking for the looker in my practice. It’s for this reason that I believe discovery, awareness, and their interaction with embedded AI are the next frontiers to explore.

Survivor, the 00’s sensation now in its 46th season, is undeniably the most cutthroat, vicious, eyes-glued-to-the-screen type gameshows of the past two decades. And now there’s a version of the show onchain, thanks to a few very smart game theorists.

Somehow, Dylan Abruscato and the Crypto: The Game team have managed to create the most highly engaged coordination experience I think crypto has seen in a very long time.

But that’s no surprise when there’s 72ETH ($272,000) on the line.

I didn’t play in Season 1, but here I’d like to offer my personal analysis of this season so far and some thoughts on what it’s been like in the trenches.

Who, What, When, and How Much

For all those not playing and not sure what’s going on, here’s the rundown on the game, how it’s been played, and how you got in. With a shakeup on Day 6 called The Convergence bringing the 10 tribes together into 5 elemental tribes, creating a sort of Avatar moment, it’s been a wild ride of deception, puzzle sleuthing (with the help of ChatGPT), last-second voting, and an all-out war against inactive or anonymous players. Here’s all the details:

Price: 0.1ETH ($326) minted on 4/2

Dates: 4/8-4/17

Tribes:

Pre-Convergence: Green, Pink, Purple, Blue, Gold, Yellow, Red, Orange, Aqua, Silver

Post-Convergence: Earth, Sky, Sun, Fire, Ice

Challenges/Sponsors(-ish):

Day 1: Tribes assigned
Day 2: Puzzle/Lens, Orb app & Bonsai token
Day 3: Worm Game (aka Snake game)/Wormhole
Day 4: Auction/Adidas
Day 5: Puzzle/ft. The Everything Token book
Day 6: Convergence, no challenge, no sponsor
Day 7: Brick Breaker/POAP

Official Companion Podcast: Natasha and Deana from Boys Club host nightly recaps of the day over at the pod. Stay up to date here (I had a few meme roundup appearances)

Holders of a Jury NFT vote for a final winner. When a player gets voted out, their dynamic NFT switches to a Jury NFT, giving them a single vote for the final night. This new onchain dynamic means that anyone with enough cash (or ETH) can gather jury votes up for sale and control the final night. Will it work out for this supposed whale who has been accumulating…we shall see.

The Feelings of It All

I can literally track heart rate spike moments from the game all week long. Each one tells a new story, and later I’ll get into just how special that is to the game’s success. From immunity challenge announcement excitement at noon every day to very last-second (yes, literally) voting, it’s been a wild ride every single day.

So much of this game has come down to a few key elements: active/inactive players, and anonymous players. This season, players were given the choice to connect their Twitter/X account to display their profile photo and name to the NFT they hold or choose not to and play with no identity attached.

The anonymous element came into play on multiple occasions since you could play anon but then essentially dox yourself in the tribe group chat or stay completely anon and build a brand new character for yourself.

Personally, I’d love to see more unique character players next season. It’s so much fun to see how creative people can get, especially with all the dramatic theater kids in crypto. We did have one anon player on Earth tribe playing as Sailor Jupiter from the anime Sailor Moon, which I thought was super cute since she was one of my favorite Sailor Scouts as a kid. Don’t come at me, they’re already voted out.

Crypto: The Game is fully about who has the time, patience, and social skills to outwit, outshine, and out-maneuver until the very end. However, one of my least favorite parts of the game so far, at no fault of the builders, has been inactive players. Like, why would you spend $300+ on a game piece only not to play, not be active in the group chats, and just ghost the whole time? It makes no sense to me, but then again, I don’t exactly have money to just throw down the toilet, so I chose to use the time for entertainment purposes (and to hopefully win a ton of money).

I wasn’t even sure I would be able to play since the entry point was fairly steep. However, I casted about it on Farcaster and received a generous $DEGEN tip from Cameron, who said I should go for it and write about the experience.

My reasoning with games like this is I use what I call The Movie Theater or Video Game method. A movie ticket is around $15-20 for 2-3 hours of entertainment. A video game is around $60 for around 30+ hours of entertainment. Crypto: The Game has offered nearly 160 hours of social time, resulting in new friends, quite a few new potential partners I’d love to work with, and more exposure to apps I already use and love.

For me, Crypto: The Game has been a priceless experience as a community builder, gamer, content creator, and user of this onchain world we’re all building together.

And it’s not just me. The rave reviews have been coming in all week long.

I have been fascinated by what Dylan and the team have pulled off this season. The success is really no surprise since Dylan comes from growing a live audience of 2.4M during his time as Marketing and Director of Partnerships at HQ Trivia, where he helped bring in the likes of Ready Player One and Nike to the trivia game.

Having proven the offchain success last season, this season’s onchain sleuths have been hard at work connecting the dots between wallets with tools like Dune and onceupon.gg making the financialization of the game so much more interesting, for better or worse.

Beyond this season’s major partnerships with Adidas, Lens, POAP, and Wormhole, the lore of Crypto: The Game keeps players attentive and creative. With the help of AI and artists on various teams, many tribes have created memes specific to their symbols, colors, and vibes for social sharing.

ted (on farcaster)

@tednotlasso

when your tribe's new PFP matches your telegram PFP, shout out to @PratyushRungta i'm obsessed

@cryptothegame_ i am having the most fun

43

6:56 PM • Apr 13, 2024

Sky Tribe member and Senior Product Designer at Polygon, Pratyush, even created a small PFP collection for their players called Skywalkers. That’s something to remember. That’s how you bring people together. And the best part is that the CTG team didn’t have to lift a finger to do organic community building and marketing. Check out the Skywalkers collection here!

Now that there are three more days to go, it’ll get way more chaotic. Chaos isn’t so bad; I think it is and should be an essential element of most onchain projects, especially games like this.

I wish everyone still in play good luck this week. You’ll need it 🫡

It’s true. I’ve been on this deeply personal, introspective journey and am happy to chat briefly about it this week. There are plenty of reasons to receive this call to (inner)action when pondering how we bring a collective to life, whether online, onchain, or offline.

Boys Club posted a couple of weeks ago that the girlies are microdosing. But this year, I’ve also been on a much deeper quarterly (macro) journey into myself to discover feelings, empty the mind, and truly express my inner nature.

As I’ve stated on multiple occasions, if we are to exponentially accelerate technology over the next 20 years, we must also accelerate human development by exploring the inner workings of the mind and consciousness at the same or greater pace.

If we are each to hold, own, and release multiple copies of ourselves as agents into a new world, a new onchain internet, one must first know thyself.

This is a story of collective unlearning and re-learning through introspection and interreflection. And the web is at the very center of this great unfolding.

A Very Personal Journey

I’ve nearly always felt comfort in solitude as a fairly quiet person, one to immerse myself in learning or some sort of feelings journey. Lately, though, maybe it’s about getting older or perhaps an increased exploration of philosophy that’s done it, probably some combination of the two. Since having a complication with surgery a few years ago, I felt this nudge to take deeper action.

Having discussed my relationship with meditation in earlier issues, I won’t repeat myself here but instead, dive into other aspects of how this exploration affects our continued evolutions as community builders.

The aspects of self-reflection I practiced during therapy sessions for 4+ years (I haven’t been in a while) were pivotal to my growth, especially during the early stages of coming out and coming to terms with certain behaviors.

I believe that even beyond therapy, one must explore which philosophies we resonate with to find aligned communities to engage with. This act will help us build, facilitate, and cultivate spaces where inner and outer growth happens naturally, not necessarily with ease, but through authentic interreflection.

The word interreflection is defined as a process of shared introspection, where two or more people engage in a reflective dialogue, mirroring insights back and forth to deepen self-understanding.

Only when we more deeply understand ourselves can we facilitate more aligned, intuitive communities that move within and beyond our current structures. This facilitation could be called co-reflection, where these interpretations of the self are for the benefit of the collective and not solely for the individual.

Indeed, it isn't easy to provide a script for us to practice since this introspection is an inner journey, and I nor anyone else can be inside the mind of another (yet) at least. However, it may be possible to guide discussions for self-reflection within our communities as we continue our journey toward co-worldbuilding and co-reflection.

