It all started when I posted about my SN routine on 19 Jan and shared how I use 500 sats as play money to comments on Stackers’ stuff. Someone felt that I was not optimising the value I could get from the SN rewards - and proceeded to zap me a huge sum. He did so to encourage me to raise my default zap and see what would happen.

Some background reading is in order: #287074. @Undiscipined shared how he feels like he is getting more sats than he is dishing out. Again, the same call to action to raise our default zap.

It has been ten days since I received the zap. What has happened since then?

Well, I did raise my default zap. Rather erratically because I raised it to 168, felt poor and lowered it to 108, and subsequently had a F*** It moment and raised it again to 218. Of course, sometimes when I feel really poor, I lean back on 28 for a bit until I gain enough sats and then venture out into the big leagues again.

Lessons learnt: these days, I can just zap 218 without hesitation because I feel that I have received enough sats airdrops (and trust that I won’t be left out to dry if I zap others relentlessly). My trust in the behaviour of other Stackers has increased - and I try to reciprocate this trust. Zapping others more also increases my satisfaction with SN. I’m pretty sure that I’m the only zapper for some posts. It makes me glad that I’m doing something to spread the zaps.

Okay, how about the rewards I gain every day from the pool? Data from ten days after I received the huge zap:

20 Jan - 834 sats 21 Jan - 740 sats 22 Jan - 3741 sats 23 Jan - 3860 sats 24 Jan - 6036 sats 25 Jan - 2530 sats 26 Jan - 5384 sats 27 Jan - 3762 sats 28 Jan - 428 sats 29 Jan - 6807 sats

Lessons learnt: zapping is a labour of love because on certain days, I didn’t get back 1,000 sats despite my higher default zap. Maybe not many people donated to the reward pools on those days? Or maybe my zapping behaviour of 168 sats only got rewarded on my 3rd day because of the time settings in which the zaps are collected and distributed? So, you are going to add unnecessary stress to yourself if you zap a high amount and expect the Universe to respond in kind. On the flip side, just because you get a “bad” day of rewards doesn’t mean you should revert to a low default zap. Ngl, the feeling of getting thousands of sats never gets old!

Lessons learnt: I think as you can deduce from my picture, your zapping behaviour needs to be complemented with regular posting behaviour. (Yes, I posted three times within 24 hours. Practically expend all my creative energies here, lol.) I don’t think I would qualify to receive thousands of sats if I just rely on commenting alone. Something for you to take note when you raise your higher default amount.

Conclusion: two words. Have fun! 🤩