KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Community culture can profoundly impact individual actions, as shown by an open crypto wallet being drained in one group but collectively maintained and refilled in another.
• When discussing the actions of others, our judgments and descriptions often reveal more about our own perspectives and biases than about the person being judged.
• In community negotiations, prioritizing the collective good over individual self-interest is crucial for achieving constructive and sustainable outcomes.
• A simple social experiment can serve as a powerful metaphor for understanding trust, shared responsibility, and human nature within online communities like Steem.

TARGET AUDIENCE

This article is highly relevant for Steemizens interested in community dynamics, social psychology, and platform governance. The personal anecdote provides a compelling and relatable illustration of complex concepts like the tragedy of the commons and projection bias, making it valuable for anyone seeking a more nuanced perspective on conflicts and cooperation within decentralized ecosystems.

CONVERSATION STARTERS

• The author's experiment yielded opposite results in two different online groups. What factors do you believe create a community culture of trust and cooperation versus one of pure self-interest?
• The post quotes the wisdom, "When A talks about B, you learn more about A than about B." Can you recall a time on Steem where the reaction to an event revealed more about the commenters than the event itself?
• How can the lessons from the author's successful "open wallet" experiment be applied to encourage more collaborative and less self-serving behavior during contentious discussions or developments on the Steem blockchain?