Curating Introspective Expression

Over the past couple of weeks, while curating guests for upcoming The State of People shows, one specific concept has come up quite often in these conversations—this idea of authenticity and interweaving a narrative through self-reflection.

I asked guests to think about how they presented themselves publicly and privately. They should consider their identity when speaking to live fully through the words they share with us all. Not some masked, branded character they’ve created for social expectations, but the person they see when looking inward. Lately, when listening to others speak on podcasts, I rarely hear clear, actionable conversations; instead, I hear a glossed-over surface-level view of someone’s expertise. Our goal is to bring truly thoughtful conversations to light so that viewers can connect directly with them to their work, communities, and practices as real, living, breathing humans into this onchain world we’re all co-creating.

In this sense, introspection feels like an intimate experience with the self—a true transformation into explorers of the self rather than simply consumers of others.

When I am feeling introspective, here are a few things I personally feel:

Searching for Truth: I seek understanding in the truest sense of the matter. Rather than simply going with the flow or some wavy, wavering, pre-existing beliefs and opinions, this introspective act is an inward examination of my truth.

Rejecting Self-Deception: The goal of introspection is to analyze and deeply feel inward, taking stock as if a librarian filing away papers in that mind palace we spoke about last week in order to dispel self-deception. It is through this practice alone that acknowledgment of manipulation comes into play and correcting those acts through honest reflection. To let go of the ego.

Responsibility: I’ve talked about responsibility in writing quite a bit, and for good reason. I feel a great deal of responsibility toward action, toward my inner and outer self, and how the world is built around us all. That is quite a fearful, often sickening thing to hold, and it comes at a cost. Not to say I take it all too seriously; it’s simply an acknowledgment of the truth of it all.

Action Items for the Mirror

Action Items for the Mirror

We aren’t taught introspection. It’s an abstract skill that we work at for a literal lifetime, and I’m only a baby at it. If you are to choose this path of collective co-reflection, this very particular path of interreflection with new onchain, offline, and online communities of true caring nature, it’s never going to be easy.

But together, when we work toward collective action, we gain understanding. We gain truth, clarity, and values that help guide others. And for me, that is worth it.

Take action today with these practices:

Mindfulness (meditation): Meditation isn't always sitting in silence, chanting, or even quieting the mind. Similarly, mindfulness is a personal pursuit guided by seeking self-actuation. I have used workbooks like the one recommended for DBT therapy.

Values Alignment: When seeking values, rather than typing into a search box “what are good values to hold,” try searching inward to truly discover where your values are most deeply aligned. This will guide who you work with, where you interact, and how you show up in those spaces.

Seeking Feedback and Understanding: Feedback does not always come externally, but it often finds itself useful when sought with intention. Diversify your feedback received, taking into account your values found above.

I say all this not to be some spiritual or philosophical guide but to genuinely serve as simply one part of our collective togetherness as we move into increasingly challenging, uncertain times.

I am a constant source of my own failure in this practice of introspection. It's not an easy practice at all. However, we can indeed afford ourselves optimism amongst chaos.

Stay curious, stay reflective, steady, and clear.

While chatting with a friend a few weeks ago, we were discussing token incentives for memecoins. I made an offhand comment about curiosity with the phrase “curiosity rewards always,” which I’d noted here in a previous issue for those eagle-eyed readers and was asked to dig into this a bit more.

Since then, I’ve begun to explore my own relationship with curiosity through the lens of how these mechanisms could potentially benefit various onchain communities and the artists inhabiting them. Particularly, as it relates to how we, and I, see this evolution of wonder expanding as we intersect with increasingly intelligent artificial beings.

Beyond this fascination with curiosity, I also wanted to discover the connection to this ever-present hunger for learning and the often unseen consequences of overcoming the looming sense of overwhelm.

My Relationship With Curiosity

My Relationship With Curiosity

I’m incredibly thankful to be a Millennial for the simple fact I remember a childhood filled with curiosity before the internet really took off.

It wasn’t but around 5 years after I was born that AOL trial discs landed in hundreds of thousands of mailboxes across the country. Before the internet finally hit my household, my primary modes of curious entertainment were playing aimlessly outside, reading Chicken Soup for the Soul books, or episodes of Wishbone, Mr. Rogers, and The Magic School Bus on PBS.

For me, harnessing boredom by channeling it into curious thinking and observation has led to an immense amount of self-learning.

At the same time, I’ve noticed many of us have sort of lost our ability to cultivate this curious nature as we cater to god-like algorithms and increasingly shortened memetic cycles.

This is in no small part due to the lobotomizing effects of late-stage social networks with their mind-numbing media and the unthinking nature of grotesquely boring content streamed directly into our brains.

Actually, it is this adoration of learning and exploration that I offer self-love and service through curiosity. I realize that not everyone is filled with this extremely curious nature, this yearning for learning, if you will.

How do we possibly adapt to an internet fraught with playing into an attention-based economy that desires virality, one that requires an insatiable hunger for celebrity as sustenance?

We rebel through softness, service, love, and care for our fellow web dwellers.

Gathering Information, Noticing Patterns, Pondering

In order to effectively gather information, one must adapt several filters in the mind with which all input gets sifted through, like a baker’s flour ready for a new batch of cookies. This prevents impurities in the thought process and helps us fight the urge to run to the next shiny object.

It’s one thing to casually tinker with the idea of exploring one’s own curious nature, but when things begin to tip into full-time, always-on exploration, it can become quite dangerous for those mind filters.

The term “mind palace,” if you’ve heard of it, comes into play here as well. It isn’t only used for memory, a la Sherlock Holmes, though that is certainly one way to use it. Often, it’s a place of retreat, a place where I go to sit in contemplation. It’s how I can gather tons and tons of data every day and still recall with accuracy when the tiniest bit warrants sharing. Tending to this mind palace so it doesn’t decay, crumble, and rot away is critical for curiosity to flourish.

As I regularly sit to ponder on the information I’ve gathered, an incredibly important step in this venture is a meditative process cycling between:

3-4 hours of focused hunting + gathering

Followed by a long walk or nap

Writing about said learnings in a stream-of-consciousness

The key piece here is not to overcomplicate it or overwork the brain to total exhaustion. It’s an exercise in curiosity, not a sprint to genius.

If you’ve ever experienced burnout, you’ll have likely searched how to avoid it to find that there are 7 types of rest to employ: physical, mental, emotional, creative, social, spiritual, and sensory. And yes, we should all integrate these practices into our routine when forming habits of curiosity.

Often, these memetic cycles we are forever entwined divert our attention towards side-quests that are wholly unintuitive or separate from our need for consistency, resulting in a more frequent feeling of burnout and less desire for contemplative curiosity.

This is where both the joy of missing out and solitude come into play in our practice of pondering.

However, I would also recommend learning which type of curious person you are most often and realizing when you are flowing from one type to another. According to twin researchers Perry Zurn and Dani S Bassett, there are three types of curious people: busybody, hunter, and dancer. In their co-authored book *Curious Minds: The Power of Connection, *they examine the sociological and philosophical nature of curiosity and describe each of these types as such.

The Busybody makes it their business to know anything and everything, fluttering around from topic to topic like a butterfly.

The Hunter is focused on the hunt, tracking down new discoveries as if sniffing out the landscape for the bits of info leading to a catch.

The Dancer relies on imagination leaping through learning gracefully on the dance floor atop beds of information.

Over time, when practicing your own connection to curiosity, you may find new archetypes yet undiscovered by Zurn and Bassett’s modern philosophy of curiosity, but these three are an excellent start.

Where and How To Be Rewarded for Curiosity

Of course, we want to stave off those moments of looking over the social media cliff into the abyss. We’re not necessarily talking about growth or volume here, more a balance between sanity and curiosity.

It’s not altogether incorrect to think of the web as your personal Museum Wormanium, or a collection of eclectic curiosities. The cabinet of curiosities from the Danish collector dubbed “Ol Worm” by friends and patrons has transformed in the present day as the digital wallet where collections of art, memes, and memecoins live on as a new, more refined iteration of the attention economy as posed by Li Jin of Variant Fund this past week.

