205 sats \ 8 replies \ @DudeJLebowski 21 Mar \ on: Million Sat Madness is a Keynesian Beauty Contest meta
Yes, I'm not going to engage in a popularity contest in the hope of being in the chosen few who get rewards. The fact that anybody can get daily rewards based on whatever factors is what keeps a lot of people coming back here.
The people who check in once or twice a day just aren't going to start posting nonsense in the hope that something takes off. In fact, it would make for a far worse user experience if we did end up in that situation. As it stands, the balance is OK, people post things they think are interesting or reply in ways that make sense, and if other users like it, they zap.
What this new model will lead to is just a barrage of posts hoping to "go viral" with no real substance. And, when that's the case, I'm out.
To clarify, is the "new model" you're talking about the month-long challenge or my proposal?
I agree with you that things were working OK (I would go so far as to say they were working well). I had been aware of this incentive problem for a while and wanted to articulate it so that everyone was aware things could go the way of chasing virality.
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It was fine as it was, yes there was an element of engagement farming to put it that way, but those posts were generally easy to spot and the free zapping market took care of the rest.
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I'm more concerned about the flip side of engagement farming, which is disingenuous zapping.
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How do you mean?
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The rewards incentivize zapping content that you expect others to zap, rather than zapping content because you like it.
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Ohhhh, I didn't know it worked like that. I just put the calculation of daily rewards down to some mysterious algorithm that I'd never truly understand, and that as fine with me.
So, as it stands, if you zap a post soon after it's posted, and then it goes on to gain traction with other zaps, this gives you a greater share of the daily rewards? I can see if you were to reply to such a post with something inciteful then that reply is likely to be seen more and therefore probably gain more zaps, but I think that's just natural.
I think most people just use it honestly, that is, gaming the system is too much like hard work and the simplest thing is just to engage with what catches your eye and zap what you like.
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Eventually, behavior conforms to incentives.
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A profound truth.