(About Our Blog) Tired of Internet Drama and Fakeness? This Community Can Help With That
Warning: the articles and comments on Nonmonetized Together may contain sensitive content
You can also view this article on https://write.as/non-monetized-together/about-our-blog-tired-of-internet-drama-and-fakeness
Apply to write for Non-Monetized Together by responding to this post or just letting me know in general!
After you finish reading this page, let me know what you think! I will be able to make better decisions about operating this blog when I hear other perspectives. No decision I make is final, so be sure to always send a comment, or if you’re not a good writer, maybe ask through a mediator or by sending a video! I will explain how I feel about your suggestion as soon as possible.
Since the identity of this blog is continuously evolving, this section is updated regularly whenever I have something to add (for example, I recently changed the content licensing on here from “some rights reserved” to “all rights reserved”). This means that this page does not always make sense due to continuity errors. If you are confused about anything, ask, and I will correct those errors!
Here are four advantages of joining this community
1. Authors and readers on this blog should be in an equal position of power
Nonmonetized Together authors are not supposed to write as if they are an authority figure. Instead, I aim to build a community where my readers and authors share knowledge with each other and build off of each other.
Instead of presenting a narrative and acting like it’s the only acceptable way to think, authors must write posts that are much more flexible and respectful of the reader’s agency. Readers are meant to interpret their stories through their own personal lens so different readers can get inspired in different ways. Our words should aim to provoke our readers’ thoughts, not replace them.
From now on, I decided that I will not intentionally give claps to any comments on Non-Monetized Together, even if I really like them. This is to ensure I am not in a position of power.
Feel free to reply to the posts in a way that is productive. As the importance of information continues to further outpace the importance of service, our view of volunteering must transition from one where the volunteer provides services to one where they provide information. I am hoping that readers will do this in the comments section and end up creating an online community based off knowledge. This means to not be afraid to add additional knowledge and expand upon my points. We are here to learn from and help each other. The most outspoken voices are not always the most trustworthy ones.
I am even able to respond to feedback from websites other than Medium or write.as because I sometimes look up Nonmonetized Together on search engines. However, my responses will be posted onto Medium and write.as, which means communication will be more difficult, but I can tag your username so you can find it on search engines. I will not respond to posts on drama websites or members-only websites but any other website is fair game.
One last thing: I’m autistic and work towards increasing the positive aspects of my autism while aiming to reduce the negative aspects. If you’re not autistic, you will be expected to do the same — to focus on developing the positive traits of being non-autistic while trying to reduce the negative aspects. This is all to make sure this community is equal.
2. This publication is non-monetized
Only non-monetized articles are accepted for this publication. Below is a video (which I will update every two weeks or so) showing that my articles are non-monetized.
https://youtube.com/shorts/jVA-K6d_ZYs?feature=share
Since Nonmonetized Together tackles issues of power, and since money is power, monetizing it wouldn’t make sense as it would make our posts insincere and irrelevant. Also, since the authors should have an equal relationship with their readers, there isn’t much justification for them to earn money off of our articles. Instead of earning money in return for their work, they write to gain knowledge and engagement from others. This approach will hopefully make their stories more authentic and useful.
3. I think that online discussion is an excellent and overlooked tool for making the world a better place
Medium, as well as many other places on the Internet, is like public service or activism to me. I believe that skillfully using the Web probably makes a greater impact than most in-person forms of activism. I’m not saying it will start a social movement or make noticeable changes, considering most people have extremely limited power anyways. But it probably makes a bigger difference than going out of the house to contribute to society.
I went into more detail about this theory in an earlier post, but it basically comes down to the fact that people’s worldviews are partly shaped by what they read, so if your posts are thought-provoking, you can make an impact on readers even if you don’t get many views.
Use this as motivation to consistently produce quality articles. Use Medium to try to work things out with people and make sure they leave feeling stronger. Be conscious of the fact that Medium is public to anyone connected to the Internet, and use that fact to inspire your writing. Please be patient and accepting of others, even if you are skeptical of them! As long as it is safe, an innocent until proven guilty approach is encouraged in the comment section.
4. Nonmonetized Together is a better alternative to competitive politics.
Nonmonetized Together is to be a place where people can contribute to society without being subject to the political restrictions that they face elsewhere.
As a politically privileged person myself, I feel that other people’s political views are more important than mine. Instead of fighting for my political beliefs, it’s better if I create an online environment where common people of all political orientations can gain empowerment without answering to the interests of the ruling class.
The only way this can work is if it has its own social norms that are unique from the norms of the competitive political system. This way, it can avoid the weaknesses that the competitive political system currently faces, such as an unequal power structure, unnecessary conflict, and having to put on a facade to get what you want. I know this sounds vague, but a full explanation is worth an article of its own, which can be viewed here.
How can I ensure Nonmonetized Together will be a great community?
By making many of Non-Monetized Together’s original posts and engaging with their comments, I can work towards setting an example that will be imitated by the community. By being the best role model I can be on the blog, hopefully this can create a positive community. By doing this, I can implicitly set norms and standards for readers’ responses, and these norms and standards can be more civil than that of the rest of the Internet. This means that while readers can have the freedom to reply what they want, I can set a precedent as to how they comment and for what purpose, without being forceful about it.
How can we set positive examples?
The most important goal on Nonmonetized Together is to accurately understand what people are trying to say. We just need to say exactly what we mean and make sure readers know that. We can do this by explaining our points clearly, logically, and literally enough to erase any concerns of double meaning. We can start comments with “let me know if I understand correctly…” and then clarify. To avoid conflict, we can start off our responses by finding common ground with the other person before getting into disagreements.