Wallet builders like Surreal, Interface, and Zerion are the new facilitators of curiosity when crafting these new eclectic interfaces with which to view collections of memecoins and curated, community-led art that aids in a sort of “hive curiosity”. This is evidenced by the current round of memecoins on Base like $CRASH and $HIGHER, where artists and holders are rewarded for creating and collecting memes. And especially so for $DEGEN, where the meta on Farcaster is helping to facilitate tipping genuine engagement with users.

This transfer of attention and legacy extractive models from the individual to distributed groups pushes value across an entire holder base. These dynamic interfaces for value transfer will continue to reward our relationship with curiosity and attention as even more novel economies emerge.

One can imagine curiosity isn't so difficult to cultivate once the right paths to explore and circles to tend to.

So where do I specifically hunt and gather for new internet curiosities these days? It’s simple, really: about 10 different active Telegram groups, 1 or 2 Discord servers (lurking in dozens more), Farcaster channels, YouTube channels (that you get a peek at in these newsletters), and IG, where I mostly post Stories.

Now, for extra curiosity credit, you’ll want to ignore these text-based and overrun media-fueled networks altogether and seek out wonder in the world around you. This might be difficult at first, but hey, a little practice never hurt anyone.

Balance and moderation in all things.

A contemplative walk alone with soft lofi beats, no reading, and no work pings helps to truly tune in to all those swirling thoughts. Communing with the divine nature in each step helps to calm the nervous system and soothe the soul in preparation for deeper, more analytical thinking.

Noticing the patterns inside one’s self often is the reward.

I fully believe that humanity's next complete evolution will come from a collective awakening inside us all as we further merge with these digital spaces. That might sound both esoteric and a little frightening, and it very well may be for many. However, we’ll almost certainly soon have more time and energy to devote to self-integration, interreflection, and attunement to self.

This is what we need more of, to seek not just the echo chambers of social networks that have become more media than they are social, but to truly build bonds, to build town cares rather than only town squares.

Where we currently operate in this space under the assumption of the same Web2-style marketing funnels and these frankly disconnected, delusional notions of connection, there is still room to grow. We can and should create room for more whole spaces for care beyond fetishistic financialization and cultish brand design.

How do we do that, you ask? Through intentional worldbuilding, of course. Lore (but crispy h/t @deana)

In a future issue, we’ll cover both co-worldbuilding and how lore plays into our collective curiosity as participants in emerging economies.

Until then, stay curious!

I’m constantly considering all the ways in which we grab onto the webs and branches toward one another as we swing through the treacherous lands of the metaverse.

I've tried many things in the past couple of years and failed at a few of them to varying degrees. But one throughline keeping them each steady is the study of humans.

How we interact with one another, how we are attuned or not to onchain marketing, community formations, relationships and how they are cultivated, and how we form identity markers between one another.

As Steph Alinsug said this past week, crypto is the next-gen marketing tech. So I figure we should at least utilize what’s at our disposal!

steph 🪽🎀

@hhhuuunnn333yyy

crypto is next gen marketing tech

52

9:41 AM • Mar 13, 2024

Today, I'm announcing a new line of communication between us.

One for a type of curation showcasing the energy of onchain channels like Farcaster, Lens, Fabric, Unlonely, and Disco for better internet conversations.

Subscribe on Fabric ⤵

Subscribe to The State of People on Hypersub

The State of People is a monthly extended stream by the /community channel on Farcaster. We host discussions at the forefront of marketing, community buil...

https://hypersub.xyz:443

The State of People

For the past 12 months, I’ve been part of a group of about 20 community strategy professionals in web3 who navigate work in the space. We chat once a month for at least an hour about all things community.

I also have experience hosting this type of show since running successful 12-hour marathon spaces in 2022 and 2023. This time they’ll be much shorter but more frequent as a monthly thing instead of yearly.

In season one, starting the second or third week of April 2024, we’ll open these conversations to a wider group that shares our learnings and brings more of you into the fold.

Topics we intend to curate: all things marketing, community building, and decentralized identity. We’ll get a little esoteric at times, as one does in web3, but try to keep it relatable and, most of all, centering discussions on care for the future State of People.

The goal is to help creators and thinkers cultivate their own relationship with curiosity. While day in and day out we talk at length about the software we’re building, we often neglect to discuss how narratives and culture shifts affect the real people using said tech for the new internet.

This follows the thesis I posted a few days ago.

rileybeans 💖

@rileybeans_

my overarching thesis is this:

as we accelerate tech, we'll need to accelerate people at the same pace. through cultivating curiosity, play, and relationship building. things are about to get so much more wild and we need each other to be ready.

62

2:58 PM • Mar 21, 2024

How it Works

It’s simple: Once a month, we’ll hop on Unlonely, the onchain live-streaming app, for a curated show with a series of guests who give short talks, presentations, DJ interludes, and more to get the creative gears turning.

Since 10-15 minute talks are typically a good length for essays, these speakers may also have partner opportunities with zine makers I work with for additional distribution of their ideas.

Using the /community channel on Farcaster for sharing updates and audience building, Lens for video content distribution, Disco credentials for social graph formation to pull new friends together, and Fabric subscriptions with referral rewards.

Speakers who show up to present their ideas will receive a generous share of that month’s subscriptions to align incentives and provide resources for their time spent.

Subscribers receive an airdrop of various rewards, recaps, and on-air recognition. We look forward to hearing what else subscribers would like to receive from speakers and hosts.

Co-hosts of the /community Farcaster channel are involved in both curation and distribution of media. If you’d like to co-host with us, sponsor, or be a speaker, please indicate on the form below.

The State of People

Get Involved with the show! Will contact via Telegram if you're curated for this season.

http://docs.google.com

Who is Already Involved?

If you’re an internet person thinking about internet people things, send me a DM! You’ll be in line to have space for a short talk along with these fine folks. Not all are confirmed; this is a list of those who have shown interest. The final lineup is to be released.

@kianamoods | CMO, brand strategist, futurist

@thisispaff | Marketing at IYK & co-founder, Take Up Space

@rakshitaphilip | designer, /community co-host, Coven Classics

@poymeetsworld | Community, Warbler Labs, /community co-host

@parkerjayp | VC, Fintech Collective / founding team, Boys Club

Community Strategy Group ft. Monica of Truth Labs, Keone of Metaversal, and many more

But Why Though?

First of all, it’s just fun! Second, I think we can offer a more expressive connection that Twitter Spaces alone just don’t enable…

My days consist mostly of researching, gathering context from things I consume, and dreaming of ways to relate said media to how I help folks build narratives. Whether that’s a YouTube video essay, a podcast, an article, or just staring at the ceiling, these things inform the creative process.

Also, hey, who could say no to an attempt at reversing this cycle Ben points out here?

Ben Roy (AFK until December, no DMs)

@benroy_x

Most people struggle to create content because

Most people don’t do any original thinking because

Most people spend all their time consuming other people’s media because

Most people are afraid to sit in silence and be alone with their own thoughts.

I am most people

81

2:34 PM • Mar 14, 2024

The /community channel, myself, and our cohosts are bound by an ambitious goal of helping creators get their work out there, to noodle on their creations by giving them incentives to create. We should work to partner with other social channels like Ben’s /words and others who wish to help!

The State of People is a curious commentary on the loneliness epidemic, attention economy, status games, digital, media, and crypto literacy, and how we create more sustainable, value-aligned identities for ourselves as AI accelerates our futures. Of course, I invite all Cloud Scouts members to join in and learn!

It’s also necessary we have open conversations on the latest mechanisms for building relationships onchain. Many of us are adept marketers, so discussing narrative and worldbuilding is part of our everyday lives. Sharing trends and best practices with viewers will be a top priority for The State of People shows.

At the end of the day, it’s about fostering creative, curious moments to share out loud, openly, in public, onchain.

I can confidently say that ETHDenver has been the best conference I’ve attended since DragonCon 2014, when I got to meet the cast of some of my favorite shows of all time, nerding out with cosplay friends for 5 days in Atlanta. That being said, let’s get into why:

Main Conference

I spent quite a bit of time in the main area at Spork Castle because I didn’t have endless social battery or resources for 20 different Uber rides a day; I felt there was adequate value curated via speakers, panels, and learning to be done at booths.

