Digging through Twitter threads to figure out what’s going on can be like having to make a trip to the DMV -it’s almost never fun and almost always painful.
On the 24th of June, there was a little spark of controversy that flamed out into what appeared to be the only thing people were talking about, at least for a few hours in the NFT Twitterverse. Especially if you live in the NFT echo chamber on Twitter and follow some of the most engaged accounts.
It started when account @beanieMaxi revealed that he was allegedly not just one person, but was a team of professional marketers and that he and @digitalartchick, another prominent NFT tweeter, were in fact the same group of people running both accounts for engagement purposes.
I will say the same people have written our Tweets and we are on (work for) the same team. That’s why you probably notice an overlap and similarities. We try to keep each account fresh and unique though and of course max engagement always. Metrics are how we get paid.
— Beanie (@beaniemaxi) June 24, 2021
This prompted a backlash from the community and royally pissed off @digitalartchick as she then replied with a swift selfie with a side of Fuck You directed at Beanie.
fuck you @beaniemaxi pic.twitter.com/FBod5T7lkD
— artchick.eth 🔥👠 (@digitalartchick) June 24, 2021
Now, why in the fu*k should any of us care about what these two NFT Twitter accounts are saying? Who are they? and why are you even going to spend the next few minutes reading this article about this Twitter drama?
Beanie is a self-proclaimed senior art critic @punkscomic, villain, and JPEG Shiller who at the time of this article being released has around 25K Twitter followers.
Digital Artchick, with a similar following on her Twitter, states that she drinks and tweets about art. Both of these individuals are semi prominent collectors and recognized figures in the NFT space. They are known to invest in various projects and tend to draw attention to NFTs when they become collectors and start to tweet about them.
There are a few things about this whole debacle to unpack from this that I’d like to highlight:
Operating under anonymous pseudonyms and Twitter handles allows people to be curated versions of themselves, sometimes realistic, sometimes not so much. This can also be problematic especially if the NFT community is going to grant these people any form of influence over this growing non-fungible token ecosystem.
Take both of these accounts, for example, they are pretty raw and no-filter-type Twitter accounts that create controversy as a method to gain engagement and exposure. While many find these antics entertaining, it also seems to really muddy the NFT space, at least from my perspective.
First of all, let me ask you a question, do you talk to other people in real life the way we see many of these Twitter personalities speaking to others online?
I would hope not, much of the terrible manners I see in public social media conversations across the board, in real life could possibly earn you a good punch to the face, due to the overall lack of respect and basic decency.
To be honest, this is not just these two influencers, it seems society and platform-wide, this is a growing trend that once you have some level of obscurity in your conversations, humans get a whole lot less inclined to have manners and I am not sure that is a good thing.
Personally, I refuse to even get involved in Facebook conversations outside of the tight-knit communities I am involved in because it is just so energy-draining and toxic to see how disrespectful and intolerant people feel entitled to act when they are hiding behind a keyboard.
What we pay attention to grows and so why would I even highlight this drama, that at the end of the day could be ignored by hitting the block button as many who value their sanity choose to do.
@Digitalart chick felt so much backlash from Beanies stunt that she posted a selfie to prove she was in fact a woman and not the alleged group of male marketers pretending to be a woman, and then ruthless twitter began to bash her for how she looked, which was definitely not cool.
Is this what the NFT community is about?
There is some humour to be found in Meme culture, but there is also a line we should consider as a community. Berating, trolling bullying others online just does not represent what the NFT space is about in my opinion. In many ways what Beanie did was just reckless, added zero value to the community, and overall shows a lack of empathy and basic respect. Selling out for engagement at the expense of others in the community is not just on this one individual, it falls on us as a community that engages with, applauds, and rewards this type of behaviour.
The fact that I am writing an article about it now, calling more attention to this type of behavior, in some ways can be seen as rewarding these types of antics. However, my goal is to start a discussion about our ethos in general as a community and to dialog about how we can begin to agree to treat one another better in this space.
To be honest, I can see why some find Beanie entertaining, but personally, for me, I’ll just mute him and keep moving forward. Which may be a very valid way to filter out what you want entering into your own mental space.
I find it much more worth my time to be inspired by others in this space who are building awesome things, helping others, contributing to causes that matter, and having a good time while still retaining some basic kindness and decency.
At the same time I am not looking to always be politically correct or cater to each and every person’s personal triggers because at what point do you draw the line? Humans can virtually be offended by nearly anything these days and Who TF has time for all that?
Here are just a few profiles in this space that I do believe are worth highlighting for their work and how they show up in the NFT Community.
