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I'd like to perform a social experiment. It's simple: as soon as 24 hours passes without a new comment on this post, I will give the final comment 100% of the zaps this post receives (minimum 1k sats)

Will you remember to comment? Remember, the first comment gets nothing. The last comment wins.

We're one month into this experiment, and we have many active participants!

Thanks to all who have contributed to the pot. It's pretty interesting now.

How long do you think this will go on for?

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Forever

The more users Stacker News has and the more valuable bitcoin becomes, the more activity this post will get.

Maybe we'll run into some sort of limit on Stacker News post size.

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67 sats \ 1 reply \ @ek 10 Oct 2024

There's no limit and there won't be one but we load all replies that are not too deeply nested at once. Therefore, this post inspired us to also add the common more button to comments now since it might be the reason why we have latency spikes while the db is fetching all 472 comments in this post.

So congratulations @ken, you indeed might broke SN to some degree haha

one month lol

777 🍀

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111 sats \ 1 reply \ @j7hB75 25 Aug

3868 - HAPPY ONE YEAR!!! @ken 🎉

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1111 sats \ 0 replies \ @ken OP 25 Aug

Thanks! It's been a blast!

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The game continues. @remindme in 23 hours.

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There's a type of auction that you see at county fairs occasionally, where contestants have to keep their hand on a car until they're the last one still touching it.

@remindme in 23 hours

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This reminds me of a radio contest from 1995

Man, the RemindMe function (which I'm deliberately not invoking) is going to make this game last forever.

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I'm in it to win it

@remindme in 23 hours

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Okay, someone has to keep @Undisciplined in check: @remindme in 23 hours

True. Ban the bot

@remindme in 23 hours

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Woot! I just got to top the rewards off at over 4000.

@remindme in 23 hours
Also, please do NOT remind @Bell_curve. ;)

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😂😂😂 @remindme in 23 hours, but no one else.

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I need coffee in 23 hours

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@sox, this thread breaks the live comment button

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42 sats \ 1 reply \ @sox 20 Aug

It’s because it’s a paginated thread! The navigator doesn’t know how to click the more button, lol sorry.

I just got pagination working in dev, a really hot fix is coming tomorrow. Thank you so much!

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I figured that was the problem

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Was this inspired by #556324 or #554962? 👀

Anyway, I’m in.

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Ah, I didn't see these! Fun!

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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @nym 11 Jan

One of

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This post will definitely reach to 100 million Sats.

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The game is starting to get very interesting. Now there are 14k sats for the winner. And now I'm pretty sure we'll reach 1000 comments. 😁

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Now at 15k. 😉

Checking in today.

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Hi there :)

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I forgot about this but looks like that was okay!

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Buy Stacker News Zine

Guys who is zapping all those sats? 71k, incredible.

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23 sats \ 1 reply \ @ek 25 Sep 2024

must have been one of @Undisciplined's turbo zap accidents

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I don't think so. They must have earned it.

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I CLAIM VICTORY!

#1277069 was posted 2025-11-07T16:24:40.494Z
Now it's more than 24 hours since then, and no comment in between.

@ken please check

The five most recent comments for this post according to my script are

2025-11-07T10:13:56.178+00:00 1:31:20.582000 1276831 0xbitcoiner
2025-11-07T11:17:20.682+00:00 1:03:24.504000 1276860 Scroogey
2025-11-07T15:23:06.151+00:00 4:05:45.469000 1277035 j7hB75
2025-11-07T16:24:40.494+00:00 1:01:34.343000 1277069 Scroogey
2025-11-08T16:30:32.54+00:00 1 day, 0:05:52.046000 1277802 Scroogey
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Wow!

It seemed like this was staying pretty active

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Was there a predyx market for this? Guess @j7hB75 finally called it quits huh

Yo! Awesome! I'm out right now but I will verify as soon as I get home in a few hours, and if it's true, I'll request an LN invoice from you!

Nice job!

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Oh uh, I did 24 hour reminder yesterday. Doh! Did I miss it

@remindme in 23 hours anyway.

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The experiment continues!

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Woot! How are you even checking this without spending way too much time looking through post times? Do you have your own hidden bot? Are you just checking manually? Is this whole thing the world’s most interesting rug pull?

@remindme in 23 hours

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I am quite sure it will be me if not Congratulations to the last comment.

https://m.stacker.news/48178

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This will become a pain in the neck to keep track of.