My favorite activations were IYK for quests to earn skateboards, hats, Pudgy Penguins merch, and more (shout out to Paff & team who worked so hard to delight attendees), Near with an Alice in Wonderland theme, complete with a tea party experience, and Lukso won my Best Merch award with pink hats, so had to pick up one of those!

Base had a huge Home Base activation with places to sit and chat and Base Hunt, where folks completed more quests each day for merch like a backpack, beanies, and other gear. Quests are on the rise! My short thoughts on quests here…

Though I was aware of or had a baseline knowledge of almost every booth in attendance, my goal was to visit as many as I could to ask how each company explained what and why it does what it does. Then, I asked each one how it’s helping real people.

Over 50% of the booths lacked an adequate answer to these questions and clearly weren’t focused on much beyond The Tech™️, which isn’t surprising at all. If we want our industry to succeed we need to be developing tech that tells the story of how it cares for those we’re building it for, otherwise it’s all mostly useless. Many of these companies have had years to develop beyond the tech. Yet, through an extended bear market, have, with bated breath, awaited another up-only euphoric moment to ride the vibes to more vapor.

Yes, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves! Yes, it was an incredible time! Are we in a bull market? … hmm, to be determined (maybe? who knows?). But the vibes are nice while they last!

So then, what made ETHDenver my favorite conference to date? For me, it was a mixture of personal understanding of the industry, the panels had adequate learning opportunities, diverse voices from both new and experienced builders, and seeing friends I’d missed for far too long.

I missed seeing a ton of people I wanted to see, but hey, next time, right?

If you missed an opportunity to see me too, feel free to hit me up, I’ll give you some insight on how we can collaborate!

A week with nerds at IRL events confirmed a thesis I’ve long held dear and something to be explored at length soon:

community is full of curiosity
curiosity rewards always
incentives for curiosity tell the future
through culture creation.

Events Attended

Silk Hacker House

• ETHDenver, being the biggest global web3 hackathon for Ethereum developers, is also host to many hacker houses. The Silk team rented space for the week to house developers completing bounties that further their ecosystem. I was honored to interview several builders at this hacker house! Silk makes it super easy to use a secure sign-on for the web with embeddable wallets utilizing ZK, non-custodial technology.

Web3 Grill & Game Fest: The HyperPlay BBQ Bash

• Gaming was a bit of a surprise to me, honestly, but not to be missed! I’m not normally into web3 gaming and wanted to take as many opportunities to get to know new things, see new people, and get out of my comfort zone in Denver. Not someone to usually go places where I know no one, this turned out to be a fruitful event! I met the HyperPlay team and was very impressed by their Head of Community, Euthenia, who introduced me to their product, a game launcher with a MetaMask overlay integration.

SheFi Summit Denver

• It was a joy to see so many women from all over the world gather together to learn from panels, vendors, and one another. Maggie Love and the team at SheFi brought us quests (more thoughts on this another time), including POAPs for each panel, checking out partner activations with merch (free stuff good), and just the right amount of breaks for networking.

Build with Variant: Coffee & Co-Working

• I got to meet two of my favorite onchain women at Variant! Director of Education & Events Alli Pope and Co-Founder Li Jin each influence a lot of what we do and how we think about onchain activations. If, for some reason, you still have not read about Variant, go here as soon as possible!

Edge City: Guild Day

• Two unmissable panels at this Edge City event hosted by Guild: ​Onchain Acquisition and Retention w/ Winny (Chipped/Gossip Protocol) & Onchain Reputation w/ David Phelps (Jokerace) and Evin (Disco) gave insights on identity, data, and how to bring simplicity to market.

Boys Club: FROSTBYTE

• Fully FROSTBITTEN at my second Boys Club party, it was the best of times. URL → IRL is Boys Club and this is community. There’s something very, very dear about spending time with people you’ve admired, chatted with, and learned from that makes building so special. That essence of love coalesced into a night of excitement meeting Natasha, Deana, Miranda, and all the other boys who make my favorite onchain space the most exclusive, high-signal place to be. The actions I and many others take are a love letter to what Boys Club stands for. Stop by SXSW for /brandnew

Onchain Communities: What’s Next

• The event I hosted brought together a handful of community builders and marketers from finance, DAOs, social impact, and web2.5 for chats, imaginings, and musings on the future of onchain communities. I'm looking forward to doing it again at the next conference!!

Quick Thoughts on Denver

Visiting Denver wasn’t nearly as boring or terrible as people made it out to be. Denver has an eclectic art scene that reminds me of cities I grew up in, minus the bone-dry air that requires 3x the usual water intake and moisturizer. The people are super nice, Uber drivers asked questions about crypto, and the food isn’t bad; I just wish I had more time to explore and would love to come back sometime! Overall, very happy to visit. Huge thanks to Leyla and Evin for convincing me to make ETHDenver a priority this year.

What it’s like being a (queer) woman at crypto conferences

The girls, gays, and they’s were out in full force!

The ETHDenver team deserves props for offering such space for women on many main stages at Spork Castle. It’s not about women working harder to be seen; it’s about the fact that we are necessary counterparts to this industry, we are inevitable.

By some miracle, I felt accepted, not entirely invisible. As if maybe…just maybe, we were being seen and, more importantly, appreciated.

It’s taken far too long for us to see these moments when we aren’t ignored for showing up and being our authentic selves as developers and storytellers in this corner of the tech space.

Seeing successful communities like Boys Club and SheFi definitely helps!

We don’t usually talk about being queer or trans at conferences simply because drawing attention to this doesn’t (usually) do us any favors. I felt like I was allowed to exist without any problems. I often notice subtweets after events where a friend or three felt left out or like they didn’t belong. An important sleight to call out when it happens. There were many times at previous events I felt that way too. Thankfully, it was a bit different at ETHDenver.

My theory and hope is that as long as we live our authentic selves, confidently asserting our value, we are welcome in (most) rooms we enter. I know that doesn’t always work in practice, but we have to keep working at it, we have to keep showing up.

To you reading this → go be yourself! Be fearless, be smart, say smart things & live in truth.

On the flip side, the tech bro scene was HEAVY as usual, especially at some of the side events. But it was also easy to avoid bland conversations with vests.

Takeaways from ETHDenver

There is a very clear delineation between those who are building for people with care, considering who is using the tech, and those who are here to make said tech easier to use simply to make more money on new fetishized, financialized rails. The gap widens as fewer people talk openly about curiosity, and even fewer talk about and express creativity when building. These feelings cross gender lines; no one is safe from uncreativity.

As an observer, I looked up at everyone’s face. I looked people in the eyes and saw the shimmer in their sense of urgency for this technology, coordination of value, and its possibilities.

It’s time to build with curiosity, with aligned incentives, and listen to real people!

In this cycle, chaos will win. The storytellers will win because this tech needs to be marketed precisely to new users, not just natives, with very clear, actionable use cases.

If most of the tech being built at these global developer conferences isn’t inherently creative, thus coming from the soul, who are we building for exactly? Sure, we need ZK proofs, smart wallets, and account abstraction, but it’s all the same! It’s just repackaged in a different colored box! And no, I absolutely do not need more wallets to manage. It doesn’t matter how simple something is if no one cares about the outcome or understands the value it adds to their lives.

Key themes from the week: ZK, wallet UX, digital identity, decentralized infra & gaming

I'm not too surprised at the gaming booths' high crowds. Giving people something to interact with is key to their feeling like they have an incentive to participate. Maybe governance could be fun and open-source instead of the boring, confusing slog it mostly is now.

Whether it’s gaming, questing, or a social app, the key will always be rooted in adventure. The journey a user goes through, frictionless or not, is more important than the tech. If you’re building a questing platform or gaming company, your mission is to create purpose and not meaningless partnerships for the sake of sponsor money. Help people care. Help people understand why you spent time building the thing. Myself and many of my marketing/community friends are here to help!

Key releases during ETHDenver

Collective DAO Archives (video) via lalalavendr @Optimism | link here

Base announcing further developments for Smart Wallets | read here

Top 15 Hackathon projects: check out who built what!

