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@MightyTalon

Joined 25 April 2021 · 92 posts

A writer in the shadows.

120 KT

0 KT · $1.97 received · 0 KT · 83¢ given

Posts

@MightyTalon

I've decided to leave PublishOx. I don't want the site to fail, because it's a pioneer in its own right and there's a lot of good content written there. But the "blogging for tips" concept is taking off, with other platforms offering better systems; not being able to withdraw my earnings when I want to makes me feel cheated. I'll be moving my stories over to Read.cash / Hive and I'll update the links in my previous Noise posts when I get a chance... #Publish0X

@MightyTalon

I've been claiming GoodDollars every day for a few months now... I've got almost 2k. What am I going to do with all the GoodDollars? I have no idea. But I like the idea of a universal basic income for everyone around the world. If you guys want to build up your own stash, here's my referral link (you get 50G$ bonus) https://wallet.gooddollar.org/?inviteCode=3ByTvhBBiN If you've been collecting G$ too, how do you spend yours? #Crypto

@MightyTalon

For those who know a bit about NFTs, how can I get started? Not necessarily with collecting or trading, but how do I go about creating an NFT? Any advice or resources would be greatly appreciated! #NfTs

@MightyTalon

Thought experiment: If Facebook created a FB coin, and started paying you for posting there, would you be more active on FB and feel more positive about the platform? Or would you still feel the same way you do about them now?

@MightyTalon

Still on the topic of teaching my friend who's new to crypto - what's your favourite coin under $1? I'm looking at those coins that are backed by a good concept, and that have the potential to grow quickly... #CryptoTrading

@MightyTalon

I'm seeing a lot of QQing today about the teeny tiny tips and I'm also seeing lots of posts about how we should be grateful for the teeny tiny tips. My opinion is a controversial one (and I'm ok with hearing differing opinions) - I don't think we need to be grateful or thankful. I think this system works because it's "give and receive". We give the developers what they need to make this site succeed, and they give us BCH in return. If you're interested, you can read my full article here: https://read.cash/@MightyTalon/are-we-undervaluing-our-contribution-to-the-noise-platform-04bf9a34

