Colin on Warpcast

Colin pfp

imo: it's definitely possible for patronage & speculation to co-exist. for example: - buying a hypersub because you want to support the creator (but maybe there's a chance you'll earn even more via rev share) - supporting a crowdfund on Mirror because you want to see the idea come to life (but maybe the tokens you receive are worth something some day) - minting limited edition NFTs from your friends because you want to fund their art (but maybe at some point the art will appreciate in value) I don't think this is cognitive dissonance: both motivations can be true at the same time. Beyond motivations for a single person, I also think it's possible to build platforms & protocols that can cater to both speculators _and_ patrons. The main question in my mind is how you strike a balance, and prevent alienating one of these groups if both can be beneficial for creators.

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tree girl 🌲 pfp

i agree there's not necessarily any cognitive dissonance between being motivated to support a creator and also potentially getting some upside from your patronage down the line, but i think actual consumer behavior can only be primarily driven by one or the other bc the vast majority of people aren't made of money, despite even a strong desire to support via patronage, at a certain point people won't be able to continuously keep supporting in this way without some promise - or at least possibility - of an upside and when this switch happens (which again is not a result of some belief system or values but of practical financial limitations), people will inevitably swing toward the speculation side of the pendulum but i do see it as a pendulum that consumers swing between, where their level of patronage + level of speculation = 100 so if by "strike a balance" you mean 50% patronage and 50% speculation, i think that's probably achievable in rare cases, but most cases will skew toward one side or the other

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Colin pfp

I broadly agree with everything you said. > at a certain point people won't be able to continuously keep supporting in this way without promise of an upside I'd caveat that I think other things beyond patronage/speculation could also motivate. Eg, status (someone reading your name during a Twitch donation), utility (paying to access a Substack paywall), etc. That being said, I think patronage/speculation, at least in the context of coins or Paragraph, are primary motivators. > 50% patronage and 50% speculation I think 50/50 would be very challenging to hit. I agree with your premise that it'd nearly always lean one way or another. For me, I support some creators because I like them and want them to succeed, but I support others due to primarily financial interest, so anecdotally it fluctuates. By strike a balance, I mean not alienate one group or the other. For example, if we designed a UX like this, speculators would love it but patrons would likely not! https://warpcast.com/colin/0x27c02497

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