The market is terrible—just endless infighting and clickbait. —————————— I don’t really like using the word “trash.” Actually, being good at networking is itself a skill. —————————— Around last year, “relationship-based KOLs” were highly sought after. Many people built alliances through sheer talk, securing KOL airdrop allocations from major projects. By banding together and making BD teams feel good, these “relationship-based KOLs” had already locked in monthly retainers across most channels. Meanwhile, I started “pretending to be above it all” and turned down every collaboration. I encountered five so-called “mentors” who came after me. And when I publicly called them out on Twitter, other KOLs told me: “Just endure it—if you want to keep eating.” At the time, my inner monologue was: “I hope within a year I can afford to travel freely, even without any content partnerships.” Without sufficient financial cushion, trying to profit in this space through connections is like being a pathetic masochist. But those fakes? They don’t have the brute strength of the Alchemist Uncle, nor his abs, nor his looks— so what the hell are they even pretending to be? Here’s a creepy story: Last year, I criticized a certain staking project in the BTC ecosystem. A self-proclaimed “moral person” called me out, accusing me of taking dirty money. I was about to ask him: “Where do you get your ad budget? Can anyone reimburse me?” But after dragging me down, he blocked me. Recently, I heard some folks praising how well he “grinds” for airdrops, so I checked him out… …? Turns out, it’s all PR copy and spin articles from project teams. So people actually spend time on X… just to read low-quality ads?