@MightyTalon

Are we undervaluing our contribution to the Noise platform? I've been seeing a rise in the number of posts on Noise about how we should be more grateful for the tips we get, and every time I read that I get a strange feeling in my chest. Somewhere between guilt and annoyance. So today when I read another post about how we shouldn't take the BCH gifts for granted, I decided to address the feeling and figure out how I really feel about it. *Should we be more grateful for the tips we receive on Noise.cash?* *Are we being given free gifts?* Let's look at it from three different angles... **1. From a social point of view** Humans need interaction with, and approval from, other humans. For a while, the traditional social media platforms fulfilled this need - we posted about our lives, we posted photos of ourselves and the things that are important to us, and we got a dopamine boost in the form of likes. Approval from our peers. But now we've figured out that social media is bad for our mental health, and the traditional social media platforms are making bad people rich, so we've started to wean ourselves off... We're learning to live without the likes. Then along came the concept of a social media platform that tips you when you post. And not just that, it also supports something we care about - making cryptocurrencies more mainstream. It seemed too good to be true... Now when you post about your life and your interests, and post photos about things you care about, not only do you get likes but you get cryptocurrency too! For those who crave the dopamine boost that social media platforms give, the interaction is the main reason to post content and the tips you receive seem like a bonus on top of that. A free gift. Right? **2. From a biological point of view** Nature has a cool mechanism that ensures that different species can benefit from each other, to get what they need to thrive. Symbiosis. Either both parties benefit from the relationship (think of the tick birds that follow cattle around), or only one benefits until it drains the life from the host (think of ticks). We're gaining a dopamine boost and BCH tips. Is Noise.cash gaining anything in return? **3. From a business point of view** There's no such thing as a free lunch. If someone is offering you something for free, you have a responsibility to ask questions and look a little deeper at *why*. Is it charity? Are they offering it because they simply have good hearts and they don't want anything in return? Or are they offering you a reward in return for something you're giving them? Social media platforms are built on business models. They cost money to run (employee wages, running costs, website development, etc), so they need to make money to cover these costs and potentially bring in some profit for expansion and further development. Traditional social media platforms sell ads to cover their costs, which enables them to offer the use of the platform to us for free. *Noise.cash is not a charity.* It costs money to run and maintain. *Original content is valuable*. It's incredibly valuable. Businesses pay people to write content, to post photos, to engage. *SEO work is valuable*. If you're starting a new website or platform, and you have to compete with the established giants out there, how are you going to get your site noticed and popular, fast? You can pay for ads, you can pay for content that mentions your brand name and links to your site, or you can pay people to drive traffic to your site and increase its search ranking organically. *Tipping users for adding original content and increasing your traffic works out much cheaper than paying for ad campaigns and marketing specialists. And at the same time the number of BCH transactions increases and the coin gains more attention.* **But we use other social media sites without getting paid?** Are you sure about that? YouTube has been paying content creators big money for years. Social media Influencers get paid big money for making content about specific brands. Those who understand that social media is a business, understand the value of their contribution to the platform. **So if it's a business, and it's giving us something, what exactly are we giving in return?** Our time. Our original content. Our daily traffic. Our referrals to new users. Our use of and support of BCH. Our combined effort to weed out spammers and bots. Our articles and posts about Noise and about BCH that keeps the SEO score high. Without this from us, Noise would not be able to survive. Without the BCH tips from Noise, we would have no reason to choose Noise over other social media platforms. It's a symbiotic relationship. We give the platform developers and BCH investors what they need to succeed, and we get something in return. **My Conclusion** I feel like it's unhealthy to think of tips as gifts from the gods. It was that kind of thinking that allowed FB to get too powerful, to the point where they can do what they want now without being accountable, and the guy at the top gets rich from being dishonest. Call it what it is. It's an exchange. The admins appreciate our efforts to promote their site, and we appreciate the BCH. If either side had to stop giving, the site would fail. **Should you join Noise.cash after you realise the tips aren't "free"?** If you need social media in your life, then choose one that's run on a better system. Don't choose to support a dishonest giant like FB. What Noise is doing is smart, future-friendly and it's good business. Protect yourself. Keep everything in perspective and realise the value of what you're contributing. With that in mind, post your posts and have a good time. --------------------------------- I write short stories about life from the perspective of others, and sometimes I write from my perspective too. Join me on noise.cash: **MightyTalon** Join me on publish0x: **MightyTalon** You can read my short stories here: **MightyTalon** https://noise.cash/u/MightyTalon https://www.publish0x.com/@Qilla https://read.cash/@MightyTalon -------------------------------- Copyright belongs to me. All rights reserved. Photo by Pexels user Karolina Grabowska. https://www.pexels.com/@karolina-grabowska

@MightyTalon

I'm teaching a good friend of mine about crypto and how to get started... He's starting from the very beginning. I'm including info about exchanges, risks, potential rewards, terminology/slang, how to choose coins to invest in... Do you guys have some tips from your own experience that I can share with him? #Crypto

@MightyTalon

Something has been bugging me... Does Brad Pitt eat in every movie he features in?? I feel like every time I see him in a movie he's eating. It must be an inside joke. #Movies

@MightyTalon

For those who hodl BCH, are there any good places to stake it? Binance offers a really pathetic return on their BCH savings... There must be better options out there? #BitcoinCash