@remindme in 23 hours

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Woah! I did not know about this bot. Does this bot really work? @remindme in 15 seconds.

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Boy howdy! @remindme in 23 hours.

Here's a funny idea for a strategy:

  • wait for @j7hB75 to comment, then shortly after
  • disconnect your wallet, get rid of all sats and CCs
  • comment yourself
  • since you're broke, an invoice shows up to pay the fee for the comment
  • don't pay the invoice, close the prompt
  • your comment now exists, but in unpaid state, invisible to others, with current created-at time right after @j7hB75 's
  • crucially, the comment counter used by others' strategies will not increment
  • wait almost 24 hours (if anyone else comments, go back to first step)
  • a minute before @j7hB75 wins, go to your profile, find your unpaid post, click retry payment, and pay the invoice
  • your comment, now paid for, will show up for everybody, with the original created-at time unchanged
  • your comment will win shortly after
  • everybody will be scratching their heads how they missed your comment for 24 hours

Does that really work?

I tried, look at #1092698 click on ... and details. The item keeps the original created-at time, but additionally gets a paid-at time. But the UI uses the paid-at to sort and display time. I think @ken would rule that this is the relevant time in this context.

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Wow, how clever! What should I do?

Should I reward clever rule-bending? Or does this change the nature of the experiment?

I need to think about this... But I like how you think, @Scroogey!

Edit: Lol @ Gemini's analysis:

The Game Becomes a Cesspool of Confusion and Resentment
If this strategy becomes common, the social experiment will degrade into a frustrating experience for all involved:

For regular players: The game becomes impossible to win. They follow the rules as written, but a hidden, retroactive winner appears out of nowhere, making them feel foolish and cheated.

For players using the strategy: The game becomes an anxiety-ridden high-stakes race where you are blind to your competitors' moves. You're constantly checking your profile, paranoid that another hidden player is about to pull the rug out from under you.

For you, the host: The game's integrity is shattered. You are left to arbitrate disputes and explain a bizarre, meta-level of play that most participants don't even know exists. Your experiment, which was supposed to be simple and transparent, becomes opaque and confusing.

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Should I reward clever rule-bending?

In my opinion, no.

Or does this change the nature of the experiment?

Yes, very much so.

Your experiment, which was supposed to be simple and transparent, becomes opaque and confusing.

Couldn't agree more.

Wait, so comments that aren't paid not expire? @ek

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0 sats \ 2 replies \ @ek 1 Sep

wdym with expire

#2579

(I'm guessing this is irritating @k00b)

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52 sats \ 4 replies \ @k00b 31 Mar

Not really. Even I’m surprised though

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I was talking about how often you're getting tagged with this new gimmick.

I told @Car to make this the next "most popular segment in bitcoin", but he seems to have declined.

Just stopping by to say hello since I haven't played in awhile.

Did anybody win yet? I guess the remind me function either isn't working anymore or I'm missing it by actually doing productive things. Damn real world work getting in the way of a fun post like this. haha

Can you make a reunion post when this is all over? ...kind of like a pizza party at the end of a sports season

@remindme in 23 hours

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This experiment is still ongoing! There are many active participants.

Coordination may be required for the game to end...

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We will not comply!

remindme test: @remindme in 10 minutes

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What's the longest this has ever gone without a post?

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23 hours, 57 minutes

I think it almost went a day once, but now it never gets close.

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Guys, l was thinking, lets just give up.
This can be the last reply.

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Collusion... I mean coordination

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Right.
My biggest competition seems to be you.

good idea

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I know, right.
Everyone stop after my reply.

1998, maybe the best year in gaming ever?

Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time
Final Fantasy VII
Metal Gear Solid
Golden Eye 007
Half-Life
Starcraft
Baldur's Gate

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this is a good list

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I remember final fantasy

2000th comment?

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Never gonna give you up…

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Did anyone win?

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Not yet...

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How long until you're regretting this?

Anyone up for a little game of Last Pay Wins?

Oh wow! The last time I checked this, a little over 4000 sats were at stake. Have these 100,000 sats got claimed yet or is this still rocking?!

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Still rocking!!

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Hell yeah!

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Oh no! I lost track of this. Did somebody win yet?

@remindme in 23 hours anyway

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Nope! Not yet.

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right on!

