Category: Uncategorized

Devin Nash Hardcore

Posted on by @HppoTweeter in HppoThorns, Uncategorized

Devin Nash, affectionately known to the twitch community as CEO Andy, is the CMO of N3rdFusion and the host of the Devin Nash Show

the Devin Nash Show is a twitch.tv broadcast that covers, gaming influencer news, as well as Rogan-esq broadcaster interviews that focus on what makes them successful as broadcasters and influencers

Here are some choice selection of those interviews

Business Experts Talk Success Secrets (ft. Gootecks)

https://youtu.be/7C85wKqiX2c

Top Twitch Streamer MoonMoon Discusses Streaming Success

https://youtu.be/7oXywAvJXr4

And a breakdown of 100 thieves Market genius behind their gaming fortress

(Highly Recommend for the Marketing inclined)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGqUkdNqcxg

Devin Nash is also a Hardcore player of POE(Path of Exile).

This thorn I’m about to pull is why?

In his words he plays Hardcore because when he loses a character he needs to feel it. The absolute loss of a character because of his own actions. Or to the indifference of the games bosses who have broken mechanics, which he should have avoided.

Every man has his preference and it’s perfectly acceptable that his be irregular.

He refers to the normal mode though as a “Baby Game” in rhetoric jest of course. But it is still a deflection of digging at why he truly plays hardcore, with such an off the cuff dismissal of the default and most popular game mode. What bothers me about this is that this is not an argument to sway others to his form of perceived superior play but rather to himself securely coddled in his preference.

Why?

Why is that important that he raises rhetoric argument?

Because rhetoric is not application of persuasion, not the method by which truth is discovered.

Rhetoric is primary used as a weapon, either when there is a lack of knowledge on a subject or where the truth is counter to the conclusion you wish an audience to draw.

So here’s why IMHO

Devin Nash plays Hardcore?

He is practicing attachment, control, investment and failure.

Games fill whatever desire your heart longs for a time but without ever fulfilling that desire forever.

Are you feeling lonely?

Join a cooperative experience

Are you feeling like murdering your boss?

Hop on an Xbox shooter, talk smack and exercise dominance over 12 yr old boys until dawn instead

Are you feeling unchallenged?

We have strategy games for that.

Are you feeling the need for a girl but don’t want to take a shower?

Let me introduce you to the world of dating sims.

Hardcore modes fill a very special need

For some it’s the sheer challenge and proof of mastery

For others it’s the most uncontested leader-board

For Devin Nash

it’s grief and frustration

He doesn’t play Hardcore for fun

No, indeed too many hours have been throw into POE

to call it fun or catharsis

Why would anyone inflict themselves with such pain and loss though?

Understand that for every character death he experiences,

That character is permanently dead and can no longer be played.

Which means all the hours, days, weeks of investment that went into

crafting that character are GONE FOREVER.

Even if that Character does not die they will be forever in memoriam after the seasons end, never to be played again as the call of a new season begs the creation of a new avatar.

Each ending condition is the same the investment squandered, as games like life have an end when all will be forgotten.

POE Hardcore fills Devin Nash’s need for attachment by providing a, relatively, consequence free zone for him to experience attachments ultimate conclusion death and grief

This the motive that he keeps from himself

Because Detachment and the practice thereof dominates his conscience and everyday life. Romanticly, Profressionally, and Religously

Why then must I attack his last vestige of Attachment by revealing it’s nature?

It is the truth as I see it.

It’s not a bad thing, It’s just a hidden thing

and all things must be brought under the light.

Disclaimer: I am not, nor am I holding myself out to be a doctor/physician, nurse, physician’s assistant, advance practice nurse, or any other medical professional (“Medical Provider”), psychiatrist, psychologist, therapist, counselor, or social worker (“Mental Health Provider”), registered dietician or licensed nutritionist, or member of the clergy. This has been intended solely as an excersice of logic and not assertion of my present opinion or of fact. There is no intent to harm inherent in the above statements

Thanks for reading, I hope this was of value.

I’ll be streaming from stage one develop to finished product a 4-player card game on twitch every Friday 3pm-5pm EST

give a follow

or feel free @ me on Discord

Want more Ravenclaw over analysis

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With Love,

HngyHngyHppo

GARNER FAME or SERVICE FANS?