@MightyTalon

Are Crypto Faucets A Waste Of Our Time? Most of us are living in a constant state of stress right now - not knowing if our income is secure, not knowing if our loved ones are safe, not knowing where the world is heading... For many of us, the possibility of financial freedom seems to be the only glimmer of hope that holds a solution to all of our practical problems. For many of us, cryptocurrencies are the best chance we have of achieving that financial freedom, and the barriers to entry are low enough that everyone has a chance to make money without having much money to invest. If you choose the right coins and if you pay attention to the markets and crypto news, your investment is reasonably "safe". And if a celebrity happens to promote the coins you chose, you could find yourself on the fast-track to financial freedom. That's the dream we all hold close to our hearts. A chance to escape the difficulties we're currently facing. I started researching crypto faucets at the beginning of this year (it took me a while to trust that they're not all scams) and to me they seemed like an easy way to build up a good collection of Sats while doing something I enjoy, so that I'll be sorted when the market price eventually skyrockets. I spent some time on platforms like Publish0x, Noise.cash, Upland and recently Read.cash. I know people who write content on these platforms multiple times a day - selling their thoughts and ideas for a few cents worth of Sats. **Is it worth it?** I did a calculation in my head this morning... If I'm doing traditional work for traditional pay, I get paid X amount per hour, for my time and skills. If I'm spending my time on faucet platforms instead, I get paid a fraction of that. And I also run the risk that my stories and ideas will be stolen. When we're in a bull run, those few Sats look very appealing and for a moment I'm convinced that it's ok to be paid next to nothing for my creative work because if I keep at it, eventually it'll all add up to millions. And then we hit a bear market, and the rose-tinted glasses fall off. Now those hours, weeks, months spent earning cents shows up as a poor life decision; should I have used that time better? I know what you're thinking... *You shouldn't see faucets as income, you should use them only as a supplement to your traditional salary income* - right? Yes. If you're an employee and you're earning a salary. In my case I'm not. I'm a business owner. I don't have fixed working hours. My income is never guaranteed and my ability to earn money depends on how many hours I'm able or prepared to work. What this means for me specifically is that I have to make a choice multiple times a day: do I spend this hour on something that helps to generate immediate income, or on something that pays less but could potentially help me achieve financial freedom in the future, or on something that brings in no money at all but could potentially prevent me from burning out? Right now I can't afford the last option. I need to use every available hour to get something productive done. Any free time I find in the evenings or on weekends needs to be spent on helping myself out of this situation or helping those close to me out of this situation. And that's why I'm facing this question today: Are crypto faucets worth spending my time on, or are they a waste of time? Am I giving the owners of the platforms a way to achieve their own financial freedom at the expense of mine? Am I giving away my intellectual property for someone else to make money on? Right now I feel like I write because I enjoy it and I'm earning *something* from it... but when I find that my time is tight, I instinctively apply triage and enjoyment doesn't feature in the equation of what my time needs to be spent on. **I'm still making up my mind about whether faucets belong in my triage equation.** ...What are your thoughts? Are crypto faucets worth it for you? --------------------------------- I write short stories about life from the perspective of others, and sometimes I write from my perspective too. Join me on noise.cash: MightyTalon https://noise.cash/u/MightyTalon Join me on publish0x: MightyTalon https://www.publish0x.com/@Qilla You can read my short stories here: MightyTalon https://read.cash/@MightyTalon -------------------------------- Copyright belongs to me. All rights reserved. Photo by Pexels user cottonbro. https://www.pexels.com/@cottonbro

@MightyTalon

It makes me feel uncomfortable when humans are "fans" of other people. Celebrity culture freaks me out. When you beg for attention or acknowledgement from another human, you're telling that person that they're better than you... They're not. What is the psychological condition that causes people to act like this?? #Psychology

@MightyTalon

So on Monday we visited Robben Island and then filmed the Waterfront in Cape Town. I took my first ever ferris wheel ride :) Yesterday we toured the peninsula - Simon's Town, Kalk Bay, Muizenberg, Chapman's Peak Drive, Hout Bay, Camps Bay, Sea Point, and then we ended with Table Mountain and Bo-Kaap. I'll write about it in more detail, with tips on what to do and what to avoid... The penguins at Boulder's Beach were the highlight of our day! Today we'll be filming the CBD of Cape Town... #Travel

@MightyTalon

On a ferry to the famous Robben Island... Noise friends who don't live in South Africa, do you know what makes this island important? #SouthAfrica

@MightyTalon

We're filming a beach apartment in Strand this weekend - not a ghost story this time! #SouthAfrica

@MightyTalon

Elon is not your friend. Elon is not my friend. It might seem amusing now, but if he keeps playing games with the market prices we're going to see more regulation as the authorities try to protect investors. That's going to change the crypto landscape for all of us... #Crypto

