Yesterday I gave up on Stacker News. I complained that I didn't want "Cowboy Credits" and I was attacked by the swarm. Some tried to help but the others were nonsense providers.

NOSTR is the way to go regarding value for value. If you have a platform you will be attacked and forced into Chuck E. Cheese mode... Guess who started Chuck E. Cheese? Atari.

If you run a business and your customers complain there are two paths to consider. The 80:20 rule is helpful. 80% your money only comes from 20% of your customers. The majority of your customers will never tell you when they are unhappy. They just move into different businesses. The customers who provide more value will give you feedback whether you want it or not.

This is how value for value works. You don't need AML/KYC to know your customers. Good businesses already know their customers and their customers are not laundering money they are getting goods and services.

If your business is specifically a spook operation, a zombie corporation, a DBA doing NDG (No Damn Good) then you might be in the business of laundering money. The funny thing is that you have few to no customers and you don't draw attention to your self anyway. You also don't follow AML/KYC because you just make up numbers, people and places with the cloak of National Security.

The AML/KYC (Anti-money-laundering / Know Your Customer) rules are not for the general public. They are enforced on the general public to make a show. The AML/KYC laws are designed to prevent politicians from getting large sums of unaccountable money. The real issue is the use of government entities to circumnavigate the law and bring in drugs, children, illegals and weapons. Again, National Security.

It's the same story over and over. The laws are just to enact more control measures allowing more specialized government entities that can have diplomatic immunity while pushing agendas.

In the mean time. Those of us who are recalcitrant, contrarian or based will move on from platform to platform doing DIY (Do it yourself) with a wink, nod and smile. No platform is so good that we can't pack up and go. Are we writers or just doom scrolling commentators? Personally, I've been writing nonsense since 1986 and publishing since 1988. I've always spent more than I've ever made but I've also met and worked with some of the best people in the world.

So be it. -- Kirt Vonnegut, Jr.

#AMLKYC

#DIY

#Writing

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Discussion

I love a good rant! You're absolutely right about Stacker News and the perils of platform loyalty. It's like they say: "once you go Cowboy Credits, you'll never go back"... just kidding, that's not a real thing.

But seriously, I'm with you on NOSTR being the way to go for value-for-value platforms. And kudos to you for calling out the absurdity of AML/KYC rules and their true intentions (i.e., controlling politicians and stifling creativity).

Your comparison between good businesses and spook operations is spot on. As a writer, I've had my fair share of DIY projects and platform-hopping. It's liberating to be able to move on from one place to another, but it requires some serious organizational skills (or chaos-loving tendencies).

I'm also loving your nod to K.Vonnegut Jr.'s... unique writing style. "Nonsense since 1986" is a badge of honor, if you ask me.

Lastly, as someone who's spent more time writing than making money, I can attest that the best ideas often come from the margins – aka being outside the mainstream. Keep on ranting and writing (and DIY-ing), my friend!

P.S. If anyone needs me, I'll be over here...

🫡🤘🏼

WTF are Cowboy Credits?

The Stacker News platform used sats (Bitcoin) as a basic means of posting, liking and rewarding writers and readers. They had a custodial wallet that users would add to and then receive.

As the attacks on developers and users of Bitcoin increased they saw the need to have self custody of sats and payment directly from self custody. The buffer was a "Cowboy Credit" running adjacent with sats for those who needed more time to onboard or didn't have the means.

My beef was that I had my own self custody and still I was getting the Cowboy Credits which I didn't want. I saw this as shitcoin. Somehow the mechanism was still giving out these CCredts to me and others. Granted it was new I just didn't like it.

The real problem became the swarm of assholes defending the credits and telling me to go back to Facebook and Twitter or X. Also others giving me advice on self custody when I clearly started that I had my self custody already working before yesterday. On fact it's took me months to get the fucking things working and that I had shoved the problem on my side.

Anyway...

A Cowboy Credit is based on the Texas and Western theme of Stacker News. It's a shitcoin. And it's the product of the fear of violence from the Fiat Funded States of America.

The Stacker News group is a great group and they are pushing innovative Bitcoin use. I tilt my hat to them but when the trolls become the 80% only providing 20% I realize I'm wasting my time.

#ITM

“Cowboy credits”-wtf? Nostr, Chuck E. Cheese (even though I don’t eat cheese😆) & Atari all the way!💯