These are just the ones I paid attention to, I would love to hear which ones you were excited by!

Last August, I wrote about how hypercuration will be one part of what brings our onchain world out of the Irrelevancy Island™️, largely in response to Reggie James’ talk at FWB Fest.

While, yes, crypto is still moseying around in our puddle of irrelevancy; collectively, we’ve gathered the troops to aim ourselves in a relatively solid direction now. The builders have been building. The creatives have been pondering.

But here’s the thing: crypto isn’t taking advantage of hypercuration to lock in users. Not yet, anyway.

No, it’s big tech cashing in on their last-ditch efforts in the throughs of, as Cory Doctorow restates recently in ‘Enshittification’ is coming for absolutely everything via a Financial Times piece this week. Everybody loved this piece, and people who missed him coining the term last year have been sharing it around in my group chats.

I first came across the term enshittification when I watched his Defcon talk four months ago (you should definitely watch it, by the way). I shared it with a few community professionals who were fascinated by this perfect word to describe our current social and digital landscapes. Now, he’s laid out how it reverberates far past social media.

Anyway, when I first wrote about onchain hypercuration last year, I knew it would be necessary for 2024. But I didn’t realize that Spotify and YouTube would get this serious with their experiments so early in the year.

It’s nice that we have a framework for what this hyper-personalized, hyper-curated internet might look like and how it’ll grab our attention. However, I’m not convinced that any web2 enshittifactory will be healthy for our nervous systems in the long run, nor our economic futures.

Just this week, in a TikTok interview, Spotify’s Global Head of Editorial, Sulinna Ong, gave us the sauce on how the music industry will change a year from now. In it, she predicts that due to the busy nature of our lives, we’ll see lists of recommended media across all apps, not just music, that are hyper-personalized and curated to give us exactly what we need.

The music streaming app is already experimenting with an AI DJ that I tried out for a while, though I found it wasn’t that great at consistently solid recommendations.

Another feature emerged this past September called Daylight: a recommended playlist based on genres of music you’ve listened to that change throughout the day based on your mood.

The thinking is that if you liked this music previously, you’d probably keep enjoying it. And this one might have some sticking power.

There’s no annoying AI voiceover trying to be silly between songs, the playlist names are easily sharable, and the recommendations have been spot-on so far.

On the flip side, you have sites like YouTube doing the absolute most trying to get users to tell them what their favorite color is… I don’t know the angle here but all I know is it’s weird. Like me, you might be scratching your head wondering what this even does. I’ll tell you, it quite literally analyzes recommended videos solely on thumbnail color palettes. Yes, that’s all.

I tested it out and choosing an option takes you to a tab that’s sorted videos you might want to watch, and it’s just a list of red, green, or blue thumbnail images with no real meaning of what you actually might want to watch.

After reading Cory Doctorow’s latest piece, I searched through Reddit comments to see what others were saying about it. Many complained about how it was published in the Financial Times, which charges $75/month to read articles. Surely it was a higher fee than of them wanted to pay nor could likely afford.

Their solution? Some wanted to make microtransactions to pay for single articles. Others had no idea about the quality of work published to FT, which is the presumed main reason for the higher-tier fee.

This all comes back to Irrelevancy Island and how crypto isn’t and hasn’t been ready to be recognized as an option for media enjoyers. But it’s slowly getting there.

The Only Way Out: Through, New, Change

Enshittification is undoubtedly affecting how we interact not just with media but with friends and loved ones in communities online and offline. Here’s what to do about it and where we go from here:

Onchain hypercuration gives us a hyper-personalized, hyper-curated social graph that is not only open source but immutable and interoperable. It enables curators and creators the permissionless option to earn from and own their labor in the form of luxury media.

Hypercuration is the blueprint for niche everything. I’ve seen the power of niche communities throughout my career as a community professional and social media hobbyist/enthusiast. Many of these communities have risen well above 100k members in short timespans due to having clearly stated goals and impact.

None of those communities could take advantage of grant mechanisms that verified and validated their impact until now.

This is why funding mechanisms like RetroPGF and Quadratic Funding make so much sense for the inevitability of hypercuration. They each account for the impact and profits measured by protocols that benefit an entire ecosystem.

However, let it be known that profit in a capitalistic structure is not guaranteed and impact cannot and shall not be measured solely on profit.

Curating a community capable of living to see the next 5, 15, 20 years will require significant patience, sure, but it’ll require much more foresight and adaptability from the outset to enable a foundation of trust that goes beyond the simple mechanisms we see today.

Thus, onchain hypercuration requires these primitives:

• Identity: standardized measurement of connection to both the onchain and offchain worlds

• Impact: values upheld that create value reverberating throughout a given ecosystem, both capitalistic, ecological, and humanistic

• Interoperability: transferability and deterministic realities capable of crossing from one protocol to another, online and onchain

• Interreflection: is impact widening the mean as well as the sense of self?

In a world that has fractured our communal experience, it is more important to understand and find the value(s) one seeks in community with others. Especially as it concerns a future where our relation to work is less than necessary.

It is more important to use onchain hypercuration to it’s earliest advantage in preparation for a time lived outside our current hyperfinancialized world.

When we peer into our collective, we understand there is a not-so-distant time when a crisis of meaning will necessitate hypercuration to preserve humanity while facilitating diverse but niche cities.

Being onchain, in this regard, is the tool we work toward integrating but not the answer to the problem in front of us. It is but just one piece of the puzzle and as we’ve seen in the last few months alone, can be useful for navigating impact.

Talking about intimacy in digital communities, specifically ones where you can’t always see or touch the people you’re talking to, is a tough topic.

Not that we’ll be discussing physical intimacy here, but it is interesting that when searching for resources, you get two types of results: intimacy with god or the sexual, physical type of intimacy.

What we’re talking about here is hardly mentioned in search results and especially seldom in crypto or DAO communities more heavily focused on transactional relationships, brand building, or trustless, verifiable social connections.

When we do feel some semblance of intimacy in the digital, always-on community space, we’re often in smaller, non-speculative group chats with friends that are hardly talked about outside of their containers.

These spaces are created for scale, whether we mean for it or not; that’s just the nature of the internet in 2024.

Many of our fellow community builders come from a career in social media marketing with big brands or Silicon Valley startups who cater to going viral in an effort to raise money, raise awareness, or increase vanity metrics.

Others come from customer service backgrounds or have created a career for themselves, forming governance structures in the cultivation of DAOs or venture capital, or were artists in a past life.

However, intimacy is a messy, unscalable act, as Vicky Gu so eloquently writes in this 2022 interview with designer Jessica Waal. Intimacy is frightening to a community so entrusted with the Future of Finance™️ (cringe) that we shant dare talk about vulnerability or actually act on our authenticity beyond the art we create. Rather, we write think pieces on authenticity for the sake of engagement on social media instead of sharing our deepest, most vulnerable selves out of fear of judgment or being shunned from investor meetings.

AS PLUTO ENTERS AQUARIUS, we see a return to revolution and technological achievement not seen since the last time these stars aligned 246 years ago in 1778. The last 20-year period of this particular alignment saw the American, French, and Industrial Revolutions. We also saw an uptick in optimism, collective action, and technological innovation.

There’s no solid way to understand or begin to comprehend what will happen in the next 20 years, but all I can know for sure is it’ll be a wild ride. The world will undoubtedly look and operate much differently than it does today.

Here, I propose we begin to collectively challenge the way we navigate intimacy in community, especially as we build relationships in an age of AI, digital avatars, and potentially navigating thoughts around digital consciousness.

What if technology felt more like cozy spaces, whispers, a voicemail you play on repeat?

Ephemerality might also have something to say here. I believe Li Jin’s Multi-Hit Wonders is hitting on this very notion.

“…I sense that an alternative path to success in the realm of consumer apps lies beyond the well-worn model of building a “kitchen sink” social giant. An alternative, less obvious, and likely more fun route is to create a series of smaller, transient hits.”

I don’t know about you, but maybe, just maybe, we’re not actually happy about this endless yearning. It’s no wonder Gen Z is aging like milk (I cannot believe I just typed that). I’m not saying they are, but like can you blame them for having a dramatic quarter-life crisis?