@MightyTalon

My third short story is up on Read.cash - The Packer. https://read.cash/@MightyTalon/the-packer-short-story-09c0eced As always, I appreciate any feedback you guys have on how I can improve my writing... :) Side note: This is the last of my short stories that I'm moving over from Publish0x to Read.cash. I'm most likely only going to publish on Read from now on, because Publish0x is making it harder and harder to withdraw my balance... #Writing

@MightyTalon

The Packer [Short Story] *Tinned food first. A small box of cereal. No milk? A tomato, a bag of apples and three potatoes. Bread rolls on top.* She glanced in my direction and I smiled, but she looked past me, an anxious look on her face. I didn't recognise her face or her hands. *New to the neighbourhood, or just passing through?* She took her card from the machine, "keep the slip". I watched her rush past me and out the door, leaving a fading scent of something light and floral but no other sign that she had ever been there.  After her, a man well into his thirties with a young boy at his side. The boy met my eye and gave a shy smile. The man hadn't noticed me yet. This is my anti-plagiarism sentence. The scanner beeped, the items moved in my direction. *Baby formula. Pasta. Bread. Bacon. Dishwashing liquid. Cheese. Peanut butter. Two chocolate bars.* I glanced up. *They don't seem rushed. He's wearing a wedding ring; he's not at work. Stay-at-home father?*  I grabbed three bags for the couple after them. *Laundry liquid. Bread. Bovril. A large bag of dog food. Bulk toilet paper. Boxes of long-life milk. Soap...* *Bulk items, on special*. They both greeted me and I smiled. The packing was taking longer than the scanning and the counter was filling up; the man took one of the bags and joined me in packing items in. *Heavy below, light on top.* *They seem nice, but their eyes are tired*. As he turned to swipe his card, I reached into my pocket and quietly added a folded hundred bill to one of their bags. "Have a nice day". The next lady seemed distracted, like there was a shadow behind her eyes. *Is she sad?* She greeted the cashier quietly, and nodded at me, before looking down at her hands. *Hardworking hands. Worn. No time for nail polish or hand cream.* The scanner beeped. *Instant noodles. A bag of potatoes. Grandpa powders. A local newspaper.* Again my hand slipped into my pocket and brought up a secret gift. She forced a feint smile as I handed her the bag. "Have a nice day". As I watched her leave the store, the security guard caught my eye. His eyebrows narrowed as he moved towards me.  "Again?! Don't make me call the manager." I put my hands up in defeat. "I know, I know. I'm leaving".  --------------------------------- I write short stories about life from the perspective of others. And sometimes from my perspective too. Your tips keep me writing and progressing - thank you <3 Join me on noise.cash: MightyTalon Join me on publish0x: MightyTalon https://noise.cash/u/MightyTalon https://www.publish0x.com/@Qilla -------------------------------- I first published this short story on my Publish0x blog: One Day. Copyright belongs to me. All rights reserved. https://www.publish0x.com/one-day Image by pexels user mitchel3uo. https://www.pexels.com/@mitchel3uo