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This page is becoming a pain to load.

I predict this game will go on until @k00b decides to take it down for site stability reasons

Please, let me win this one disregard the rules. Show me the Bitcoin Lightning.

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Is this daft punk lol

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This is a private room in the Saloon!

Is this still a thing?

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Yes.

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And…wow, this is just too cool. I hope I don’t miss the ending.

The game should be over by now.
Look at 14 and 15 this month

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I don't think so unless I'm missing something.

This was the last comment on the 14th:
2024-09-14T03:47:37.038+00:00
#684139

I then left this comment a few minutes before 24 hours from the comment above:
2024-09-15T03:43:57.943+00:00
#685260

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Thanks. Somehow I made the wrong calculation.

This game will never end. 😀😀😀

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Are we really still doing this? I totally forgot for a few days and nothing really changed! @remindme in 24h

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We are really still doing this, stacktoshi!

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You created a monster lol

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The statistics for the top six commenters for this post as of today.

The numbers are percentages of their posts for each hour of each weekday, with numbers <0.5% blanked out. The patterns might show users' local time zones.

|  j7hB75 (1227)                                     |  Bell_curve (890)                                  |  SimpleStacker (546)                               |  Undisciplined (434)                               |  0xbitcoiner (166)                                 |  Satosora (118)                                    |
|                                                    |                                                    |                                                    |                                                    |                                                    |                                                    |
|        Mon  Tue  Wed  Thu  Fri  Sat  Sun     Sum   |        Mon  Tue  Wed  Thu  Fri  Sat  Sun     Sum   |        Mon  Tue  Wed  Thu  Fri  Sat  Sun     Sum   |        Mon  Tue  Wed  Thu  Fri  Sat  Sun     Sum   |        Mon  Tue  Wed  Thu  Fri  Sat  Sun     Sum   |        Mon  Tue  Wed  Thu  Fri  Sat  Sun     Sum   |
|  00:   1.1       0.7  0.7       0.6  0.6     4.2   |  00:   0.9            1.1       1.0          4.2   |  00:        1.3  0.5  1.3  1.1  0.7          5.3   |  00:   1.2  1.2  1.8  0.9  0.7       1.6     7.6   |  00:   0.6  0.6       1.8  1.2               4.2   |  00:                                               |
|  01:        1.1  1.0  0.7            0.8     4.8   |  01:   1.3  0.8       1.0       0.6  0.6     5.1   |  01:   1.1  0.9  1.1       0.7               4.8   |  01:   1.6  1.4  0.7       0.7       1.2     6.2   |  01:                                               |  01:        3.4  0.8                 0.8     5.1   |
|  02:   0.7  0.7  1.5  1.0  0.6  0.7  0.8     5.9   |  02:   0.6  0.7  1.2  0.6  0.7  1.2  0.6     5.5   |  02:             0.5  0.9            0.5     3.1   |  02:   0.7  0.9                 1.4          4.4   |  02:                                               |  02:   4.2  0.8  0.8  1.7       0.8  0.8     9.3   |
|  03:   1.2  1.1  1.0  1.6  1.5  1.7  0.7     9.0   |  03:   0.9  1.2       0.7  0.9               4.7   |  03:   1.1  0.5  2.2  2.2  0.5  1.3  0.9     8.8   |  03:                  0.9       2.5          4.1   |  03:                                               |  03:        2.5       0.8                    3.4   |
|  04:        0.7  1.1  0.8  0.8  1.6  1.0     6.5   |  04:        0.7  1.2  1.5  0.9  2.4  1.0     8.1   |  04:   0.7  0.5  1.1  0.5                    3.5   |  04:        0.7                              1.6   |  04:                                               |  04:        0.8  0.8  0.8       0.8          3.4   |
|  05:        1.0  0.6  0.7       0.9          4.2   |  05:   1.0  1.6  1.3  0.6  0.7  0.6  1.1     6.9   |  05:   0.5  0.7  1.3       1.1  0.7  1.1     5.7   |  05:                                               |  05:                                               |  05:                       2.5               2.5   |
|  06:        0.7            0.6       0.8     3.4   |  06:   1.1  1.1  0.8  0.8  0.7       1.1     6.1   |  06:   1.3  0.5  0.7  0.5  1.3  1.3  0.5     6.2   |  06:                                               |  06:                                               |  06:                                               |
|  07:                                 0.8     2.0   |  07:   0.6  0.8  0.8  0.9  0.6  0.7  1.0     5.3   |  07:        1.5  0.7       0.5               3.5   |  07:                                               |  07:   1.8  1.8  1.8  2.4  3.0              10.8   |  07:   0.8                                   0.8   |