It is quite possible that less loneliness could help alleviate the stress we’re all feeling around perpetual uncertainty in our lives.

Have we considered that a combination of our distrust in financial systems, global governance, and cultural estrangement has led us to this place where we have accelerated AI to the point of no return in response to this loneliness and desire for intimacy?

It sounds like AI is the simple solution to companionship, but also consider the upcoming challenges we face against looking into the mirror of AGI as it looks back at us (whenever that may be) and what we have to say for ourselves as parents to this newborn.

BUT IT’S UP TO US to seek out these opportunities for closeness. To build into our routines moments of vulnerability. To release fear.

Slow and deliberate acts of intimacy necessitate letting go of inhibitions. Letting go of relegating our interactions to only discussing brand-relevant guideline-adhering conversations. This is the sharing part of a community.

Again, flagging the utmost importance of consent with this type of intimate bonding experience in communities and talking about it openly within the group will help ease everyone in. Make any concessions, get to talking about it, and celebrate any objections or challenges.

For members, opting in and opting out of discussions is something we don’t talk about enough. Since the majority of web3 is stuck on infrastructure, discussing building something, finances, or coordination to some degree, this very human act of confirming “yes, I want to be here and participate” is quite empowering. And hey, if you no longer want to be in a conversation, there’s no shame in leaving it.

Another problem in crypto communities isn’t just onboarding, it’s offboarding. We don’t offer enough opportunities for members to question whether the space they were (permissionlessly) invited to is still the one for them while still offering ways to return. And no, this offboarding doesn’t mean typing in Discord that a member can just leave the server…

This is all part of facilitating intimacy, trust, and reliability in a welcoming space.

Here are a few prompts we can use to facilitate intimacy (and ones I’m working on using more often):

1. “Something I don’t want to share is…”

2. “What’s something you’ve been pretending?”

3. “I appreciate ____ about you”

These opportunities for deeper connection are the community glue. Even when a lot of our role as community professionals is member support or even customer support, there is intimacy involved here as well.

How many of us started our careers in customer service? I’d venture to guess many have. I started at 16 years old and stayed in some form of support for quite a while. From behind a bakery counter to tech support, there’s a level of softness and endearing nature needed to connect with people that we just get. This should be fostered in our digital communities as well.

GOING DEEPER is part of forming spaces for care. Beyond surface-level conversations about newsletters, price action, or proposals on the latest governance board. To begin building intimate practices into communities, we, as both builders and members, must allow ourselves to be vulnerable beyond the small talk to actively facilitate small group discussions.

Opening the door to sharing needs and desires in our spaces can be a first step to understanding one another. That may look like an “I’m feeling left out, I’d really love some help.” Or even more direct, like, “Hey, I saw you asking for help building ____. Wanna talk about it in a group so it doesn’t feel so scary?”

The subtext here is you don’t want to do it all alone, and no one wants to feel like they’re doing all the emotional labor, which is all too common in communities.

As leaders, as people tasked with going deeper, it’s in our best interest to find creative ways to facilitate this level of connection with members. This is why events exist, preferably with opportunities outside of only super loud, thumpy, bass-heavy music or hacking away on a laptop.

As members of said communities, it is in our best interest to be open to conversations and opportunities to share, to be vulnerable, and to be honest with others.

It’s absolutely wild to me that crypto people do not understand this very simple concept of niching down. If we look at the macro of it all, it’s probably the westernization and hypermemification of things that lost the ability to make cool stuff appeal to anyone but the masses.

I’ll say it for the millionth time, there’s a difference between culty-cults and a niche meant to spread that builds a sustainable, meaningful community.

A couple examples from my past as a community builder:

• Carol Corps & Captain Marvel - during the glory years of Tumblr, the site was thriving with comic content. This was also during the 2012 reboot of Carol Danvers as Captain Marvel. A small community was formed around the character that grew massively by sharing art, crafts, cosplay, panels, and meetups at conventions. This went on for like 6+ years leading to 2 films.

• Pastel Goth - I co-founded a community for a niche that shared colorful purple, black, and pastel kawaii fashion and makeup. We held very specific events and contests and trained 40+ rotating moderators for a community of over 20k that lasted 4 years.

Neither of these communities made a profit for their respective builders; we did it because we were obsessed with a niche and already had jobs. Kelly Sue DeConnick did select some people for Summer internships in the comics industry for college credit, though, which was beautiful to see.

Between OG YouTube creators retiring after amassing millions of followers, hundreds of hours of content, and millions in earnings, it’s clearer each day the potential trajectory of media and the entertainment industry. Particularly with this week’s announcement of Pitchfork moving under the GQ umbrella while laying off half its staff.

The media empires are slowly crumbling.

It’s well past time for a rebellious move toward communal, independent, immersive media.

Streaming services like Netflix, Disney+, Max, and Amazon Prime are replacing current tiers with ads. Amazon Prime is even forcing current subscribers to pay an extra $3 to bring the increasingly dull media collection back without annoying ads.

Bumping up prices while interrupting content with ads is not the way.

What does this have to do with niche media experiences? A lot.

First, remember those examples above about a single comic character and a very specific type of fashion? The tech industry as a whole has an aversion to this style of community due to the fact it appeals to a very small number of people relative to what can get funded.

Nearly everything being built, from education to media and PFP communities, is created for “everyone” to some degree. Sure, RetroPGF fixes this, but only if the niche proves impact which is an important piece of the puzzle for these communities.

However, they have to recognize how to build for impact.

A decentralized community governed by its users can and should be created for the benefit of a sustainable niche. Due to permissionless chains, welcoming new folks who have the incentive to participate is easier than ever.

Next, I’ll cover a recent deep dive into a part of the world that has built in-person experiences for cultivating a small, intimate, slow, intentional community through food, themes, and a passion for culture.

For the Love of Food, Vibes & Themes

My number 1 bucket list destination has always been Japan.

The first anime I ever watched had to have been Sailor Moon and this show called Ronin Warriors. There’s no way I can count all the anime I’ve seen since 1995, but that’s beside the point of this newsletter.

I’ve long admired the ways Japan has created intentional spaces for communities to form around themes and love, especially when it comes to snack bars and unique experiences.

Originating in the post-WWII era as makeshift food stalls that evolved into permanent small bars, they are hosted by a “mama-san” who brings a maternal vibe to the space serving small, affordable meals with drinks.

Each snack bar caters to the mama’s personality (or obsessions), showing off her favorite dishes to make, seating between 5 and 15 people. These are spaces specifically built for intimacy with the mama, her hostesses, and customers, who are often regulars.

A few things make them particularly special for creating a communal vibe:

• They are often themed, e.g., matchmaking spots, golf lovers, anime, and even cute pink dragons?! - a fine line between snack bar, cafe, and concept bar, all with the same building blocks

• Mamas remember your name - customers buy a bottle, leave their name on it, and drink from it when they return

• Be prepared for karaoke 🎤

• Limited seating + theme + regulars + hard to find = perfect recipe for a successful community

• Not driven by endless profit, making conversation and new friends accessible, inclusive, and affordable

• The mama will ask about your day and listen intently, which is pretty typical for a bartender, all while making a delicious snack for you

• Hostesses often come to work at the bar with a degree in nutrition too

In neighborhood bars or izakayas, mamas might work until much later in age. We’re talking 75+, leading to longer, more fulfilling lives for women where the whole neighborhood takes care of her as she does for them. Here customers are also regulars, but you might find a row of bars lined up rather than randomly through the city.

Check out a day in the life of a neighborhood izakaya.

Neighborhood bars are very similar to the other snack bars in some ways, like the personal bottle-keeps lined up, but the selection might be based on the mama’s unique taste in rare imo jochu (sweet potato liquor) or shochu. This brings costs down for customers since you’re not paying per drink. Customers might also serve themselves and others when plates are ready to go out.

The purpose here isn't to get absolutely wasted like in other countries but to have an ~experience~ that's socially stimulating.