@MightyTalon

The Garden Child [Short Story] The clouds are passing quickly above me, making shapes as they move. I can hear the wind in the leaves and through the grass. The flowers dance and bend and bounce back again.  Mom is sitting over there pulling weeds out. She keeps looking over to check on me, before wiping her hair out of her face with her arm and returning to the weeds. She wears her pink hat when she works in the garden and I think it makes her look happy. I hope we can stay out here all day. Fisk likes it out here too; she's always outside, sleeping under a bush or chasing birds and butterflies. Even when it rains. This is my anti-plagiarism sentence. When I'm in the garden she stays by my side and shows me where to find the biggest bugs and worms, buried in the ground or hiding under the flat leaves. She understands. I think she wants to make friends with them too, the way she twitches her tail and gently touches with her paw, but sometimes she's too rough when she tries to play. Fisk sniffs at a leaf and I turn it over... Treasure! I move my finger closer along the leaf, slooooowly, until he hops on. He's beautiful! He's got big round eyes, fuzzy legs, such bright colours that change in the light! He jumps onto the back of my hand and stares at me. I think he likes me.  I move my hand down to show Fisk and she sniffs at him a few times, twitching her tail as she watches him. "*Don't hurt him, Fisk, he's my friend. He can be your friend too.*" I raise my hand up to my face so I can look at him more closely. I wonder what his favourite food is? Does he sleep at night time? Will he get along with the others? "*Your name can be Benjamin.*" I can see Mom getting up and dusting herself off. I smile at Benjamin when she starts walking towards me. "What have you got there, honey?" Fisk sits up on her back legs and reaches a paw up to my hand, trying to get her nose closer to our new friend, her whiskers forward. "*I'll keep you safe, Benjamin. I'm going to introduce you to my other friends now. You'll like them.*"  And before Mom can grab my wrist I pop Benjamin in my mouth and swallow.    --------------------------------- I write short stories about life from the perspective of others. And sometimes from my perspective too. Your tips keep me writing and progressing - thank you <3 Join me on noise.cash: MightyTalon Join me on publish0x: MightyTalon https://noise.cash/u/MightyTalon https://www.publish0x.com/@Qilla -------------------------------- I first published this short story on my Publish0x blog: One Day. Copyright belongs to me. All rights reserved. https://www.publish0x.com/one-day Image by pexels user allan-mas. https://www.pexels.com/@allan-mas

@MightyTalon

A point raised by @rhysmonkey that has me thinking... We get tipped in USD$, which is then converted to BCH when it's paid out. So as the price of BCH rises, we receive less and less actual BCH... Do we want BCH to go up or down then? #BitcoinCash

@MightyTalon

This morning when I woke up I felt like I was in some kind of surreal reality. My brain was foggy and it took me a while to remember what day it is, and it felt like I was in a scene out of the Matrix movie. And then I thought about the different perspectives people have had about the changes here... Try a thought experiment with me... In your mind, zoom out. Zoom far out until you're looking at your life, and the world, from an outside perspective. And then focus on where we currently are as humans, in our current stage of development and in our current historical era... Isn't it a strange thought that we now accept so easily the reality that we must speak and act in a way that pleases a bot? When we comment, the bot tells us it doesn't like a particular phrase and we change our words. When we post, we must post within the rules. When we want to show appreciation or support for another person's words, the bot decides if it's allowed and what the value of our appreciation will be. This all feels strange and surreal. Like a George Orwell novel. Is it just me, or do you also find this "algorithm reality" strange? #NoiseCashiansWorld

@MightyTalon

At the recommendation of some of my Noise friends, I've created a Read.cash profile where I'll publish my short (micro) stories. This is the first one I wrote, titled "The Street Walker"... https://read.cash/@MightyTalon/the-street-walker-short-story-f7b55e77 We have street walkers where I live, and I often wonder what they must be thinking and how the world feels to them... In each story I try to put myself in someone else's shoes and experience life the way I imagine they do. If you have any suggestions on what I could improve, I'd love to hear them! #CreativeWriting

@MightyTalon

The Street Walker [Short Story] Grey, grey, green, grey... Distracted for a moment, I look up and give an automatic smile, and instantly regret it. She nervously smiles back, glances around and crosses to the other side. Keep to myself. Keep watching my feet as I walk. I pass houses with short green lawns, fences with barking hounds, sounds of dishes being scraped and stacked in kitchens. This is my anti-plagiarism sentence. A grey-haired man is working with wood in his garage; he glances up and I can see him out the corner of my eye, watching me pass, not continuing with the tools in his hands until he's sure I'm not slowing down.  Focus on the sounds of gravel crunching, birds arguing in the trees overhead, the breeze in my ears. Grey, grey, green, grey... keep moving.  I think today I'll turn left ahead. The scenery changes with every fifty steps; green to shades of brown. Neat and short to scruffy and natural. Birds arguing to people arguing. Keep my eyes on my feet, on the road in front of my feet, to keep from noticing the stares, the heat, the discomfort, the pain. Keep to myself so they don't ask questions I can't answer. The sun in my eyes. The sun on my head. The sun in my eyes. The light changes as the shadows grow and shrink and grow again. As the light fades and the colours turn darker, I arrive back at the door.    --------------------------------- I write short stories about life from the perspective of others. And sometimes from my perspective too. Your tips keep me writing and progressing - thank you <3 Join me on noise.cash: MightyTalon Join me on publish0x: MightyTalon https://noise.cash/u/MightyTalon https://www.publish0x.com/@Qilla -------------------------------- I first published this short story on my Publish0x blog: One Day. Copyright belongs to me. All rights reserved. https://www.publish0x.com/one-day Image by pexels user reneasmussen. https://www.pexels.com/@reneasmussen