Posted on by @HppoTweeter in HppoThorns, Uncategorized

This thorn has been in my head for a long time.

I know that TWITTER is for the famous

but I still use it

(and lie to myself saying that I am marketing my works)

I knew that Reddit AMA’s are for those with fame

but I tried it anyway.

I know still that Streaming on Twitch.tv and posting on youtube

is not expanding my base

but I’m there anyways

All of these things will be of service to fans

once I have them

here’s what you came here for though

Step 1: Know your demographic

for me my ideal demographic is young men ages 18-25

Step 2: Know where they are and what content they consume

for my demo

they check best of Reddit 5 times a day via phone,

they are not on twitter in significance,

they have 1-3 forums they are active or lurkers in

(but this are hyper specific and deluded to be of marketing value)

They are on either YouTube or twitch 4 hrs a day

while gaming passively letting the algorithm feed them auto-play content

Step 3: Understand the requirements of the platform

While YouTube’s algorithm is a secret.

It’s a mystery box that millions of people feed hundreds of millions of hours of video into

but we know what gets weight down

and what gets lifted up

RIGHT NOW

recommendations are for evergreen content from creators

with a consistent +4 year back catalog

Live streamers who engage on the platform

(comment-bots , community posts, etc)

are boosted

(my suspicion is that is based on how many times individuals check out the commenters channel page.)

The AI bot ties auto-play together based on the video description

(tags are a distraction)

(this creates a vicious reaction cycle funnel)

It’s why drama is so effective on YouTube

Step 4: lay the foundation for success to keep fans before you have them

Unless you want to be a one-hit wonder

or a that viral tweet

(which may become a Lizzo song)

you need to have a backlog of content

or become a flash in the pan

Step 5: Decide the color of your hat

Black hats:

maybe: use bots to comb your social site and get engagement

(suspect 1, suspect 2)

Buy: sub counts and watch time pushes

Grey Hats:

Kick the Hornets nests

Use the drama feed loop to spread your content and build a base

White Hats:

Get lucky

(this video was featured on the from page on YouTube and rocketed the channel from 50k to 300k subs in one month.

And has almost 1 million views)

Green Hats:

Do what Tai lopez did

“I’m here in my garage!”

There you have it!

I have other posts about the other platforms and best tips

Give me a comment and I’ll point you there.

Like and share this

Thanks for reading, I hope this was of value.

I’ll be streaming from stage one develop to finished product a 4-player card game on twitch every Friday 3pm-5pm EST

give a follow

feel free @ me on Discord

Want more Ravenclaw over analysis

enjoy this article.

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here

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With Love,

HngyHngyHppo

UBI may Break the corporate shield

Posted on by @HppoTweeter in Uncategorized

A universal basic income will have many positive benefits for many people.

But for some their will be negative consequences.

Those that exploit labor will have a harder time as now their labor force does not have to endure abusive conditions to ensure they have a basic quality of life ( food, water, shelter).

Those that exploit tenants will have a harder time raising rents. Since a tenants basic needs are no longer tied to a place of physical employment, people will be more mobile and able to relocate their living situation with relative ease into a non-exploitative tenant-landlord relationship.

Economists say “the only minimum wage should be ZERO”

This is only possible in a world where the value of labor is freely decided by the laborer and those contracting the labor. Since a labor only has tier 2 and above of the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to attend to they are not on a level playing field with those that can afford to contract their services but they are not at a disadvantage being motivated to put up with wages disproportionate with the effort/skill/ or scarcity of the labor being provided.

BREAKING THE CORPORATE SHIELD

The corporate shield refers to the legal liability a company can be subject to if that company is found or convicted of unethical, unlawful or otherwise negative impacts that company has committed in bad faith or actual malice.

It means that those individuals who work for the company are protected from legal seizure of assets.

Those who hold stock and vote on a company’s policies and elect board of directors, their personal non-corporate assets are protected as well.

The corporate shield allows individuals to take risks with their excess capital and not be held liable for the wrong-doing of a corporate entity. THIS IS A GOOD THING.

BUT it’s too much of a good thing.

When the corporate shield is used in bad faith to protect individuals and groups like the Sackler family from suffering any loss of property for (allegedly) withholding knowledge as to the addictive nature of Oxycontin, all while aggressively using incentive programs for doctors to prescribe Oxycontin over other less addictive medications.

