In a bit of a departure from my usual, I’m temporarily stepping away from *"general"* personal and anecdotal writing to focus on a particular community: Proof of Brain.


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I’ve been watching POB with a certain fascination since it first popped up within the Greater Hive Ecosystem, in large part because I'm fascinated by the ways communities keep trying new formulas to improve and tweak token distributions, rewards, curation, content quality and so on. 

Whether or not there will *ever* be just the right *”secret sauce,”* POB does seem like a very worthy attempt.

I’ll also admit that the strange case of *”the massively voted first comment”* (and subsequent recovery) made the news here, so I had to check it out! *”Even the best laid plans”*… and all that rot!

Anyway, in the most *basic* terms, my interest also stems from having participated in — and occasionally being behind — various community building efforts since mainframe based BBS systems in the 1980’s, and this is ultimately a new iteration of that ongoing evolution. Where will latest version go?


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## *This is Really GOOD!*

So far, I have been impressed!

It does seem like *quality matters* on Proof of Brain and I haven’t see a whole lot *(if any)* of *”I ate a taco for breakfast”* posts get massive rewards.

I also love the fact that no *"instant whales"* were created via a mystery pre-mine or other airdrop/favoritism system. 

However, I know from experience that human nature tends to be a devious and fickle thing, with envy and greed running rampant wherever you might find yourself. 

Cynical?

Probably more *realistic.*

I would love to think that a *good* community can manage itself to *remain* a good community, in the longer term… rather than self-destruct or fizzle out after a while. So it’s my sincere hope that Proof of Brain can *”manage itself”* well enough to not become a circus of selfish behavior and abuses.


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## *Opposing Forces at Work?*

*Quality content matters*… here. Or so it seems...

That’s a noble aspiration, and I personally subscribe to the ideal that *”quality content”* belongs on a site that values quality content, and *”dank memes”* belong at a venue that values dank memes and *”cooking and recipes”* belong at a venue that values cooking and recipes.

Let's be perfectly honest: Few of us join a *gardening* club with the intent of being bombarded by information about auto repair. Of course, POB is a slightly different beast in that it presents itself as a *general* content venue. So *"everything goes"*... or *does* it?


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The *”opposing force”* — which is the worrisome influence I have seen essentially *”take down”* worthy content sites for *two decades* — is the mindset that *”MY content belongs wherever I think I can earn even a fraction of a cent from posting it, regardless of WHAT that content might be, OR whether it bears any relation to the venue where I am posting it!”*

Let me expand a bit on that: In the cryptosphere we talk quite a bit about *”mining,”* but *LONG* before there even *was* a cryptosphere, the notion of *”rewards for content”* gave life to a *millions-strong* army of what might be called *”Fractional Cent Miners;”* and they can be as devastating and destructive as a swarm of locusts!


![0122-Sunflower4.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/denmarkguy/EpLiQoJevwg8au967czu8KuqdcX3JU7EMcwky6Tw5VLdkunUWnhvuXjihHV7pb14g26.jpg)


Those of us who live in places that are even *moderately* affluent tend to myopically lose sight of the fact that there are *huge* numbers of people in the world for whom earning 1/20th of *one cent* for *”clicking a couple of buttons”* is actually *an attractive idea.*

I point this out because I have seen *Good Projects* get swamped and overwhelmed… and for all intents and purposes *die*… at the hands of *”Fractional Cent Miners.”* 

In a strange way, it’s almost like a *psychological* variant of **[Gresham’s Law]( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gresham%27s_law)** where bad *content* drives out good *content,* because the quality content creators grow disgusted with the declining community quality and *leave,* thereby contributing to a *further* decline in overall content quality. It becomes a death spiral, and next thing you know you have a mess on your hands!


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## *Reconciling Freedom and Rules…*

Can *”freedom”* and *”rules”* coexist? 

Alternately, can *”good actors”* voluntarily limit the influence of *”bad actors”* — whether they are *”Fractional Cent Miners”* or misguided power-hungry wannabe *”whales”* — without a ruleset?

The proverbial Achilles Heel of freedom tends to be the assumption of *rational* self-interest... in a world that's riddled with sociopaths and psychopaths about whom very *little* of a rational nature can be said!

Regardless, I look forward to seeing how it will all unfold. And I look forward to *relevantly* support the community, when I can.

Thanks for reading, and have a great remainder of your weekend!

***How about YOU? How do YOU think the Proof of Brain experiment will play out? Can the early ideals be maintained in the long run? What will it take to do so? Or will everything regress towards to lowest common denominator? Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!***

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