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short foreword

at the outset of this short column --i would like to emphasize that i have been continually inspired by all the creatives around on SN in all territories --those who choose to share their work without the expectation of receiving a reward --as well as their generous patrons who seem to give wholeheartedly to those artistic expressions that speak to them most
this is fantastic

Yes -- contests are fun
but if people begin to expect a prize to produce something meriting artistic value -- then i cannot help but feeling that i may have fallen right back into the attention economy that i try to get away from by being on SN
you may have noticed that i have put the weekly ~the_stacker_muse creative writing contest on hold for the time being --i am doing so for a few reasons --one of the main ones being that i am intentionally stepping back to ensure that the territory is shaping out to be as intended

main reasons for starting ~the_stacker_muse

  1. to create a place for creative (writers esp.) to meet/share/discuss works-in-progress
  2. SN already has a vibrant community (with writers)
  3. empower bitcoiners to be forces of creativity in a dying internet culture
the above four points are all connected to SN being a unique place on the internet --which is true for many reasons (these mostly stemming from the fact that "proof-of-work" is required to upvote/boost in the form of zaps, share, and comment)
also being able to host the BEST under 400 contest is definitely a novel and entertaining (if not proving too expensive) feature that gives SN an edge
--furthermore this contest has brought quite a few posters/writers to the territory and perhaps most importantly it has exposed me to writers that have kept me motivated to keeping these contests going (special shout-out to @Jimmyhoneyalchemist @jbschirtzinger @cleophas @cryotosensei @softglitter2d @Kontext)1
that all being said --it is proving to be an expensive way to curate writing

challenges with BEST under 400

to begin --hosting a territory is expensive already --and to someone funding this with a fiat-job --is becoming increasingly expensive as our dirty fiat moneys continue to trend to zero
the 4000 sat prize i chose for my best under 400 creative writing contest turned out to be a good number as i was surprizingly able to generate at least that much in territory revenue (with some weeks being exceptions) from posts, comments and zaps
this resulted in some high quality posts from those mentioned above as well as a handful of others
the contest has been fun but seemed to disproportionately favour the participants at the expense of the territory --which ultimately works to neither's benefit if the goal is to have more better writing in the long-term
a lesson i learned hosting as well as in observing other contests here on sn is that
  • zaprank can be gamed (via bribes),
  • participants can over-leverage themselves on ai,
  • or otherwise succumb to navel-gazing (i.e. just reading their own submissions and not really engaging with others)
so then --dear reader --if i have retained your attention thus far --then we are led to this important question --which you may feel free to answer in the comments --though not obliged --for your mere reflection on the matter is already enough

in a competitive environment such as i have tried to cultivate in ~the_stacker_muse with a prize that is zero-sum, then why bother reading/zapping/commenting your challengers?


so what next for ~the_stacker_muse

i'll continue to pay territory rent and share my own writing and do what i can to promote the burgeoning community representing bitcoiner writers on SN --however i'll discontinue my subsidizing of these contests
yes --contests are fun --and i do intend on hosting more here in a modified --more tempered and sustainable fashion so please subscribe so you can keep up for future updates

Footnotes

  1. if you have contributed to the contests and were not included it is most likely because you had already been on my radar when i started these
this territory is moderated
110 sats \ 0 replies \ @plebpoet 2h
Contests was an obvious engagement route to try — but I agree with your assessment
Looking forward to the next ideas you’ll have here!
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Thanks for the shout out! The fiat world makes everything more complicated in that someone, somewhere, has to pay, and the on-ramp is usually fiat oriented. The creatives that contribute are usually fiat-strapped because the fiat system tends to reward the sell-outs. This leaves a lot of creatives out on the edges of a system that doesn't support them.
If I am in a contest, I intentionally avoid participating in any way with the contest until said contest is over, as a general rule. It is hard to be a participant and a voter without considering your self-interest.
For instance, sometimes you see real shit entries in a contest which would, by any objective measure, be clearly rated as such and afforded the appropriate-sized manure-holding compost bag. Sometimes, though, you see people grabbing spoons and they start slurping the shit as though it were Manwich. The temptation there is to say to people "Hey, why are you eating all this shit! It's just gonna make your breath shitty, and spread a lot of shit around!" Then, of course, people accuse you of just wanting to win the contest because you are jealous or something. You can't point out shit and BE in the contest and have people think you honest, although from where an individual sits you can do all those things.
Doubly so when you have a channel where you hold creative writing, or a TV station, or whatever. That military industrial complex has a way of sneaking its motives in there so that it subtly begins to reward--can you guess? Shit. Then, you confuse it for Shinola because it pays the bills and pretty soon everyone is calling shit Shinola. Relevant cultural link.
The challenge then becomes to align your entire world, channel, and existence with the kind of art you value and hope to cultivate. That proves, very, very difficult. Unlike those cavemen who saw a cave wall and said "Ya know what? I'm gonna take my hand and trace it on there and paint some Mastodons and some Mammoths and if nobody sees it they can kiss my caveman grits," there is a whole world out there that's like "So, you think you are a caveman artist eh? Well, let's see how you do if we take away your cave and campfire, smartypants!"
Of course, the caveman is like, "I just wanted to do some art. I didn't realize that your cave platform involved what pronouns Mammoths and Mastodons might use." The translation, of course, is "I didn't realize you were into THAT stupid shit!"
Long story short, I'll be interested to see what you do next!
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i appreciate your words as always --blogging is fun especially with lightning --maybe cavemen thought so too if cave art is the cultural equivalent --maybe cavemen patrons even rewarded the artists with some extra bone broth or hunting trophies
and yes --you nailed it--i do want my cave and campfire back
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @siggy47 4h
@remindme in 4 days
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