In 2008 the “banks” were bailed out with government funds but there was certainly enough money on the other side of the corporate shield to cover the costs of corporate bankruptcy/reconstruction.

UBI provides the benefits of the corporate shield

by mitigating the maximum amount of risk an individual is exposed to. Every dollar over the essential cost of living (food, water, shelter) is excess and liable.

Those are my thoughts on that.

Thanks for reading, I hope this was of value.

I’ll be streaming from stage one develop to finished product a 4-player card game on twitch every Friday 3pm-5pm EST

give a follow

or feel free @ me on Discord

Want more Ravenclaw over analysis

enjoy this article.

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With Love,

HngyHngyHppo

 

Facebook is for MEMES. Fight me.

Posted on by @HppoTweeter in Uncategorized

Ah young paddawon. Don’t you know Facebook is for MEMES.

Facebook facts.
FB shares each post with 5-7 of your friends who are likely to engage or have a long scroll wait (look at it)

It creates an echo chamber really quick no matter how much you post.

If you want to change people’s mind try creating a meme the Al Gore rhythm would think they would either like or hate. Then engage with them in the comments, else you are only preaching to the choir.

Also it should never be your goal to change an individual mind. Cognitive dissonance does not allow for this

Instead try to affect the audience. Those that neither engage or comment but come here for the drama.

It’s a slow battle but we will win #humanityfirst

No Free lunch or Free advice

Posted on by @HppoTweeter in Uncategorized

Asking anyone philosophically inclined a “why?”

is a dangerous proposition.

Half the time you’ll get a whole rant covering every reason that philosopher has

or

You’ll get a none answer so that they have time to reflect.

I’ve offered to help a co-worker with they’re finances in the form of advice.

And they asked “Why are you doing this?”

well my answer at the time to not delude them with a rant or over abundance of information was

“That’s a very broad question. I want to help, dialogues are the best way to reach an adequate understanding.”

but it did cause me to reflect as to “why?”

“Why, I can’t help but try and help people?”

Here’s the story:

“Thrasher”

is lifeguard jargon describing a type of drowning person.

I worked as a lifeguard for two summers at a water park with a wave pool. Wave pools start out shallow and get progressively deeper. Great fun for kids and families to relax, a place to stay cool and pass a few hours. It’s also one of the few places where you’ll see your fair share of “Thrashers”. Typically adult men who are hiding the fact they can’t swim and are uncomfortable in the water by spending hours in the mid shallows of the wave pool. Everything’s fine and after a while they venture further into the water to stay cool, making sure that their feet are touching the bottom the entire time. But the main attraction of Wave pool is the artificial waves that function much like real waves, creating riptides and drag which pulls these “thrashers” deeper into the pool. At some point they find that they are no longer touching the bottom of the pool, which sends them into a panic. And as the term suggests they begin flailing their arms widely. Faces trapped in a horrific panic. Here’s the catch-22 the lifeguard can do nothing until the person starts drowning, and now can’t do anything until the person calms themselves down or tires out. If the lifeguard jumps in to save them and pull them to the exit stairs or the shallows, they are going to take a hit or two. All the teenage lifeguard can do is wait till either the panic subsides or the thrasher tires, all while watching the absolute horror and struggle of the situation.

Pulling a six year old out of the deep end is no trouble and the main stay of saves. But Thrashers happen, best case scenario they thrash themselves to the wall and exit the pool themselves, worst case scenario they break the nose of the lifeguard who intervened too soon and now all lifeguards poolside are in making the rescue of two downers not just one.

By natural I seek out knowledge and understanding of systems,

This means I bring a lot when it comes to advice.

It also means that I have given advice

over and over

that falls on deaf ears only to say

“I told you so…”

Out of remorse for my failure to have helped

Much like the Thrashers you can spot them long before they are drowning, people in need.

Much like the Thrashers you can’t help them till they actually need your help.

Unlike the Thrashers by the time they are willing to accept help they are out of reach of advice.

You can’t teach a man to swim after he has drowned.

You can’t protect a man from his ex-wife before the marriage.

You can’t affect an exercise plan for a fatal heart attack.

Undone can not be done.

The same is true for advice once it is given it cannot be ungiven. Which means that if it is given and the audience is not receptive for any of these reasons:

Cognitive Dissonance,

Authority Bias,

Hometown Prophet Dismissal,

Dunning-Kruger Effect,

or simple

Pride.

