I like it because you'll pay me to say I like it!

One suggestion I'd like to offer today is, in the future, members should keep the fact they can hand out large votes for comments a secret in order to prevent disingenuous comments like the line I left above. I've always been a fan of upvoting comments I receive when posting my work. I always treated it much like I'm offering customers a free coffee for showing up to my shop. Unfortunately, I'm not able to do it as much as I could before the changes, but that's okay.

There's a dark side to all of this though. On a few occasions I've been told by people who didn't know any better things like, "They only leave comments because you upvote their words." There will always be trolls and these negative types who have no problem insulting the integrity of those who wish to spend time on my blog. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. On the surface, it's hard to tell many of these folks have built up a strong rapport with me over many months. I know who's being real with me.

On the other side of the coin, especially when the value of the token was high, there were people consistently showing up to leave bland compliments and buttkissery all while expecting an upvote. I had to be really careful. I don't support sycophants using me and it's also almost depressing when you find out their words meant nothing.

Yeah, it is a great service. Someone should reach out to Roseanne since she wants to start up a podcast and sometimes says shit she regrets later, then loses everything. A big name like that would be awesome to have around, but good luck.

I just don't want to see a post about someone holding the comment lottery vote each time they get it. I'd prefer to see the natural content flow, and those lucky enough to comment that day simply receive the bonus, as a surprise. If people don't know when it's coming, maybe they'll comment more, because that post might be the post, but if not, at least the words are genuine.