As a very new stacker, I will say, I will be doing less this month. The silver lining for me is that I have a lot of things that really require my focus over the next few weeks, so a break from SN and other distractions will be a good thing.

The main points for me that immediately spring to mind are : This is very much against my personal values. It's the kind of fiat world stuff I have rejected, whereby a lot of people do the work and a select, elite few benefit from everyone else's hard work. Combined with the vehicle used to extract this value and POW from everyone - carrot dangling, exclusive rewards and competition - pitting you against your peers/community. It doesn't feel nice.

I removed my eldest from the state school system after witnessing first hand the damage done by gold star charts, leader boards, good work tables, naming & shaming, putting individuals on pedestals, competitions, elitism etc.. (That kid is in their mid 20s now and I'm happy that the other kid never stepped foot in a school.) This is brought into our workplaces with various bonus schemes and the like. I've seen them rigged by team members. Rewards become punishments for many and create bitterness and despondency. Some people think that people won't work without these "incentives". Well, that's not true. There's a lot more I could say about psychological manipulation, behaviour modification and nudging but I'll leave it there.

I will still be dropping in when I have time but I won't be taking part in the competition. I might make some comments and pass a few zaps on here and there. I will still post in music territory as and when I can because I believe NME does it from the goodness of his heart, passion and to build a community.