Then the barrier to resistance will be strengthened, new cognitive defenses will protect those in need’s fragile egos from admitting fault.

The sunken cost fallacy

Is now a defense as well.

And while I have had to watch many loved ones go down paths they will never recover from. I am still hopeful that those willing to change their minds will seek or be receptive to my advice.

So to answer the question as concisely as possible

“Why are you doing this?”

I’m in a unique position to give advice worth taking and I will do everything within my power and scope to ensure that such advice will be taken for the betterment of the recipient, not dismissed or undervalued by any other psychological barriers listed above if I can help it.

Thanks for reading and I hope this was of value.

I’ll be streaming from stage one develop to finished product a 4-player card game on twitch every Friday 3pm-5pm EST

give a follow

or feel free @ me on Discord

Want more Ravenclaw over analysis

enjoy this article.

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With Love,

HngyHngyHppo

Would a tesseract bounce?

Posted on by @HppoTweeter in Uncategorized

That is all I have been thinking about for the past two weeks.

 

If the wave distribution of the force of the fall of a tesseract would cuase the tesseract to bounce or just absorb the wave?

 

That and if Pi was less than three say 2.865….N-non repeating. Would bubbles collapse rather than pop?

Thanks for reading and I hope this was of value.

I’ll be streaming from stage one develop to finished product a 4-player card game on twitch every Friday 3pm-5pm EST

give a follow

or feel free @ me on Discord

Want more Ravenclaw over analysis

enjoy this article.

or this one

Accidental Branding Genius of Harry Potter’s Houses.

Send an E-mail to

here

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With Love,

HngyHngyHppo

Accidental Branding Genius of Harry Potter’s Houses.

Posted on by @HppoTweeter in HppoThorns, Uncategorized

As a member of the House of Raven-claw is nature to analyze, study, and apply logic to solve the mysteries of existence.

-HPPO

These questions seed in my brain like thorns of the prickle-berry bushes, so small an yet if I just give them a little attention and love they can bloom large enough to bear fruit.

Today’s question is why after 28 years are there still people dedicated to their fictional houses of a wizarding school?

The answer is Carl Jung.

Jung’s most notable and unattributed contribution to clinical psychology was the terming of “Introverts” and “Extroverts” but that’s not the reason why Jung’s work is taught in university.

Carl Jung also categorized the four archetypes of personalities. A personality for each Hogwarts House.

Jung identified them as Thinking, Feeling, Intuitive, and Sensation.

Literary scholars who favor Joseph Campbell will teach a modified version of these for archetypes. They named these four the King, Magician, Warrior, and Lover.

Rowling by coincidence or educational Osmosis calls these types

Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, and Slytherin.

I’d like to show on graphic where the borders of each house sit, but I can’t visually plot a 4 dimensional graph.

It’s not as simple as the Introvert/Extrovert number lined range from 1 to 10.

The Jung types would be coordinates in 4 dimensional space

X = Thinking

Y = Feeling

Z = Sensation

W = Intuitive

Each Hogwarts house would occupy a quarter of this tesseract chart.

***

Why is this branding genius?

There is a Hogwarts house for everyone and as such displaying your house whether you’re a Hufflepuff Queen on Tumblr, a Ravenclaw Redditor, a 4 channing Slytherin, Or a Tik-Toking Gryffindor is an impression for the Brand of Harry Potter.

We live in the attention economy where impressions matter. You can’t buy the amount of brand power that Hogwarts sorting hat has and it can’t be Usurped in market share as a categorization tool.

As long as Harry Potter is “Scholastic”-ly popular the Hogwarts House’s will continue to be the standard of sorting people by their Jungian personality types.

Now while I and you can’t put

Godric Gryffindor, Salazar Slytherin, Rowena Ravenclaw and Helga Hufflepuff

Into our own original works

without violating copy-write.

We can use the colors schemes and patroni pendants as a short cut/ signal flare to Potter-heads or culturally informed readers (even being remotely aware of the House’s gives these nudges).

To prove that branding has power

Pause for a moment

Refresh for mind

and

Fill in the blank…

Have a taste of a nice refreshing (—-1—)

or

pop a can of (—2—)

put on a pair of (—3—) and just do it.

Head to the (—4—) and pick one up today.

