Tipping has become a pretty large part of SPX culture over the past year or more, but is it time we rethink its prominent position in our ethos? It doesn't take much for something good to get corrupted by greed and money. What started as something wholesome can at times turn into internal PvP, jealousy, or worse, a transfer of tiny tokens from tungsten hands to pussy boi jeets.
Initially "tip address in bio" was pitched by Mung back in early '25 as DogeCoin had "Tipping Tuesday" and he liked that. But he quickly uno reverso'd on that opinion when it became clear that money can and will corrupt. But by then it had already taken root and spread, becoming "an integral part of our culture" within months.
Amazingly the community has held up extremely well. It hasn't decayed into full fledged engagement farms, begging or clout farming. Gloating about tipping a cup of coffee worth of spx spread across 8 different people each week. But it has been there at points, we've all seen it. Charities that only spend a portion of donations yet are always asking for more. Pitch decks as to why you should tip somebody. It's well intentioned, but the culture becomes honey for flies under bullish market conditions.
Don't get me wrong, tipping / supporting has always been an integral part of SPX but it looks alot different "behind the scenes". It was never the point to have a wallet in bio or publicly state who you tipped & what you gave. The unconditional gift of money or help to someone who needed it came from the heart from good and honest people who saw the best in humanity. That's what's made SPX a coin full of wholesome people. like attracts like and SPX has always been and will continue to be a community of top notch people.
Secondarily it was also a way to test the morality of the receiver. Would they be grateful? Would they pass it on? Would they get it back to you later? Would they actually follow through on the work they said they needed the money for? Much like real life you'd throw some cash at it and that's the price to pay to gauge a persons mettle. Who actually selflessly gave? Who just talked about it? Who asked and demanded money they didn't need? It was a constant moral litmus test. Baproll has given more in this regard than any other Aeon and he has been burnt many times over. He's pretty much a 3rd degree burns victim at this point.
"Back in my day" you needed to DM someone like a man and ask. Admit you're broke, admit you don't have the funds or the balls to fully back your project. Admit that you're such a useless neet chud that you need a handout, like asking your parents for money when you're 23. But now you're 30 and asking another grown ass Man. You feel guilty, you feel dirty, it steels your drive so that you don't need to do it again.
On the other end too, when you want to tip or give to an Aeon you need to message them, you need to ask them and get rejected that they won't take your money. That's when you know the person you're simping for is worth simping over. When they refuse and you need to pull out the trump card of "I'll just find your NFT's bro so just make this easier for both of us". You know how many times I tried helping Seb but he wouldn't take it?
All of this said, the only real reason I've got any solid opinion on this matter is because I've been on all ends of this discussion besides having a wallet in my bio. I've been supported when I couldn't pay rent, I've asked for money publicly to pay for SPX Studios stuff because I didn't want to jeet and I've given away more than I can actually (or want to) calculate. Sometimes to people in 100x better financial situations than me. I give back because I received and that's how the engine keeps turning. You find out who the good eggs are and you back them.
If Bap has 3rd degree burns, I could use a little bit more than aloe vera and band-aids. But then those good eggs come along and lotion you up gently and lovingly. Caressing the scars and saying you're more beautiful this way.
Anyways, the point is, the real ones move in silence on this matter and they usually play hard to get if you want to help them. SPX has always had an engine of good hearted people who put their trust and their bags on the line to believe in the best in humanity. This is what it means to believe in something. Real life is full of getting burned by others, but here we strive to build something better. To prove that people can be more moral than that asshole who gives you the short end of the stick when their hand is already full of long ends.
This positive feedback loop of good natured people has always been the backbone of our success. Hardwork + generosity + friendship = an unlimited energy feedback loop. But this can be easily extracted by others, so you need to protect it at all costs. Which is what it deserves. Trust NEEDS protection, it needs safety to thrive.
So I can't help but scale up the worst we've already seen in the tipping culture. Imagine when we go crazy again, Imagine when the whole world joins and suddenly there's 12 third world charities harassing you for donations equal to a years worth of their wages. People performantly tweeting about "everything they do for the cognisphere" to try and get tips. Or worse, trying to jump on every little meta, trying to get that Murad retweet to boost their account, their attention and their ability to tip farm Aeons to supplement their holdings...
In the end the people who deserve it the most will be working silently, sinking their funds into projects and living below their means without a tip address in their bio because their bio / pinned tweet is crucial real estate for their work. No one wants to give away money, let alone SPX. No one wants to give away weekends or sleep. But we do it for the love of the game. It's always been an ethos of FREE cult labor for a reason. But people don't exacerbate them doing free labor any chance they get. They just do it for SPX, for the mission, for the meaning.
So if someone wants to tip someone, by all means go ahead, it's always been the way SPX has functioned. But I think we need a new way to go about it that doesn't give easy access to extractors and greed or jealousy to take root.
