by Danica Swanson - 27 Dec 2024
Deep Worth was seeded through a cast I made in the Slowcore HQ channel on Farcaster, in which I wrote that I was done trying to build an audience as a means to a sustainable livelihood from my creative writing in the Farconomy, and would therefore need to return to day jobs soon.
In the ensuing thread, fellow caster @manansh asked me some evocative questions, and I wrote a 2500-word response in a draft on Paragraph: “In the Farconomy, Hope is a Powerful Drug.”
In the Farconomy, Hope is a Powerful Drug
At first I planned to token-gate the piece because it felt raw and personal, and I didn’t want to be That Person who overshares. But after learning that the token-gating wouldn’t be possible on Paragraph because they had deprecated their token-gating function in Nov. 2024, I created a group chat of about 30 people in Warpcast DCs as a work-around. I shared the private link with my Moxie Fan Token holders, early bidders who’d been outbid by flippers, and people whose work I quoted in the piece.
The piece seemed to hit a nerve, and the response was lively enough to turn into an ongoing group chat of its own accord. This process convinced me to make the piece public as a reference for future discussions.
I didn’t set out with any intention other than responding to some good questions at the level of depth I felt they deserved. But the Farcaster scenius works in mysterious ways. People are now suggesting others they’d like to invite to join the group chat, and there’s been some talk of starting a channel or other dedicated slowcore-friendly forum space for Deep Worth at some point. I don’t know what’s next; only time will tell.
As I’ve written elsewhere: “Like the creative process, good communities are emergent structures with their own indwelling intelligence and a logic that resists coercion…”