At one of the snack bars in this video, YouTuber Sydsnap travels to a bar owned by a mama obsessed with golf. She loved the sport so much that she was divorced for being too obsessed! This bar has businessmen regulars drinking wine and chatting about golf every Friday, and there’s even a little mini-golf to try out. Hello LinksDAO! ⛳️ 👀

Many concept bars take customer votes to choose the names or occupations of the hostesses. How cute?!

There's tons more to explore with Japanese snack bars, so check them out for yourself to learn how you, too, can incorporate these elements in a budding IRL community.

So, why are we talking about snack bars in Japan?

The point is that as we inch closer to the birth of AGI v1, I want to show ways other cultures have or are currently creating a community feel in person. These social structures across the globe allow us to peer into healthy antidotes to social isolation.

There’s no telling what will happen when that time comes, but my hope is that together, we can work to move ourselves from being glued to screens to hanging out together more often. It’s so important we find shared experiences that give communal care to each other.

Places like the snack bar, neighborhood bar, themed cafes, and izakaya offer low-stakes conversation, good food, and opportunities to meet new people, no matter how quirky they are.

I know one thing for sure: if there were an izakaya within walking or a train ride away from my house, I would totally be there!

Expansive Communities: in essence, are interoperable hyperchannels that are both permissionless and sustainable through sensible governance, meaning-making, and caregiving

Farcaster provides decentralized, permissionless space for expansive communities to flourish as an experimental example of how growth, knowledge sharing, and participation in discussion can bring a sense of meaning to social behavior.

While it is important to acknowledge that the early iterations of these channels on Warpcast are certainly still in experimental phases, outside observers may not fully understand their strengths and weaknesses since a large percentage of crypto native communities continue to rely on Discord, Telegram, and Twitter, all centralized ‘web2’ services.

First, you might be wondering what the hell is a Farcaster channel, how do I get one, why do I need one, and what’s it gonna cost me? Well, let’s dive in! We’ll go over all that and then get into how to set a purpose for building your own Expansive Community in the Farcaster ecosystem.

Q. What is a Farcaster Channel?

A. Essentially, you can think of them as a cross between a subreddit and Discord channel. They are intended to host conversations on niche topics and could be used to build a thriving community or simply to boost your own content. Boost? Yes, casting (posting) into a channel does give a slight boost to your content in the current algorithm.

Q. Why do I need one?

A. Well, as stated above, many casters are using channels as a personal dumping ground for their thoughts and an enabling feature for folks to interact directly with them. Again, using them as a personal subreddit of sorts. Especially useful for those folks who frequent Warpcast and have built their own personality on the platform.

There are near endless reasons why a builder would choose to create a Farcaster channel over a more traditional centralized Twitter/X chat, Discord server, or even Telegram group. These services have the power to throttle messages, not reach your target, or get lost in the countless messaging services the modern social human is required to engage with. Now, this isn’t to say getting rid of those other apps will solve all or really any of your community problems. Let’s be real, crypto communities face far more issues than choosing a platform. It simply means that you may be able to discover more aligned native speakers who carry your beliefs and reach them where they are. Twitter/X has long been a toxic, noisy environment with little to no belief on my end of getting better in the near future. Not all communities are meant for the pure exclusivity of token-gated Discord or the messiness of bots, scams, and the overwhelming nature of many servers. Telegram can be an aligned alternative, but to maintain the mental stability of members, you absolutely have to mute channels to save yourself from endless notifications and configure folders within the app to retain some semblance of well-being.

Q. What’s it going to cost?

A. Here’s where it gets a little tricky. Let’s break it down:

One Farcaster channel costs 2500 Warps, equal to $25USD worth of ETH, which can currently be purchased on the web client for Warpcast. The Warpcast client utilizes Coinbase Commerce for easy accessibility. Warps are a simple way to do three things, mint in-app NFTs with a single click, create channels, and gift to users.

Each new user must first purchase storage on an app like Warpcast. This costs $7 via the Apple or Android app stores. On the other hand, the various centralized apps cost much less to spin up, though keep in mind many Twitter/X users do pay for premium features. Discord is free to use (sans Nitro for the cool reaction emojis), and so is Telegram. This small cost reduces the spam (subjective) largely unseen on Warpcast.

Building Culture Through Expansive Communities

Injecting some personal hopes here, the goal for 2024 is to encourage the use of sub-channels as more users come aboard and create interoperability between partner channels. This enables connections and links to form outside clear boundaries, which are imperative for connective tissues to strengthen.

As Dan suggests quite frequently, it may also be helpful for communities to build their own client to cater to specific, cozier needs and allow members to curate feeds with more unique and innovative features that Warpcast won’t or doesn’t currently enable. While I don’t see this as necessary for Expansive Communities, it could be a way for community management to take place. What if you want to build your own client that only shows your sub-channels? Build a client solely for RetroPGF. Build a client for events management, AMAs, or whatever else you think of. These are all examples of potential expansive communities so long as they retain these properties:

• Permissionless [no (or ethical) gatekeeping]

• Clearly stated aims and norms

• Rituals, weekly, monthly, quarterly and otherwise

• Meaning-making through online and in-person meetups

• Caregiving via delightful engagement

• Roles give purpose to engaged participants

I’ve stated in many public and private forums that I can’t wait to see community-led products built within Warpcast channels, and this has already happened to a degree. Sam has built Humankind Candles essentially using their early exposure to the Farcaster protocol. Even though this was done outside of a channel, I see it as an opportunity to build potential feedback loops and possible partnerships with folks like Christin in the Spirituality channel for meditation sessions. I know I would be more inclined to buy a candle if it came with a discount for a guided meditation or a premium subscription to a Paragraph newsletter.

Rituals like Unlonely livestreams help bring users of products together and build community connections as well. GM Farcaster is a weekly 21-minute podcast streamed on Unlonely and proliferated through a channel with nearly 250 followers at the time of writing. The duo also hosts AMAs, newsletters, recording mints on Base, and uploads on traditional streaming services. They’ve also gathered retroactive funding, which is helping to keep them going. This is all possible by continuing to be active on the protocol, which has led to great success, earning multiple features to build case studies, recognition, and articles written about each host.

Finding and Funding Within Expansive Communities

When it comes to finding and funding communities by telling an old story for modern times, we often talk of the need for funding events, development costs, media production sponsorships, and products to build (because capitalism) and the ways we discover connections through algorithms or curation.

First up: Funding

Warpcast has, as explained here, a funding mechanism (that’s not a token) called Warps used for minting, gifting, and channel creation. Casters are also able to subsidize invites with Warps, and any invites will be rewarded with 50 Warps on both ends of a completed invite.

We’ve seen channel hosts/leads reward engaged replies with Warps, entire channels created via gifting of Warps, and also the creation of a channel dedicated to casters who need some extra Warps called /get100warps with over 500 followers.

On top of this, according to Dan, Farcaster-related projects received over $1M+ in the RetroPGF round 3. This is because, in 2023, the Farcaster protocol moved to the OP Stack, meaning any Farcaster app or related project building within the ecosystem is inherently OP-based by design. Many such projects utilize Base or Zora for minting, and as explained earlier, minting these NFTs happens in-app with a single click; no extra signature is required because of the protocol design.

Farcaster is the socially expansive community of the Superchain. Regenerative funding from RetroPGF goes into building better products, apps, and experiences for users, which feeds into more products being built, more satisfied users, and seeding ideas that simply aren’t possible without these innovative funding models.

And Lastly: Finding

Discovery, curation, and sensemaking among expansive communities on Farcaster continue to be in developmental stages, in my opinion. However, channels are surfacing for the sole purpose of this effort and I foresee curation of in-person meetups in particular becoming easier, especially due to the decrease of noise on other platforms and culture creation of sharing only the most high-signal resources and intelligencia found in such channels.

Even casino-like channels like /degen have proven the curation of coordination mechanisms exceeding expectations, rising to be a top channel for engagement. Educating casters on how to get into new memecoins, their drawbacks, failures, etc., and while I do not view memecoins as healthy expansive communities, this proves that channels can work as incentive mechanisms.

In Conclusion

The cultural markers of decentralized social media and expansive communities, specifically as they are created on Farcaster, while in an experimental phase, are well on their way to noticeable growth.

