For me, over 10k got toxic and I killed my account. I restarted Twitter @pointsnfigures1 and joined some other platforms @pointsnfigures. It's probably more that the overall conversation in America has become very toxic than the platform. As a person that has invested in startups at seed a long time, I am an optimist. Prior to that, I spent 30 years trading my own money on the trading floor at CME which makes me a realist. It's a nice internal balance when you are investing. You can't invest without having hope. But, intellectually if you can check yourself without confirmation bias you realize what a hill the company has to climb. As an early stage investor, the trick is figuring out if they have what it takes to climb, and if you have tools that you can lend them to make it slightly easier.
This year is going to be a tough year in America. The stock market's tide is going out, and we will see who is naked. I think there will be a lot of surprises. The drop is for several reasons, but the total disarray in current political leadership doesn't inspire confidence. Markets often can find a bottom when they are confident in consistent leadership.
idea - link to and cite some of the respected bears opposite your optimistic takes - easy to spot a good optimist, which is why we're here - harder to spot a good pessimist. Would add to your message (and give you some good CYA)
Thank YOU for spending the time to put out awesome content every week! Keep doing you and stay confident in your approach. We love your content and that's why we're here. A bunch of curious minds excited for the experiments, risks, and adventures of another smart curious mind. Can't wait to keep learning with you.
Packy - Thanks for restating why you do “Not Boring”, but most of your readers already know why they’re here. I’ve “curated” you for all the reasons you articulated. We get value being here. Do you get value from us?
Eliminate the Trolls…mentally and otherwise if possible. It takes you (and us) 3 seconds to understand a commenter’s value/sincerity. Thoughtful Aff & Neg are welcome.
You don’t need 100k or a million subscribers. You only need the “True Fans” as Chris Dixon likes to say. Don’t worry - we’ll still push back when needed and it’s helpful for the rest of the community.
You're the number one author in this space for me, and if you want to call yourself an idiot, well, you're King Idiot on the Ship of Fools. Happy to follow your journey :)
i have read *every* article you've put out for the last two years; i've forced basically everybody i know (including all the skeptical engineers!) to read "Own The Internet". i am HERE because i am a genuine Capital O Optimist, who is truly hopeful that all of...whatever this Web3 insanity might become....could unlock A Better World. we're not cynics, we're believers who want to make this thing real and good.
it feels really gross--and ironically, *extremely* Professor G'ish!--to handwave away legitimate criticisms of """Web3""" and not even engage with the well-articulated skepticism *rooted in optimistic hope* that people have tried to get you to apply yourself to refuting.
neither you, nor Dixon, nor Wenger have come up with anything remotely persuasive responding to the idea that Blockchains/Web3 have 'no there, there'. (for reference again: https://www.stephendiehl.com/blog/nothing-burger.html )
so far all we've gotten is some vague gesturing at 'permissionless means, uh, centralized platforms aren't in control and users own their data' which when pressed for what Good Cool Stuff exactly that gets anybody elicits responses of:
a) censorship resistance! ...which nobody who isn't a TechnoLibertarian weirdo cares about
or
b) play-to-earn/Li Jin's 'Creator Economy' style stuff...which is quickly and immediately being revealed as the best evidence possible that Financialization Alignment Mechanisms are a hollow basis for meaningful work, more corruptible than the existing system. here's Dan Olson on why Play-To-Earn already looks like a dystopic nightmare: https://youtu.be/YQ_xWvX1n9g?t=5909
one of the reasons i love your work is that you are a sharp optimist with vision. i think you correctly understand that being concerned about "the environmental stuff" is a distraction. "the scams" are a distraction. the "but VC's own it!" is a distraction.
the only thing that matters is "does this potentially unlock a better way of living, or is this an even worse system than the present". does this "financialization of everything"--this "Casino"--does that potentially represent A Better World or not?
is there some technical function of Web3 that's required to advance humanity, or is it all incoherent/insolvent babble about '''permissionless''' and '''decentralization''' designed to obfuscate that the only utility is a self-referential Casino with zero application to broader societal enrichment?
refute *that* case (and more importantly, make your own "Act-ually, Web3 Is Cool, Good, And Necessary") instead of just saying "any negativity is just bad vibes and cynicism".
Keep up the great work Packy. I hope you continue to share your thoughts and ideas with us. Don't let the haters prevent you from courageously sharing ideas for us to wrestle and test ourselves.
Congrats on getting to a 100K and beyond! I have enjoyed learning alongside you and, though a natural pessimist, have loved listening to your well-reasoned, optimistic voice.
I’m mostly a silent lurker who has been around for a while. While I don’t always agree with everything you write, I love reading every single week. Keep rockin!
Congrats on the well deserved 100K. I was introduced to your work by a colleague who frankly, I can't thank enough. Crypto in all it's infinite outcomes (good, bad, fucking evil) as 'splained by one bloke in a bar to another bloke in a bar--both at least 3 Manhattans in. As for micro brews with silly names? Well, they're silly but you are damnably interesting. Cheers.
100,000 of us will take on your trolls. Don’t waste your time with them - leave it to us. We need your time for weeklies.
I love your attitude and thought process. You inspired me to start a sub stack, so thank you!
To go fortune cookie on you :
The future is decided by the optimistic.