You answered each of these not with a generic object or noun. But with a specific brand name company.

That is the power of branding. It’s in your mind, It’s a shortcut, and It’s a tool.

🙂 (:

Thanks for reading, I hope this was of value.

I’ll be streaming from stage one develop to finished product a 4-player card game on twitch every Friday 3pm-5pm EST

give a follow

or feel free @ me on Discord

Want more Ravenclaw over analysis

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With Love,

HngyHngyHppo

 

To Dabble or Hack

Posted on by @HppoTweeter in Uncategorized

The Dabbler, the Hacker

In the book Mastery by George Leonard he describes three types of people who will never become “masters” and there fatal flaw as to why. Of these three types two apply personally to me, The Dabbler and the Hacker.

The Dabbler dabbles from one path to another, excited initially at the prospect of mastering a new field, discovering and overcoming new challenges. But when the path becomes a long stretch without any progress, the Dabbler will find a new trail to blaze. The Dabbler’s mastery is an inch deep and a mile wide.

The Hacker cuts quickly through the thicket of initial barriers of a path. They find the solutions they need to solve the most common problems they face in that field and once they have mastered enough solutions they declare themselves a master and progress no further on the path to becoming a master. If the Hacker has achieved a level of skill they are satisfied with they no longer seek improvement. Improvement is change. Change is admission of imperfection.

“To learn is to change. Education, whether it involves books, body, or behavior, is a process that changes the learner.”

-George Leonard

The most terrifying thing about this is not that I will be bad for a long time.

That is a given.

No, it is that I am announcing my intentions and goals here.

Goals which will define my success or failure with this endeavor.

Goals which I may never reach and will likely fail at.

But without attempting to reach these goals

The odds of me reaching my goal of raising young men’s literacy rates is low.

This feels like a dabble which I’ve worked hard to start avoiding,

(evidenced by my pushing past the Valve limited of 3)

And what’s worse is I don’t even have the safety of having Hacked enough skills in the space to feign confidence.

I’m a fish out of water here and I’ll either grow legs and lungs or flop till my time expires.

See you there,

With Love,

HngyHngyHppo

Horror Writing.

Posted on by @HppoTweeter in HppoThorns, Uncategorized

H.P. Lovecraft started his writing process by defining the emotion he was going after. Then drafting until he would illicit that feeling his subjects..ERH..um.. readers. But H.P. Was a heavy plotter.

Stephen King started with a concept and built around it until it was horrifying. And if he failed in giving the scene the sense of horror intended he would go to the extremes of gross to make the scene at least uncomfortable giving it a more horrifying weight in the readers memory as they would be unnerved to recall such passages. Mr. King was a pantser and started with a concept and characters then followed them through the plot as needed to write his book.

I think that when telling a horror story whether on film or the page. You should at least keep in mind the types of and stages of horror.

Unknown, Uncanny, Unstoppable

are at least three of the most common.

Unknown

is the easiest to do right because it is the most commonly done wrong. Darkness itself is not scary, it’s when we can see or hear or feel the edges of what lies in the darkness that begins to press the panic button. It’s when a shadow’s fold over themselves in the corner of the room to make the outline of death himself patiently waiting without breathe for your eyes to close here in this world be you are claimed to his. It’s the darkness of space where stars no longer grow but the eyes see a tint of something else blocking the depths from truly being seen. It’s the shifting at the bottom of a lake, past the searcher’s reflection and the clear sky waters that refuse to let the Autumn clouds above take shape as easily as they do in the sky because something is disturbing the water’s hold on them.

When starting with the Unknown each time it appears it must become more defined, otherwise the subject will place their guard between the satisfaction of knowing and the terror of finding out. The most common mistake is going from 10% reveal to 100% reveal before the third act. The audience expects to find out slowly, manage their expectations against the needs of your story.

Examples:

Friday the 13th

IT by Stephan King

Uncanny

is when something is not quite right. I’d venture that in cinematography this is used by accident and because of form rather than by a deliberate attempt to unnerve the audience.

The best examples are often dolls, painting, ghosts because they are so common and illicit uncanny speculation since they are suppose to fit within a box but changing small details between scenes or in scenes makes them uncanny.