Channel hosts or leads should consider online and in-person events for connecting casters with one another for side events at major conferences as well as Farcaster-exclusive Farcon events. These will require both hosts and specified roles that can be rewarded with Warps, OP Stack tokens directly, or even greater funds distributed through community-governed RetroPGF.

Where shifts are happening all throughout the tech space in early 2024, communities will need to double down on creating a purpose for contributors and members alike that gives them a sense of meaning with added free time on their weekly calendars.

Today we discuss how to achieve new heights as a community manager.

Since this checklist will be aimed at more seasoned community managers with a bit of experience under their belt, I won’t dive into how to be a community manager here. Instead, I provide some things to notice about your community and specifically yourself in order to set new standards and reassess where this plateau is holding you back.

Many folks in the industry simply cannot afford the fees of a coach, extensive courses, or the time to dedicate to such practices. And while they are all very helpful, often, we just need to step back a bit and think (and gatekeep less).

Interconnectedness

There are 3 areas we must create and cultivate interconnectedness as community builders in the new year. Even if we are already doing this, it’s possible we aren’t dedicating as much energy to all three aspects.

Personal: It is my belief that we cannot foster interconnectedness without this most important first step of personal, owned introspection for ourselves. This is a literal gift we receive daily from within. To more deeply understand our own motivations. To sit quietly with ourselves. To determine our purpose and our sources of meaning so they may be reflected in the work we produce and share with others. To know oneself is to better know those around us. This might sound a little woo-woo, but it’s true. This year we can find time to meditate, close our eyes, stop consuming for at least 15 minutes a day, and empty our minds.

Internal team: Your team is your greatest secret weapon. They are tapped into all aspects of your company, small or large, and have insight you need when connecting with members. Your job this year is to meet with teammates outside the immediate community team you talk to all day and tune in to the amazing talent on the product team, the devs, and the BD team. They are there for a reason. Get a feelings check on how they see the community coming along. Let’s utilize them!

Externally facing: As the voice of the community, fostering interconnectedness between members is an ongoing activity. We are the light, the spark of brilliance that members look to for connection. Particularly in decentralized communities, it’s important to use “we” and “us” language for a deeper connection between members while maintaining ethical behavior.

Relevancy

People in this space can sense irrelevancy from a mile away. If you wait more than a week, or even worse, months, to talk about or have an opinion about something happening in the industry, you’re quickly irrelevant to the people catching up elsewhere. It’s one of the causes of downfall and disconnection for many communities that fail to keep up.

If you choose to create a community with a Content and Contribution Model in a fast-paced, 24/7/365 space, it’s your job to stay relevant. The caveat here is you don’t want to burn yourself out by being literally too online. Now, this style of community is by far not the only one we should be building. Not every community can or should follow trends. However, the strategy and expectations you set with members must align with the content you produce. If you’re trying to educate folks, it’s likely best to stay relevant so members can grow alongside you and not get further behind in such an emergent space.

Tools to help with this:

➙ Communities like Boys Club seem like they’re too online because they’ve cultivated a community of folks who collectively understand online culture. They’ve simply set the foundation to allow members to share freely trends that are happening that others need to know about. But Boys Club isn’t the only instance of highly effective, high-signal, and relevant online communities. I’m also in communities like Grassverse, where members are constantly sharing info. It’s up to you to find spaces that keep up with your niche (outside your profession) to share trendlines with members.

➙ This relevancy also translates to the need for curation, as I’ve previously discussed in this Mirror article on Hypercuration. As we niche down our communities this year and refocus our members on new adventures, curation of both information AND members will be increasingly important.

Why? Because this level of curation will allow for more inexpensive membership and movement toward more loyal and participatory actions. Once more aligned members see you provide the exact things they desire, they’re more liable to stick around and engage. The key here is to learn with and from members so you stay equally relevant not to a wider array of “everyone” but to only the target audience.

➙ Of course, you’ll find AI tools will help with synthesizing trends and accurate advancements in your industry. At the moment, a human touch is still required to gather the most up-to-date information, but it won’t be long before AI will be deployed to autonomously gather, write, and publish articles, memes, and everything in between for not just entertainment but accurate, unbiased news.

AI News isn’t the only sector for staying relevant, though. This year, we’ll see advancements in entire community stacks utilizing AI for introductions, connectors, and managing engagement through distributing loyalty rewards (points) based on activity. Essentially freeing up Community Managers for more creative, personal adventures with members.

Though I do believe memes will always be for the people ✊

When these tools arrive, I’ll be sure to report on them here! We’ve already seen this video from Channel One News which claims to be the world’s first AI-powered news network.

Other Tips and Tricks

Other Tips and Tricks

➙ During the break, with the help of around 20 folks on Farcaster, I created the /community channel. In my Expansive Communities manifesto published earlier last year, I explained that communities will need to take advantage of these “channels” that are now permissionless on Farcaster.

Join this channel to stay connected to community builders across the web3 landscape and distill outside the noise of Twitter/X.

➙ There’s pressure to go full force here at the beginning of the year. I say to hell with that. Go at your own pace and do a little hibernation in the Winter if you need to. Bloom in the Spring with all the flowers 🌸

➙ I'll reiterate here that as a more experienced community builder, being on top of your game requires clearing your mind. Members depend on you to be there for them. In turn, you must learn to be present for yourself. This includes exercise, regular meditation, and a holistic practice of mindfulness of your own self care.

NounsDAO, with its many tendrils of successful brand identifiers, side projects, and props that bring about these success stories, continues to be a favorite crypto-enabled public good. NounsDAO partnered with Variety Kids Christmas Party and unanimously funded Prop 420, sponsored by Gami, ultimately receiving 47,479 USDC, equivalent to nearly $70,000 AUD. The Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre was filled to the brim with entertainment, toys, laughter, food, and a bit of respite for the many caregivers in these children’s lives.

The Christmas party, held on December 14, 2023, hosted 5,000 children and 3,000 of their parents, carers, and volunteers to bring Nounish cheer to kids facing diverse challenges. A video recap of the event can be viewed here.

Beyond this being totally FREE for attendees, Prop 420 has shown the true power of crypto-enabled charities and the many lives they are capable of touching.

Seeing thousands of children who would otherwise not have the opportunity to experience holiday cheer this year, much less next to other smiling children, is such a heartwarming sight to behold. Though I’m not a parent myself, as a child, I personally didn’t always have such abundant holidays, so in some small way, I can relate to the memories events like these etch into a young person’s mind. For many of these children, the event offers a sense of belonging among children struggling through difficult times they can relate to, a place for joy and happiness in an otherwise tough everyday life.

The NounsDAO x Variety Christmas 39,000 sq ft event was the largest crypto philanthropy event held in Australia. A huge feat in itself, the venue provided kids with a bag overflowing with toys, a myriad of rides, adults dressed as all kinds of characters children recognize, along with roving Nouns characters in costume, handing out Noggles and Nouns temporary tattoos to attendees.

Reading through reviews from the event, one in particular, brought tears to my eyes. It reads, “I loved that at the carnival games the children were encouraged to keep trying when they missed and given extra chances and then everyone celebrated when they got it. It was beautiful to see, and really meant a lot to my son, who usually is unable to throw for example a dart at a balloon due to his DCD and this often ends in tears and him feeling like a failure. This experience showed him that if he keeps trying he can do it, it just takes a little longer for him, and that people are still super happy for him when he does do it. And he still got a prize which he loved!…”

In my opinion, these are the kinds of events the industry should look to fund more often. Prop 420 shows that we can use technology and global coordination for real, lasting public good.

About Variety:

Variety - the Children's Charity Victoria is dedicated to assisting children who face challenges due to disability, disadvantage, or illness. The charity offers invaluable support to families and organisations by granting equipment, ranging from wheelchairs to all-abilities playgrounds, ensuring practical assistance reaches those in dire need. Beyond tangible aid, Variety runs transformative programs designed to educate and empower children who might otherwise be overlooked. Scholarships are also awarded to nurture the talents of children living with disadvantages or disabilities. And, Variety hosts events that infuse joy, light, and laughter into the lives of these children and their families – with our keystone event being the Variety Kids Xmas Party.