Well over five years ago, when Trilema introduced something not yet seen on the Internets, the very notion caused a splash. It was unthinkable! Impossible! Nonsensical! I must be crazy! And not understand how the world works! Etc!

A year later, The New York Times copied the model. Before that, the survivors of the .ro media wars lined up to bid for my sales data. Clearly, it was I that didn't understand etc.

It was a pretty decent ride - the widely known Bitcoin address collected a rather reasonable 247.78241666 BTC, worth ~108`365.162102084 USD at today's open market rate which is, ironically, more than what anyone ever made out of selling content online in this interval, not to mention just about enough to buy a house pretty much anywhere in the world. A house pre furnished and with women included in most parts of the world, actually.

Nevertheless, both my circumstances and circumstances in general have changed significatly since that fateful 2010 Summer. For one thing, what's sensible for a tiny exotic market like Romania is not necessarily sensible for a large and fragmented market such as the billion or so English speakers. For another thing, I'm worth a cool billion now, give or take, which is roughly speaking a billion more than I was worth in 2010. Not that I was ever poor, but millions and billions aren't really the same thing - the guy with a roll worth a grand is not as likely to pick up a nickle as the minimum wage waiter, which is how tipping works in the first place. This says nothing of the value of a penny, earned or saved, but it does say something about laziness and the human nature.

For yet another thing, the sort of content I publish has changed markedly, and that means the marketing thereof ought to probably also change, whether one's stubborn or not. Lastly - for many years buying Trilema credits was the only economical activity in Bitcoin, but now that Eulora exists and it's doing so very well, that consideration significantly pales in importance.

Not exactly for these reasons, but for very good causes that lie at the root of them, Trilema will henceforth be freely accessible. No more paid content.

The only losers in this move are, of course, the 2nd echelon of content producers - the people who aren't nearly good enough to pen their own Trilema, but nevertheless find themselves in the unenviable position where producing content is still the best relative use of their time. Apparently the universe really hates anyone coming second, because look how it works : the guy coming out first doesn't actually need to get paid, and nobody can rationally compete with free. This, incidentally, is how we get power laws, always and everywhere the enemies of quality of all kinds - from quality of product to quality of life.

I am sorry to contribute to that rampant problem. Nevertheless, weighing all considerations together it... well to be frank, it comes out second. What can you do ?

Enjoy, I guess.

A, ps : if you would like to donate, donate to The Most Serene Republic.

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