I don't want to be on the blockchain. I don't want to mint NFTs, I don't want to vibe code. I don't want to beg you to hit the 'subscribe' button and ring the bell. I don't want to game the algorithm for your likes or your views or your shares or to be on the first page of results or to get recommended. I don't want you to gift Nitro to my server. I don't want the thumbnails of my videos to have a red circle and question mark next to a faked expression of surprise, I don't want to pay for items that give me an advantage over other players. I don't want you to take a moment to hear about today's sponsor. I don't want to pump a meme coin, I don't want to craft prompts, I don't want to influence. I don't want you to watch me react to watching a video.

I'm seriously sick of this shit. All of it.

"That makes you old."

Maybe. But more and more I feel a lot of this is about exchanging self in response to a perceived need to monetize one's world and/or to find people are desperate for: community.

@keirFox the identification of all of this being a desperate attempt to find and participate in community is spot on. Maybe mixed with the desperate attempt to survive in a capitalist hellscape that makes it this particular shape.

Maybe people need more examples of what real community looks and feels like. More good role models in large form. I don’t even think the fediverse is that thing, it’s just a free and distributed version of the existing type of online. I don’t know.

@trisweb @keirFox
We have a small (very rural) neighbourhood meet-up on Saturday nights - mutli-generational, maybe 6-8 folks. Most bring some food - home-made cake or something. And we just sit around the ol' cottage kitchen, drink tea, and chat for a few hours. The same people recently stepped up and in in all sorts of marvelous and kind ways and also took care of my animals when I suddenly landed in hospital for 10 days. There's nothing like real community.