Here are a
few of the reasons why this new feature rubs me wrong:
1. I came to
discuss ideas for ideas’ sake. I don’t want even the temptation to adjust, wink
or otherwise alter what I say myself or what I say to others because of how it
may affect the bottom line. I want my words to be true, not attractive.
Straight not bait. Now, I know everyone will claim that that is not the intent
nor the outcome. It is possible to speak truly and just be happy about whatever
windfall may come your way. But I think people are human and while this new
feature is intended to just monetize appreciation, I think the media really
does affect the message. It won’t obviously affect the transactions on this site,
but I think it will have a subtle and deleterious effect. When looking for Conversations to join, I would seek out what seemed like original ideas, new takes on old questions and not the usual "watch-out, they are all out to get you" that you can only say in so many different ways. But now, I'll admit that I might also be attracted by someone who gives big tips. In addition, I tried to write only when I had something contributory to say. I am not cultivating a following. I am not feeding an audience. But now, I might be incentivized to write a post just for some tips. One of the causes of information saturation and dilute quality is the lack of appropriate barriers that ensure that only people worth reading and the ones writing. Paying per post makes that problem worse. Dickens wrote to hold people's attention and his books are generally too long. Salinger wrote because he had something to say and stopped when he was done.
2. I don’t want to
be judged by how much money I offer or am offered. I am already carefully
scrutinized on this site. This place has no small amount of antisemites ready
to jump on my words as evidence of my communist leanings, my homophobia and
homophilia, evidence that I am a Christ-killer, or a fifth column. The last
thing I need on this site is to be judged as miserly or as over-compensating by
throwing my money around. Ya, I know, we all pretend not to notice. Whatever
you give is appreciated, no judgement attached. That may be true in the main
but I am sensitive to the exceptions. And it doesn’t take much to poison the
well and turn a nice way to say thanks into something ugly. My prediction is
that a norm will be eventually established, like service in restaurants. Once
that norm is established, it will be hard to deviate without judgement. I am
sure my favorite antisemites will already grumble with this post that I am both
a cheap Jew and anti-Capitalist.
3. And then there
is the grade school valentine card phenomenon. Someone is going to give you a nice
tip and you won’t reciprocate? All that serves to change a nice idea into a pathetic
competition of giving. It was always the ugliest girl in the class that wrote
the most “happy Valentine” messages hoping to get the same in return.
4. Intellectual
intercourse should be an intimate affair. I am often touched by good writing
and sharp questions. I leave an intense exchange genuinely affected by my
interlocutor. That person’s words linger in my mind, I walk around with them
thinking about them and what to say next. I hope I do the same with my writing
to others. I think it cheapens the exchange to monetize my appreciation. How
much is a good question worth? It really does feel like prostituting my
writing. It always struck me as a deep issue, not sufficiently explored, how
Plato’s dialogues turn into a literal love-affair with Socrates.
5. I am not rich.
I don’t want to have to think twice about reading a post or answering a post
for fear that I can’t afford the expected tip. And I really don’t want to think
more than I already do about what and how to write on Thinkspot. I weigh my
words carefully. I craft my responses with diligence. I can’t afford the added
time, mental energy, and expectation around tips. I prefer to eat where service
is included than where I need to start thinking about how much a really liked
my waiter and whether it exceeds my discretionary budget. I like clean
exchanges and tips makes everything more complicated and personal in ways that
I don’t think make us write better. Somewhere, I think Jordan Peterson forgot what its like to live on a tight budget. I assume many of you out there are middle income earners like me. Such is the fair statistical guess. I'd much prefer you "pay" me with your comments. A good question, a challenging attack. Even a compliment is appreciated. Just save your non sequiturs for yourselves. I could do without those. If you have nothing to say, it doesn't help to tip me as compensation for your lack of opinion. And if you do have something to say, that's so much more valuable than whatever small change you throw at me.
6. If I had enough
talent, I might consider busking at a subway station. It could be fun to open
your guitar case, play music and hopefully pay for lunch. The problem with tipping
on Thinkspot is that we are both the buskers and the buskees. We open our
guitar cases, but we are also expected to take those proceeds and fill everyone else's guitar case. We are the entire economy. Instead, I
recommend everyone keep their quarters in their own pockets and get down to the
business of Thinking. I think it is a better use of time and effort rather than
all the distraction of rotating all that money around, only to end up pretty
much where you started only with more heartache.