For me, over 10k got toxic and I killed my account. I restarted Twitter @pointsnfigures1 and joined some other platforms @pointsnfigures. It's probably more that the overall conversation in America has become very toxic than the platform. As a person that has invested in startups at seed a long time, I am an optimist. Prior to that, I spent 30 years trading my own money on the trading floor at CME which makes me a realist. It's a nice internal balance when you are investing. You can't invest without having hope. But, intellectually if you can check yourself without confirmation bias you realize what a hill the company has to climb. As an early stage investor, the trick is figuring out if they have what it takes to climb, and if you have tools that you can lend them to make it slightly easier.
This year is going to be a tough year in America. The stock market's tide is going out, and we will see who is naked. I think there will be a lot of surprises. The drop is for several reasons, but the total disarray in current political leadership doesn't inspire confidence. Markets often can find a bottom when they are confident in consistent leadership.
idea - link to and cite some of the respected bears opposite your optimistic takes - easy to spot a good optimist, which is why we're here - harder to spot a good pessimist. Would add to your message (and give you some good CYA)
Thank YOU for spending the time to put out awesome content every week! Keep doing you and stay confident in your approach. We love your content and that's why we're here. A bunch of curious minds excited for the experiments, risks, and adventures of another smart curious mind. Can't wait to keep learning with you.
The vast majority of your readers love your pieces, but stay silent - like me. Congrats on 10^5, next one’s still easy!
Packy - Thanks for restating why you do “Not Boring”, but most of your readers already know why they’re here. I’ve “curated” you for all the reasons you articulated. We get value being here. Do you get value from us?
Eliminate the Trolls…mentally and otherwise if possible. It takes you (and us) 3 seconds to understand a commenter’s value/sincerity. Thoughtful Aff & Neg are welcome.
You don’t need 100k or a million subscribers. You only need the “True Fans” as Chris Dixon likes to say. Don’t worry - we’ll still push back when needed and it’s helpful for the rest of the community.
You’re more Stoic than you realize.
You're the number one author in this space for me, and if you want to call yourself an idiot, well, you're King Idiot on the Ship of Fools. Happy to follow your journey :)
dude. sir. ***sir!!!***
i have read *every* article you've put out for the last two years; i've forced basically everybody i know (including all the skeptical engineers!) to read "Own The Internet". i am HERE because i am a genuine Capital O Optimist, who is truly hopeful that all of...whatever this Web3 insanity might become....could unlock A Better World. we're not cynics, we're believers who want to make this thing real and good.
it feels really gross--and ironically, *extremely* Professor G'ish!--to handwave away legitimate criticisms of """Web3""" and not even engage with the well-articulated skepticism *rooted in optimistic hope* that people have tried to get you to apply yourself to refuting.
neither you, nor Dixon, nor Wenger have come up with anything remotely persuasive responding to the idea that Blockchains/Web3 have 'no there, there'. (for reference again: https://www.stephendiehl.com/blog/nothing-burger.html )
so far all we've gotten is some vague gesturing at 'permissionless means, uh, centralized platforms aren't in control and users own their data' which when pressed for what Good Cool Stuff exactly that gets anybody elicits responses of:
a) censorship resistance! ...which nobody who isn't a TechnoLibertarian weirdo cares about
or
b) play-to-earn/Li Jin's 'Creator Economy' style stuff...which is quickly and immediately being revealed as the best evidence possible that Financialization Alignment Mechanisms are a hollow basis for meaningful work, more corruptible than the existing system. here's Dan Olson on why Play-To-Earn already looks like a dystopic nightmare: https://youtu.be/YQ_xWvX1n9g?t=5909
one of the reasons i love your work is that you are a sharp optimist with vision. i think you correctly understand that being concerned about "the environmental stuff" is a distraction. "the scams" are a distraction. the "but VC's own it!" is a distraction.
the only thing that matters is "does this potentially unlock a better way of living, or is this an even worse system than the present". does this "financialization of everything"--this "Casino"--does that potentially represent A Better World or not?
is there some technical function of Web3 that's required to advance humanity, or is it all incoherent/insolvent babble about '''permissionless''' and '''decentralization''' designed to obfuscate that the only utility is a self-referential Casino with zero application to broader societal enrichment?
refute *that* case (and more importantly, make your own "Act-ually, Web3 Is Cool, Good, And Necessary") instead of just saying "any negativity is just bad vibes and cynicism".
it's the most important work you could be doing.
Keep up the great work Packy. I hope you continue to share your thoughts and ideas with us. Don't let the haters prevent you from courageously sharing ideas for us to wrestle and test ourselves.
congrats on the 100k Packy. I'm just tryna make it to 1k. I especially love your posts about the journey of Not Boring
Congrats on the anniversary, I've been following almost since the beginning. You're an interesting chap. 😊
Congrats Packy, you've inspired me to start my own Web3 newsletter - https://www.readpill.xyz/ - maybe we could collab one day :)
Congrats on getting to a 100K and beyond! I have enjoyed learning alongside you and, though a natural pessimist, have loved listening to your well-reasoned, optimistic voice.
I’m mostly a silent lurker who has been around for a while. While I don’t always agree with everything you write, I love reading every single week. Keep rockin!
Great spirit and building an earnest community. Here for it!
Congrats on the well deserved 100K. I was introduced to your work by a colleague who frankly, I can't thank enough. Crypto in all it's infinite outcomes (good, bad, fucking evil) as 'splained by one bloke in a bar to another bloke in a bar--both at least 3 Manhattans in. As for micro brews with silly names? Well, they're silly but you are damnably interesting. Cheers.