Revisiting "enjoy this moment"

2 months after creating dogecoin, I wrote the community an open letter

10 years ago, and 2 months after myself and Jackson made dogecoin as a dumb joke, I made a post on reddit. There was a lot going on at that time - those 2 months were a blur, and the excitement was off the charts - there were so many people creating things, running contests, fundraising for charities, tipping each other, etc.

It was incredibly stressful time, for me, being the main programmer on a project that completely blew up unexpectedly, especially considering I had no idea what I was doing. We were just trying to make the best of this crazy situation we found ourselves in.

But it was also, in my opinion, by far, the best time to be a part of the dogecoin community - and honestly, the cryptocurrency community in general. It felt like something unique, weird, and cool. People were super generous, and mainly just wanting to do fun and absurd things with this fun and absurd cryptocurrency.

Here’s what I wrote:

Enjoy this moment: An open letter to the Dogecoin community from co-founder Billy Markus

Dear Community,

This currency is only 2 months old, and already an amazing amount of things have happened. Right now we are coming off the most exciting times in Dogecoin's short history, and what I personally think is the most wonderful thing we have done, which is help fund the Doge4Kids charity. There is absolutely no way I could have foreseen any of this happening when I threw together the client code for this coin on a late Friday night. Amazing kudos to u/ummjackson, u/Laika1954, u/NeutralityMentality, u/42points, u/mohland, u/langer_hans, and countless others for putting so much work and energy into making things happen and getting us to where we are.

The reason I am making this post is because this is such a high time in the community, and I have no way of knowing how transient this all may be. I'm a lifelong gamer -- I've seen communities rise and fall around all sorts of games as the novelty wore off. My first 2 months playing World of Warcraft was the absolute best gaming experience of my life, and even outside of the game that people poured their time into it -- people were making beautiful art, funny comics, hilarious and entertaining videos in abundance, the community was excited at everything...and I watched that community slowly change to one of complaining and obsession, gear scores and egos, and completely lose track of why the game was enjoyable in the first place. The first year of Starcraft II was so full of optimism and excitement, and as time wore on the community has moved toward drama and stagnation (though it seems to be on an upswing now!). It's happened in most communities, but not all communities. It's organic for communities to rise and create massive excitement at times, and go through lulls other times. But if it's worthwhile, people will continue to work to make it great.

There are two things I wish for. One is I would like everyone to remember this moment. Remember when the popularity of Dogecoin was rising so incredibly quickly, when the community banded together to help send the Jamaican bobsled team to the Olympics, when 300+ people came together in New York to celebrate the coin, when people made 75 amazing videos for a video contest with awesome songs and great animations, when the community funded service dogs to help children in need. No matter how transient it all is, my hope is that Dogecoin will always be remembered fondly.

The second thing is I want everyone to know how important they are to the community. Cryptocurrency is incredibly volatile and changes happen incredibly quickly -- I've only been with it for 8 months, and I've already seen countless massive swings that can trigger all sorts of emotions. This is why it's incredibly important to me that the community can maintain the levity, fun, and good nature which is what makes Dogecoin worthwhile in the first place.

The moment that people stop trying to participate in making positive things happen and start complaining that others need to do things for them is the moment a community starts to get sick. When no one is trying to make things happen and everyone is complaining that others do those things for them, that is when a community dies. Let's not let that happen.

Dogecoin is meant to be a fun cryptocurrency, one that encourages people to tip and to learn and teach this technology. It also, like every cryptocurrency, can have a maddeningly capricious nature. The novelty will not last forever, but if you want the community to last, that is where you come in. Stay positive. Keep doing awesome things. Lead by example. No matter what happens, never lose sight of the things that make Dogecoin worthwhile for you.

So enjoy this moment. Remember it, and cherish it. You made this happen. Keep it up.

Thank you all for being a part of this magnificent community,

Billy Markus

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What struck me was the response - people generally took it as an inspirational piece of writing, celebrating the dogecoin community and how awesome it was.

But it wasn’t meant to be inspirational. It was meant to be a warning.

The message I wanted to impart was that good times - at least in all communities I’ve ever been in - were ephemeral, and we were in a good time, so we should appreciate it while it lasts. And it’s not going to stay good unless people somehow keep the positive attitude, energy, and contributions up when the price inevitably does what crypto prices tend to do. Which seemed particularly unlikely to me.

So it was unsurprising when the community eventually devolved into a much less positive, much more greedy one. Eventually, a fraudster infiltrated the community and made it into one I didn’t want to be part of. People stopped doing fun things and started acting entitled, acting like the volunteers who worked on the coin and other parts of the community owed them. The fun, amusing, light-hearted community was dwarfed by an entitled one. And it wasn’t one that I thought was worthwhile anymore.

We’ve seen this now play out enough times (literally thousands of times) in the cryptocurrency community that I, personally, would just say that I don’t think it’s a great idea to have a community solely based around volatile financial instruments. There has to be something more permanent and more resilient than potential monetary gain to keep it going, which is why I felt “Do Only Good Everyday” would make a good ethos. And more people need to participate - actually participate in building or in creating things, not simply buy something, and then complain about how others don’t want to buy it from them for more than they bought it for.

So how do I feel, 10 years later?

I’m happy with many of the cool things the dogecoin community accomplished when it was properly motivated. The straight up good things like building water wells in Kenya and sponsoring service dogs, the silly absurd things like sponsoring the Jamaican Bobsled Team and the dogecoin sponsored Nascar, and just the overall good vibes that came from the community tipping others. I most enjoyed the creative contests, like the video contests, that got the community participating and making awesome things.

So, despite all the negativity that came afterwards, I choose to remember those moments fondly. And I hope there’s more creativity and fun to come in the future.

I think the main message - that good times are fleeting, and that we should make deliberate efforts to appreciate them - is still core to how I feel about life in general. I find life to be like a sine wave, where bad times and good times both come and go, and that’s the most comforting thing I can think when times aren’t great, and helps bring me back down to earth other times.

So in either case, in bad times or in good, I can think:

Enjoy it while it lasts.

(or)

This, too, shall pass.