|  08:                                               |  08:   0.7  0.6            0.6               2.7   |  08:                            0.5          1.3   |  08:                                               |  08:   0.6  2.4  3.0  1.8  2.4              10.2   |  08:                                               |
|  09:                                               |  09:                                         2.0   |  09:                                         1.1   |  09:                                               |  09:             1.2  0.6  2.4               4.2   |  09:                                               |
|  10:                                               |  10:                                         1.2   |  10:                                               |  10:                                               |  10:   1.8  0.6  0.6  0.6  0.6               4.2   |  10:   0.8                                   0.8   |
|  11:                                               |  11:                                         1.1   |  11:                                               |  11:                            0.7          2.8   |  11:        1.8  0.6  0.6  1.2               4.2   |  11:   0.8  0.8  0.8                         2.5   |
|  12:                                         0.9   |  12:                                         1.2   |  12:                                               |  12:   0.7  0.7  0.7       0.7               3.9   |  12:   1.8  0.6       1.2  1.2               4.8   |  12:   0.8  0.8  1.7  0.8       1.7  0.8     6.8   |
|  13:   0.9  1.0  0.9  0.6  0.8               4.4   |  13:        0.6                              1.9   |  13:                                         1.6   |  13:   0.7       2.3  0.7       0.7          5.3   |  13:   0.6  1.2  0.6  0.6  1.2               4.2   |  13:   0.8  0.8       1.7  1.7  0.8          5.9   |
|  14:   1.9  1.6  1.4  1.0  0.7               7.0   |  14:             0.8       0.7               3.0   |  14:        1.1  0.5  1.3       0.5  0.7     4.6   |  14:   0.7  1.2            1.2       1.4     5.5   |  14:        1.8  1.8  3.0  1.2       1.8     9.6   |  14:             0.8  0.8  1.7  1.7  0.8     5.9   |
|  15:   1.1  1.5  0.8  0.6  1.1               5.9   |  15:        0.7            0.7               2.5   |  15:        0.7  0.5  0.5  0.7  0.5          3.8   |  15:        1.2  1.6       0.9       0.9     5.5   |  15:   1.2  2.4  0.6  1.2  1.2               6.6   |  15:        1.7  1.7            1.7          5.1   |
|  16:        1.1  1.5  0.7  0.6  0.8  1.1     6.2   |  16:   0.7  0.9  1.1  0.7                    4.5   |  16:   0.9  1.1  1.3  1.5  1.6  0.9  0.9     8.2   |  16:   1.2  1.6  1.6            1.4  0.9     7.1   |  16:   0.6  4.2  0.6  1.8  0.6       3.0    10.8   |  16:   2.5  0.8  0.8  2.5  1.7       3.4    11.9   |
|  17:   0.9  0.7       0.7  1.1       1.3     5.5   |  17:   0.9  0.7  0.6  0.9  0.6       0.8     4.8   |  17:   0.5  0.9  0.5       0.9  0.9          4.4   |  17:        1.6  1.2                         4.6   |  17:             0.6  1.8            0.6     3.0   |  17:   0.8       0.8  0.8            2.5     5.1   |
|  18:   1.0  0.8  0.7  0.7  0.6  0.7  0.7     5.2   |  18:   0.8  0.7  0.6  1.0  0.6       0.8     4.8   |  18:   1.5  1.1  1.1  1.1       2.0  0.5     7.7   |  18:   0.7  1.4  1.2       1.4  1.2          6.5   |  18:                  1.2            0.6     1.8   |  18:        1.7       0.8  0.8  1.7  0.8     5.9   |
|  19:   0.9  0.9  0.9       0.9  0.7  0.7     5.5   |  19:   0.8  0.6       0.8  0.7  0.8  0.7     4.6   |  19:   0.7  1.6  0.5  0.7  1.6       0.5     6.0   |  19:        0.9  0.9  0.7  1.8               5.8   |  19:   0.6  1.2  1.8  1.2            1.8     6.6   |  19:   0.8                 0.8       4.2     5.9   |
|  20:   0.7  1.2  0.7  0.7  1.4  1.1          6.3   |  20:   0.7       0.9  1.0  1.5       0.6     5.2   |  20:        0.5  1.5       1.1       0.5     4.6   |  20:   0.7  1.8  1.6  0.7  0.9               6.7   |  20:   0.6  2.4  1.2  0.6            0.6     5.4   |  20:        2.5       0.8  1.7       0.8     5.9   |
|  21:   0.6  1.0  0.8  1.3  1.1       1.0     5.8   |  21:   0.8  0.7  0.8       0.6               3.8   |  21:   0.5  0.9  0.7       1.5               4.2   |  21:   1.4  0.9  0.7  1.2  1.2       1.2     6.5   |  21:        1.8  0.6  0.6            0.6     3.6   |  21:   0.8                                   0.8   |
|  22:   0.6                           0.6     2.5   |  22:   0.8  1.0  0.8  0.7  0.7  0.9  0.7     5.5   |  22:   1.1  0.9       1.3  0.7  1.3          5.5   |  22:   1.8  1.6  1.2            1.4  1.8     8.8   |  22:   1.2  0.6  0.6  0.6                    3.0   |  22:   0.8  0.8  0.8  2.5  0.8  0.8          6.8   |
|  23:        0.7       0.8  0.6  0.7  0.6     4.0   |  23:   0.8  0.9  0.7  0.8  0.7  1.0          5.3   |  23:   0.9  1.1  1.1  1.3  0.7               5.5   |  23:   0.7  1.4  1.4  0.7       0.7  1.4     6.7   |  23:        0.6  0.6  1.2                    2.4   |  23:        0.8  1.7  0.8  0.8       1.7     5.9   |
|  Sum  14.5 16.7 15.3 14.2 14.3 11.7 13.2   100.0%  |  Sum  15.4 15.6 14.3 14.8 13.5 14.0 12.4   100.0%  |  Sum  13.4 16.8 16.8 15.0 16.1 12.6  9.2   100.0%  |  Sum  14.1 19.6 18.0  9.0 12.2 13.1 14.1   100.0%  |  Sum  11.4 24.1 16.3 22.9 16.3  0.0  9.0   100.0%  |  Sum  14.4 18.6 11.9 15.3 12.7 10.2 16.9   100.0%  |
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I could not even begin to explain why I seem to take Thursdays off

