short foreword

at the outset of this short column --i would like to emphasize that i have been continually inspired by all the creatives around on SN in all territories --those who choose to share their work without the expectation of receiving a reward --as well as their generous patrons who seem to give wholeheartedly to those artistic expressions that speak to them most

this is fantastic

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Yes -- contests are fun

but if people begin to expect a prize to produce something meriting artistic value -- then i cannot help but feeling that i may have fallen right back into the attention economy that i try to get away from by being on SN

you may have noticed that i have put the weekly ~the_stacker_muse creative writing contest on hold for the time being --i am doing so for a few reasons --one of the main ones being that i am intentionally stepping back to ensure that the territory is shaping out to be as intended

main reasons for starting ~the_stacker_muse

1. to create a place for creative (writers esp.) to meet/share/discuss works-in-progress
2. SN already has a vibrant community (with writers)
3. empower bitcoiners to be forces of creativity in a dying internet culture

the above four points are all connected to SN being a unique place on the internet --which is true for many reasons (these mostly stemming from the fact that "proof-of-work" is required to upvote/boost in the form of zaps, share, and comment)

also being able to host the BEST under 400 contest is definitely a novel and entertaining (if not proving too expensive) feature that gives SN an edge

--furthermore this contest has brought quite a few posters/writers to the territory and perhaps most importantly it has exposed me to writers that have kept me motivated to keeping these contests going (special shout-out to @Jimmyhoneyalchemist @jbschirtzinger @cleophas @cryotosensei @softglitter2d @Kontext)¹

that all being said --it is proving to be an expensive way to curate writing

challenges with BEST under 400

to begin --hosting a territory is expensive already --and to someone funding this with a fiat-job --is becoming increasingly expensive as our dirty fiat moneys continue to trend to zero

the 4000 sat prize i chose for my best under 400 creative writing contest turned out to be a good number as i was surprizingly able to generate at least that much in territory revenue (with some weeks being exceptions) from posts, comments and zaps

this resulted in some high quality posts from those mentioned above as well as a handful of others

the contest has been fun but seemed to disproportionately favour the participants at the expense of the territory --which ultimately works to neither's benefit if the goal is to have more better writing in the long-term

a lesson i learned hosting as well as in observing other contests here on sn is that

• zaprank can be gamed (via bribes),
• participants can over-leverage themselves on ai,
• or otherwise succumb to navel-gazing (i.e. just reading their own submissions and not really engaging with others)

so then --dear reader --if i have retained your attention thus far --then we are led to this important question --which you may feel free to answer in the comments --though not obliged --for your mere reflection on the matter is already enough

in a competitive environment such as i have tried to cultivate in ~the_stacker_muse with a prize that is zero-sum, then why bother reading/zapping/commenting your challengers?

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so what next for ~the_stacker_muse

i'll continue to pay territory rent and share my own writing and do what i can to promote the burgeoning community representing bitcoiner writers on SN --however i'll discontinue my subsidizing of these contests

yes --contests are fun --and i do intend on hosting more here in a modified --more tempered and sustainable fashion so please subscribe so you can keep up for future updates

https://stacker.news/items/1211139

Footnotes

1. if you have contributed to the contests and were not included it is most likely because you had already been on my radar when i started these ↩