In the sacred territory known as Hive, the curators are the kings and queens of the digital world, upvotes and downvotes being their powerful scepters. They do not create, nor do they debate, nor do they even make mistakes — their task is much worse: to determine which works are to be better and which worse through the enlightened click of a mouse.
When a new post comes, they use the following phrase: “Sample it”. Just take a little and no need to take everything. Why bother going through the whole text when already in the first line the author’s whole being is laid bare?
How magnificent their wisdom is! They are the algorithm's demi-gods, the keepers of the attention, who can detect “quality” without ever looking at the comments. They feel the participation of the audience by divine intuition — a sort of amalgam of instinct and boredom.
And if the price of crypto drops and the morale of the community goes down, the curators will sit in silence on their pile of unpaid dues, waiting for a sign from the universe of when to sample it again — as if the whole literary cosmos is depending on their divine clicks.
So, writers, do not get too serious with your art. Keep in mind: the good ones are not always the ones that get the prize; sometimes it is just the case of the one that gets noticed first.
Thank you, dear curators, for sample it. Because it is extremely exhausting to love with your whole heart in this time of digital fatigue.