@Porwest
edited
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I Think We Have Missed an Opportunity on Read
It seems to be quite the sad state of affairs these days on read.cash, with little activity, little interaction, and virtually no tipping. No. Not from *Rusty*. From *you*, dear reader and fellow other writers. Of course, part of the drop off of activity on read.cash is relative to the lack of participation by the people who fund the site giving their money away to us for the joy of spending a little bit of time here. I think we missed the point, right from the start. And I realize that may be a controversial thing to say depending on who's ears that statement lands in. Not all of us, of course. But a good many of us. We missed the point. And the site we have now is directly a result of having missed it. How many times did someone read an article and upvote it but not tip it? How many people simply wrote but never interacted, seeking tips for themselves? How many people weren't interested in reading or even writing and instead were only interested in gaming the system? The idea, I think, was not necessarily just to have Rusty do all the tipping. The idea was for all of us to engage in the practice, to grow our own stashes but also share a little bit of that with each other, further advancing the benefit and the incentive of offering up good content that people want to read. It was supposed to be about people helping other people to grow and prosper and share. Not to simply gather up a pile of BCH from one man who was giving his all to the site—with no other interest than to promote BCH in a fun way. The hope for them, I suspect, was that they would see more of others on the site doing what Rusty was doing. Simply sharing.
Of course, the opportunity is still there to make it right. I mean, among those of us who are still here, actively engaging, actively tipping, actively writing with a purpose, and genuinely interested in keeping what's left of read.cash going. How can we fund it? The *operation*, if you will? We work and we earn real money and we invest some of that in BCH. We earn BCH through faucets and other means. And we offer a portion of those proceeds to funding read.cash. Or the noise.app even. Because ultimately that is the only way something like this will ever work. If one guy is *the* source of funds, those funds will not be forever. While it is not akin to socialism, the thing that Margaret Thatcher once said *about* socialism easily applies to the situation we have here. "Eventually you run out of other people's money." Eventually we run out of Marc DeMesel's money. And is that really fair to Marc DeMesel? Is it fair to his vision and what he tried to do? No. It's not. Ultimately what Rusty may have been was a "starting off point." Something to get the ball rolling and have others sort of follow a path similar to the one Rusty took. "Okay, here's a little something for your troubles, but then once you have your feet on the ground it's time to return the favor." I think the site still has a chance to be what it set out to be. But *we* have to understand the role *we* play in making that happen. Because it's been left up to *us* now to get it done. It has been left up to *us* to take it to the next level and truly be something of interest and value as a community—a *real community*. Supported by *everyone*. Not just by Rusty. If we do this, not only will the opportunities be endless. So will the funding. *Lead image by Porwest. A bad chair in a hotel that missed the opportunity to provide an attractive place to sit and work.*
16 comments
Only the 5% of people here give a damm on those thoughts and approach the dot platforms like that. I have sad that a lot of times but don't see any any change, lol. Most of them just want to earn. Here, if we upvote any blogs 10% of our amount goes to the readcash development and to the developers but who want to help the site, very less most of them just want to earn as much as BCH they can. Well I also want to earn but one has to see the bigger picture, with a strong and sound community the bear, bull market they can survive anything and last longer.
You are right, but for something like read.cash to work, people's consciousness has to change. They have to learn to give (even a meaningful comment is a form of giving). And by that I mean everyone, including me. I was actually one of those who gave. As long as I gave, I also got, even more than I gave. But then I concentrated more and more on taking. I "earned" a lot, but at some point I lost a lot of it again (probably forever). With what I gave, I did good and gained prestige. By "earning" what I took, I achieved little, in fact I only lost time.
I absolutely agree. I think a community is only as strong as the people within it, and so long as everyone in the community is working together to make it great and helping each other, it thrives. Read CAN be that, I think. But you are right. People have to change how they think about the entire process from content creation to earning, giving, and interacting. It's a collective process that requires all things in order for it to work. Much like the fire triangle. It takes heat, fuel and oxygen to make a fire. If you take any one of those three elements out of the equation, you cannot have a fire.
That's why I'd always come back here to Read.cash as it has been my home for blogging. I've noticed lesser people who would interact with others' posts too, I admit I am one but it was just due to lack of time. Now I am trying to bring back my routine because this platform helped us, now it's time to help the platform too.
Time can be a factor for anyone "pulling back" from what they do here. But it is not the essence of the problem read.cash has experienced though. It is simply the "receiver" mentality lacking an understanding that giving is as much a part of the success of a site like this as is anything else about it, including creating content people will want to read. Perhaps the lack of Rusty being so generous of late will solidify the standing and efforts of those who are still here, making the site stronger having weeded out some of the people only in it to earn and not contribute other than for the purpose of earning. Like Telesfor alluded to in his comment, the more he gave the more he received in return, actually profiting in the end. When he only took and did not give his earnings actually dropped off. It is something to think about as we pursue what we do here and how we do it.
Rewards draw attention, but the interaction and relationships we build stay longer. If the reward comes from a few people's pockets, it may not be sustainable for the long term. People follow others for something, rewards come in different forms and shapes. When we all participate, support, and add value, it can be bigger than we think.
That is reality of now a days , most of people Keep eye on taking which is against the basic principles of a community definition. Agreed that we must play our role in this regard and can revive the site by our own meaningful engagement.
I'm guilty, in fact, I never have emptied my notifications by reading them. most of the time, I am caught up with my physical life and other platform.
Personally, if I can read, I can tip. "Too bad" real life happens now that COVID restrictions have eased and we are back to a normal routine with less time to spend online. It used to irk me that people can read, can comment but cannot even leave a 1-cent tip. I have come to accept that those users want everything for themselves.
I read your timely article and am happy that a few bloggers value others' blogs. Most people miss the truth by ignoring others' opinions. They want to earn without learning. They don't contribute to the big learning activity. The present situation here is against the thermodynamic principle of energy. We can't get power continually from a system without getting it recharged from outside.
Precisely. When everyone contributes to the community, the entire community succeeds beyond imagination. Together. Collectively. With everyone doing their part to make it successful.
Such is the fate of these sites. We only write if we get upvotes. This is the only reason people join sites like these. Now that the reward bot don't visit much it's time to look for other sites.
I think it is more important to build real, actual readers who like what we provide regarding content and interactions than to rely on an automated algorithm to just simply pay us—and to write only to keep the bot coming our way. To me, it muddles the system and it provides for less attractive content overall, because if the bot is what we are relying on to earn, quality doesn't matter. Quantity does. And interacting doesn't matter. Simply creating content does. And then the purpose of the site is lost. Thus, we have this situation we are in now. I think, better than finding other places to simply earn, we stick with this one and make it stronger and actually actively pursue contributing personally to its success, and if we do that, we ALL succeed together and the site becomes better, stronger, and more profitable for everyone involved. Just my two cents.
That goes without saying... Even if you make good content people would appreciate, the bot prefers this site to be more crypto related anyway. Used to write quality content but hey it didn't matter that much to the bot. Might as well just write slice of life/diary entries. Lol.
Provide value as always, as they say. We may think our best is not enough compare to others but we give it the best we could, so write and engage if you can. We may have personal things to sort out but still we are blessed of other time. This is a wonderful blog Porwest.
Thank you for the thoughtful comment and I thank you for stopping by to have a read. Onward and upward to us all. We have a long road ahead of us.