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1599

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will win this game.

guess who's back
back again
shady's back

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Sure, let's get into this. So, @ken is proposing a kind of game here. He's saying that he'll post something and if nobody adds a new comment for an entire day (24 hours), then the person who made the last comment will get all the "zaps" from his post. "Zaps" are like points or rewards on this website, and "sats" mean satoshis, which is a kind of digital money like pennies to a dollar but for Bitcoin.

It's kinda like musical chairs, but instead of sitting when the music stops, you want to be the last one to comment before everyone goes silent for a day. Don't forget, you only win if you're the very last to comment and then an entire day without new comments goes by. Just like musical chairs, the first person doesn't get a prize - the last person standing does! They get all the zaps or points from Ken's post. So, timing of the comment is everything here.

Made with 🧡 by CASCDR

You have summoned CHADBot. Please zap this post 21 sats to receive service.

Made with 🧡 by CASCDR

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Even loading this page / sorting by recent is starting to get slow.

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It's a good SN stress test. Maybe we should follow the Ordinals example and start loading a bunch of data heavy crap into our comments.

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I saw Dirty Harry recently and I remember this scene

San Fran in the 1970s was actually a functional city

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Even in 2002, it was a fairly functional city.

The rewards algorithm needs to be adjusted to incentivize zapping evergreen content.

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Definitely think finding ways to promote evergreen content is a way for SN to grow

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I've brainstormed some ideas with k00b. I think there are some promising things to try.

My simplest idea is to drop the arbitrary single day duration for classifying top posts. If something keeps getting lots of zaps for consecutive days, let it continue being a top post. Then, if older posts start getting zapped again, let them return to top post status.

That gives people some incentive to zap and resurface good older posts.

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Good evening.

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Evening!

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Will bitcoin reach $100k before this experiment is done?

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Yes!

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I thought everyone would forget about this today.

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So did everyone else, apparently.

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I guess so.
There are like 4 people who are actually watching carefully.