@MightyTalon

I try to be pro-change in life and in tech, but honestly I'm not a fan of the latest Noise update and the phasing out of free tips. I feel like we were on a path of achieving balance and weeding out spammers, but now we've taken a different direction and the balance is thrown off again. Why do I feel this way? Because it seems this change will benefit those with the highest number of subscribers. Which in my mind means that people will do whatever they need to, to increase their subscriber count and get the most likes. Expect more pandering, more selfies, more facebook/insta type posts. So how is Noise now different from the other social media platforms? Who doesn't benefit? New noise users. I feel like this change is going to make this platform harder to grow. What does this mean for someone like me who prefers not to post pictures? Am I going to chase "likes" now, or am I going to end up leaving Noise for the same reasons I left traditional social media... #NoiseFeatures

@MightyTalon

Yesterday I had some fun here on Noise and asked that you all give me clues and let me guess where in the world you're from. I had no idea that I would learn so many interesting facts about other countries! I thought I'd compile some of the interesting info here to share with you (if you missed my post)... Bangladesh - 21 Feb is International Mother Language Day, which marks the day the people of Bangladesh fought for their mother language, Bangla. France - home to more than 1000 types of cheese. Russia - in Moscow you'll find the Tsar Bell, the largest bell in the world, which is over 6m high and weighs over 200 tonnes. Nigeria - the most populous country in Africa, and has a meme-worthy president. Pakistan - the prime minister [edited], Imran Khan, was a professional cricketer. Philippines - made up of more than 7,640 islands, home of Ms Universe 2018 and a sum of 1 billion pesos was stolen from their Health Insurance Corporation. Serbia - the official alphabet is Cyrillic and they have one official language: Serbian. South Africa - has 11 official languages and has had some meme-worthy presidents. This is where I'm from. --> I'll write this up in longer form on Read.cash, as my first post there too. (https://read.cash/@MightyTalon/noisecash-is-teaching-me-more-about-the-world-than-school-did-5b196dcc) #Facts

@MightyTalon

Noise.Cash Is Teaching Me More About The World Than School Did Something I enjoy about Noise.cash is that I'm meeting and getting to know so many different people from around the world - different ages, different cultures, different outlooks on life. Yesterday I had some fun and I asked that my followers give me clues and let me guess where in the world they're from... I expected that I'd get some challenging clues and that I'd have to rely on google for help, but I had no idea that I would learn so many interesting facts about other countries! Here's a list of some of the interesting things I learned: **Bangladesh** - 21 Feb is International Mother Language Day, which marks the day the people of Bangladesh fought for their mother language, Bangla. **France** - home to more than 1000 types of cheese. **Nigeria** - the most populous country in Africa. **Pakistan** - the president, Imran Khan, was a professional cricketer. **Philippines** - made up of more than 7,640 islands, home of Ms Universe 2018 and a sum of 15 billion pesos was stolen from their Health Insurance Corporation. **Russia** - in Moscow you'll find the Tsar Bell, the largest bell in the world, which is over 6m high and weighs over 200 tonnes. **Serbia** - the official alphabet is Cyrillic and they have one official language: Serbian. **South Africa** - has 11 official languages. This is where I'm from. In my small sample of people I've interacted with on Noise, so far it seems like the Philippines and Serbia have the highest number of active Noise users. In third place seems to be South Africa. If you're active on Noise, give me a shout :) https://noise.cash/u/MightyTalon

@MightyTalon

Noise friends, where in the world do you live? Give me a clue and I'll try to guess your country... For those who don't know yet where I live, here's my clue: In my country we have 11 official languages. #NoiseCashiansWorld