"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

Can't tell for other people but I don't feel that Dan expects any allegiance from me.

I am far from being a 'hype boy', I sometimes critcize FC here and share some critical pieces written by other FC users on Kiwi (together with the positive ones!).

But we still follow each other and banter in the comments.