Do We Need Rusty?
Of course, I am referring to our little friend we also know as The Random Rewarder. Rusty is just his affectionate name as he is supposedly a robot. From the inception of the site we all came to know and love his frequent visits.
I mean, he came with cash in hand. Well, Bitcoin Cash. But cash nonetheless since we all think of BCH as just that.
Money.
But in this world we live in where cryptocurrency is a thing, a lot has changed. The price of coins has plummeted and the future of crypto has become a bit uncertain. We've had major fallouts from Luna to the recent FTX debacle.
And at the same time noise.cash has been revamped to noise.app and read.cash has seen a less frequent presence from Rusty. A thing that has caused a good many people here to jump ship.
No free money, what's the point? Well, that is sort of the point. Let me explain.
Sure, we enjoy Rusty coming around and doling out coins. It makes the experience fun, and it makes us feel better about spending our valuable time here. It makes our time spent worthwhile to an extent.
But, as I mentioned in a recent article, I Think We Have Missed an Opportunity on Read, I think relying too much on Rusty sort of sent us off in another direction that is less desirable. It sent us to where we are now. And I think we perhaps shortchanged ourselves considerably as a result.
In all honestly, I have touched on this thought quite a lot since even my own beginnings on read not so long ago. I suggested a while back that We Can All Be a Bit Like Marc DeMesel.
In other words, the site could have become much more had we all done a little bit more to help make it happen.
Do we need Rusty? Yes and no. But could we all have become a bit of a Rusty? Yes. Could we all have added to the monetary contribution of the site? Yes. Make money, give money. You can accomplish both if you do it right.
And if you think about it, ultimately which model would have offered the biggest gain for all of us? The one where Rusty does all the tipping or one in which we all do the tipping?
Let's say that the site would have attracted 1 million users and just 1% of them landed on your post and offered a nominal 3 cent tip. An article in that scenario might earn $300.
Suddenly Rusty is nice to have around, but not as necessary to make our time here even more worthwhile. At the same time, we'd all be making more than enough from each other to share in the results and keep our tipping coffers full enough to keep it all moving along, and still be individually profitable.
At the same time, imagine the response we might see from Simon or Marc DeMesel if they see a vibrant, active, successful and all-contributing community of users? A community all working toward the same goal of wealth building, BCH awareness and sharing of the ultimate prize?
BCH in full swing, being contributed to and directly sponsored by users. Both those happy to receive but also actively willing to give.
I think the important thing to consider as we look ahead to what we want read to be, we have to ask ourselves what we ourselves are willing to do in order to make it happen? Because it has to be a collective effort, I think. And I also think that was the original expectation of those who created and funded the site, and perhaps continues to be the hope that it can still be achieved.
If we get it. If we understand it. If we acknowledge it. And if we do something about it.
The ball isn't just in our court now. It always has been. Read is not dead. Not hardly. It's just in a hiatus as we grow to understand what we need to do that we forgot to do or did not acknowledge to do when we were given the opportunity to do it.
There has to be a reason that any of us have stuck around. Perhaps that's faith. Or maybe it is hope. But it can't be faith or hope that relies on Rusty doing all the work. It can't be faith or hope that suddenly BCH will rise, and a new pool of money will be offered to users willy nilly like it was before.
It has to be about us and what we do. It has to be about what we make it and what we want it to be.
What Rusty and the creators and funders of this site showed us is that generosity and sharing is fun and rewarding. I think we took that for granted, and to some extent, I think some of us (not all of us) took a little bit of advantage of some of that generosity as well.
For those of us who are still here, we have the power and the ability to make this thing still go. I think if we can continue to promote BCH, and promote this site, we can reach a wider audience of users and active participants, and from that point on the whole thing simply soars to the moon and beyond.
But we have to all be in it together. Working at it. Making things happen. Again, together. Collectively.
The path has been laid for us. All we have to do now is enjoy traveling on it and see what wonders we might find along the way—and what wonders we can add as we add forks and new roads of our own.
If we do that, maybe Rusty decides to be a bit of a stronger presence again even. After all, he's Rusty and we like him. We'd hate never to hear from him again.
Rusty has not entirely left us, mind you. He's simply giving us a little prod to get our act together and get the point that we have missed and to give us another chance to seize the opportunity we had that we somehow failed to fully grasp.
I remember so well that funding for the read. cash site was opened to everyone who wants to contribute in the beginning, it was later on that Simon decided to refund everyone who has contributed since their money was never used. Marc's money was more than enough for rusty to tip for years going by the BCH value at the time. I think that the refunds were a mistake by Simon, people would have been encouraged to keep donating to the pulse today.