7. I'm not afraid to charge for my labour. I don't feel guilty taking money I've earned. Dr Peterson coaches people all the time not to be embarrassed about thinking your time is worth money. And not to fall into the angelic fallacy that everything would be better if we acted like angels and just gave of ourselves freely without thinking about that evil god Mammon. That's not my problem with tipping. I think economic competition is a critical method of quantifying value and that it is necessary and appropriate to subject yourself to the valuation of others. It's true that the merit of my work has something to do with what other people are willing to pay for it. I'm not free to set my own price and dictate to others what they should pay for the fruit of my labours. I'm subject to the strictures of the market. But I do get to choose carefully what market I want to be judged by. I get to choose who I think are worthy judges of my value added. The Hebrews weren't free to tell Pharaoh they deserve a raise or that minimum wage is a universal right. The one choice they had was to leave, to refuse participation in the Egyptian economy that in the end treated them so poorly. I am not free to demand that this post is worth $500 - now pay up. I am free to say I'd rather your engagement than your small change. That this is not the proper market to judge the value of my comments in monetary terms. I'm not opposed to selling my essays for what I think they are worth while taking the realistic constraints of the market into account. But I'm not interesting in making a game out of it. Working and writing is serious business and I'm not subjecting the amount of my remuneration to the whims of this community. I'm too old to gamify my participation here.
When Joshua Bell went busking himself in Washington DC, the world famous soloist earned a total of $52.83. Sometimes people run from economic competition because they are afraid of what the world has to say about their value added. And sometimes the world doesn't really know what it's talking about.
8. Thinkspot is
trying to impose a new norm and I reserve the right to be a conscientious
objector. This is actually a very serious change of norms from the Thinkspot I paid
for and was enjoying just last week. Who gave Thinkspot the right to change the
rules of the game without asking us? And don’t tell me this is a just a feature
that I can use or not use at will. This is very much the same sort of
manipulations used by Facebook to affect our behavior by changing the way the
platform operates. It matters when a platform changes its currency from Likes
to Emojis, to Followers, to actual dollars. It matters how the algorithms
operate, what metrics are used and whether posts are now going to be ranked as “top
earning posts.” A move of this magnitude from a Platform that fashions itself
as freer and better than the alternatives certainly isn’t acting like that.
This is very much the sort of Big guys dictating the rules of the game to the
little guys I would expect from the Canadian government, from Meta but not from
something with the name Jordan Peterson all over it. Where is the transparency?
Where is the process? This is a meta-change that affects us whether or NOT we
choose to tip. The culture has been changed. I didn’t tip before and I still
won’t tip. But now my not tipping is opting out and ignoring that little dollar
sign accusing me at the bottom of the post. Thinkspot is trying to change my
behavior and I am a stiff-necked, independent thinker and I am not buying in
without a fight. I repeat – it is not enough to not tip. I resent the change of
norms and expectations that this sets up. I resent the pulling of strings and the expectation of us dancing to the beat of money. I feel very much the product.
9. I reject the non-tipper (NP) label. I am what I have always been, a VC - a Verbal Complementor and it is you Thinkspot that made that not enough. Once, this space was free of pecuniary compliments (like last week) and words were enough. It was you that insinuated that a non-tipper is not as good as the well spoken teacher who has careful praise and the well occasioned barb to dole out. I refuse to allow my positive approach to words and my belief that they hold value to be undermined and cheapened by this new economy which intimates that I don't really mean it until I put my money where my mouth is.
Two
Suggestions:
I am not
just a complainer but a Thinker loyal enough to make a practical constructive
suggestion. I don’t mind choice and if people want to offer and receive tips,
more power to them. But I want to let people know my choice as a non-tipper and
have people interact with me knowing that at the outset. I want the option to remove
the dollar sign from all my posts. I want my decision to be a non-participant
in this new economy to be global, consistent, and transparent. And I think
tipping should be OPT-IN. I think everyone should start as a non-tipper and
they need to set up their wallet and opt in to give and receive tips. And if I don't Opt-in don't label me in the negative - a non-tipper (NP). But give me a positive assignment - a Verbal Complementor (VC). It is funny but the abortion wars have taught that everyone needs to be Pro-Something. And I refuse to be cornered into a negative evaluation as the Non-Tipper. Yesterday, there was no such thing.
Don’t get
me wrong, I would love to earn money by writing on Thinkspot. I already spend
too much time away from my contract work for which I am paid. But I am not
interested in hustling for a buck as a bottom-feeder in this large economy. If
somebody who is in charge of the $3 I pay every month, along with thousands of
others wanted to contract with me for the value I bring to this community as a
contributor, I would not say no. If someone with the sizeable budget clearly spent
on coding and web design said to me: we respect your writing and the way you
generate intelligent dialogue, and we want you on the team, I'd be interested in hearing more. Thinkspot invested
lots in the back end and now it’s time to put some time and money into the front
end. But they are not going to cleverly manipulate me into paying for that additional investment. I have enough hustle in my life. I would like my time talking
with you guys to be hustle free unless it was really worth it.
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