Feel free to have debates in the articles’ comments sections. Just keep in mind that I will try to steer the argument into a more productive direction if it’s not going well.
But I, as well as authors of the original posts, should only get involved in arguments if it’s to guide the conversation into more productive directions, to understand what the other person is saying (which will be discussed in the next paragraph), to point out an objective error, or to provide additional background information that the authors believe a reader may not be considering. Authors should not try to fight for a subjective viewpoint. Other participants can get involved in arguments though.
However, if I’m in a discussion with you, and you don’t feel like I understand what you’re saying, please keep arguing with me about it until I do understand, and don’t give up. I grew up in a family that would keep arguments going until I could see what was wrong, and sometimes this would take over an hour, but I would get convinced eventually. I’m not here to antagonize you, so let’s come to a conclusion where we can both be happy.
No matter who you are, we just need to word our comments in a way that makes it clear that we are only doing it for the other person’s own benefit. We should explain the facts instead of relying on weaponized trigger words. We can use digital communication to our advantage and give ourselves as much time as we need to think about the right thing to say. We can’t control how others react, but we can still be clear about our intentions.
How should we deal with trolls and troublemakers?
Respond to them seriously and respectfully, like with the other readers (but only on the public Web — it is dangerous to respond to trolls through private message or in the real world). Hopefully, it will diffuse any negative momentum they would be planning to capitalize on, and maybe even make them feel a bit sorry or embarrassed for their actions. In cases where that doesn’t happen, you at least get the chance to hold them accountable, and readers will hopefully still be able to take something valuable away from the interaction.
For participants who want to do this but are too scared or uncomfortable to respond directly to the offender, I can communicate with them on your behalf. If you send me your comment in a private note, I will quote it in the discussion with the offender and keep you anonymous.
In cases where their behaviour gets out-of-control and malicious, they should be blocked and/or have their comments removed, but this privilege should be used judiciously. Misinformation, for example, should be countered by questioning it or by presenting the correct information, not an instant ban. What may appear as hatred to an outsider may really just be frustration and despair. Ignorance should be defeated with wise and reasoned responses, not censorship or (God forbid) anger.
One useful tip for dealing with these posts is to do a good deed that makes up for the damage that was caused by the comment. Or you may start a new post on the implications that the comment’s attitude has on society. If you see an obviously problematic comment, you may even want to try responding to it under the assumption that it’s tolerant, honest, just, and harmless, just to show how many hoops you would have to jump through to interpret it as such. “After all, you don’t want me to look at you as bad-intentioned, right?” This would allow yourself to reveal the comment’s problems without attacking the commenter.
I do believe that zero-tolerance safe spaces play a necessary role in society, because everybody needs to take a break from dealing with troublemakers sometimes, but that is not the purpose of Non-Monetized Together.
How can you guarantee that our blog will be non-monetized?
Monetizing our blog would be disastrous for a number of reasons:
- I would lose the trust of the readers
- I put a lot of time and effort into writing non-monetized articles. Monetizing them all of a sudden would make all of that work worthless
- It is a mark of distinction against better-funded, better-resourced alternatives, as they would be almost certainly monetized
- It would be too stressful
- It would turn this community into a casual, marketable safe space. Non-Monetized Together is supposed to be a mostly serious, sometimes upsetting community where we can talk about the ugliness of real life in the hopes of overcoming it.
I will never monetize this blog in any situation. Even if I hypothetically end up in a situation where blogging is the only way I could earn money, I would just stop writing for Non-Monetized Together and create a new blog instead.
Also, Non-Monetized Together posts are also available on the federated blogging platform Write.as. You can learn more about the platform here:
How can Non-Monetized Together stories be added to write.as if they are from Medium authors other than Kevin?
If you want me to publish your post on the Non-Monetized Together write.as page, place the write.as URL for your article somewhere in your Medium article, and I will create the page for you.
Here’s how you can write your write.as URL before the article gets added to write.as:
Write write.as/non-monetized-together/. Then, add each word of your article’s title to the end of the URL, in lowercase, with a hyphen in-between each word. If you have a long title, the URL may cut off the end of it. I will let you know if it does, so you can fix it.
Please contact me if you want to delete or edit the write.as article and I will make the changes you requested.
Also, I have started moving Medium reader comments onto write.as and vice versa. I’ll wait a few days before moving the comments so you have time to edit or delete them. If you posted any comments onto Non-Monetized Together’s Medium that you do not want saved to write.as, send me a private note or a public comment (your choice) and they will be taken down. The same applies for if you posted any comments onto Non-Monetized Together’s write.as that you do not want saved to Medium (you can PM my write.as by messaging me on discuss.write.as).
Ways you can get involved with Nonmonetized Together:
- Write for the publication
- Do fan creative projects such as fan art, fan fashion, fanfiction, or anything else — you’re only limited by your imagination
- Create your own online environment that has the same social context as Nonmonetized Together.
- Create a TVTropes page for Nonmonetized Together (I have attempted to do this but the TVTropes mods won’t approve my account, maybe you’ll find more luck).
- Do an in-person version of Nonmonetized Together for people who are deprived of their right to use the Internet. There are many community workers on Medium who can achieve this such as Bridget Harilaou, Jaime de Loma-Osorio Ricon, Ricky Rew, Cath Anne, David Robinson, Joe Valentino, Thor Blomfield, Wild Flower, Wende DuFlon, Bernard Jankowski, Laura & Oscar, Diane Pagen, DP Hunter, Bay Area Black Worker Center, and Diana McNally.
One more thing:
If you are trying to look for a specific article, check my reading lists to see the articles grouped by category.
So if you’re tired of dealing with know-it-alls, pointless squabbling, and cynicism on the Internet, Non-Monetized Together is here for relief.
