"Merkle just helps its friends"

How many times do I have to repeat that most users and developers on Farcaster did not know Varun or myself prior to joining Farcaster.

And in some cases have *become* friends because they stuck around early on when no one else cared. We've spent years with this people socializing on this social network. :)

Don't conflate something that's earned / built with cronyism.

If it's not cronyism it's building a mafia though, right? It does seem like you expect some allegiance from those you favor. There's not necessarily anything wrong with that, there've been some very productive mafias! But someday, and that day may never come...

Head of Engineering at Courtyard.io, bringing physical collectibles onchain. nf.td/joe /courtyard /backend

What's the alternative version? I boost people who are super negative on the network and I think would harm it? :)

I mean that doesn't seem smart. The more valid criticism of mafia building is that it could be better to bias towards letting many flowers bloom rather than picking winners. And also make some commitment to not have MM compete with 3p developers at least in certain areas where you want to encourage experimentation.