Inanimate objects that move when the viewer isn’t viewing them directly create the start of uncanny horror. “Julee, now three, was about to have her baby sister sharing her room. The sweetest and nicest child according to the neighborhood girls who babysat on our monthly night out. We had set up the crib in the space that was formerly her “High” tea area, where she held here tea parties, passively she may have been throwing us signs that she was upset but she was very outspoken and happy. All the dolls and animals that she gathered around her table were now leaning up against as the wall as if in time-out, all except her porcelain kamacha doll her favorite. She would sit on the edge of Julee’s bed watching the other dolls. Julee was nothing but happy when we talked about her sister coming out of my belly and home soon.”

Ghosts are often given descriptions and visages that would make them human but one detail is wrong. “It may have been they open window but the temperature had fallen and the room was now cold enough to start my shivers. Even over a boiling pot of stew I feel a draft when she walks in the room. Except for a floorboard creak her feet never fall hard enough to hit the ground with sound. “AS A Lady should..” god I’ll be hearing that for the rest of my living days.”

You can start on either side of the Uncanny valley but you must slowly move away from your starting position to build a sense of progression. Dolls with dead eyes and human hair must become moving, talking, demons with soft flesh beating under their immobile outer shell. Ghosts can start as whispers and wind and become the outstretched hand clutching at it’s victim with intend to drag them through the looking glass OR Ghosts can start as people who drift further from humanity as the story unfolds, giving up breathe by never moving their chest, staring off into thought for inhuman stretches, translucency, transparency, incorporeal. The longer something remains in the exact definition as it’s starting point the more familiar that thing becomes and fear begins to remove itself.

Unstoppable

is the pretty clear as in being self defined BUT it does not mean indestructible. There must be hope however small that it can be stopped removing that hope creates certainty and certainty is the enemy of horror. If your monster has eaten a grenade explosion and hasn’t even lost a tooth then his immortality is certain.

A cockroach can be crushed and defeated, a thousand is a challenge, a million is a certainty.

A lumbering zombie can be outsmarted, outmaneuvered, or defeated with brawn. You can out run a zombie but you can’t run forever and while you rest your fragile warm body more gather outside waiting for you meet another demand be it food or fresh air.

Death will come for you. The hope is not today or until the end of your earthly works but that is never a guarantee. You have illusion and hope that your choices have some impact on whether he knocks tomorrow or sixty years from now, eat healthy, avoid stress, go to the doctor all of these are well and good but they do not still the reapers hand forever.

I just want to wrap this up with how Friday the 13th uses all three of these to great effect. But when watching a good example its hard to see why it is good. As an artist you’ll learn more/faster from the mistakes you make and the mistakes of others than from works without mistakes.

With love and hopefully better dreams than me,

HngyHngyHppo

Manufacturing Credibility

Posted on by @HppoTweeter in HppoThorns, Uncategorized

Credibility is defined as the quality of being trusted and believed in.

But it is not the same as being true.

Who is more credible on the subject of writing?

The college professor who has published in scholarly journals

OR

The New York Times best selling author

…

The rational would say that it depends on the advice or the subject. The emotional will indicate that it depends on their proximity and relationship to the subject.

R: The professor specializes in Russian Long form and Eastern European poetry, so as long as that is the realm we are discussing then they are more credible than The NYT bestseller H.K. Rowling but on the subject of YA or scholastic fiction Rowling’s is the more creditable source.

E: I loved the Harry Potter books and they inspired my own journey into writing fan fiction then novels, H.K. Rowling’s is the more creditable source. But my teacher has shown me the finer points of the finer technical points of long form novels even if they were written by some Russian ages ago.

The answer I’ve been trying to find is just how does one manufacture “Credibility”

I know it’s been done before and I’ve seen it done a few different ways.

The first is

“FOAF”

or friend of a friend

the poem “Ozymandias”, Plato’s description of the fall of Atlantis, Star Wars’ opening crawl.

Each use this with great effect to provide a creditable foundation.

It is thought (incorrectly) that because a story is removed by time, space, and even told third hand that it becomes less creditable but there is a blind spot in our psyche’s in the factor of three.

“I met a traveler(1) from an antique land(2).

Who said(3):…”

Ozymandias

In Plato’s Dialogues Plato(1) writes that Socrates(2) called three men to meet him. Socrates(2) asked the men about Atlantis Critias(3,) told them of a story he heard from his grandfather(1A) who heard from the lawgiver Solon(2A) who brought tales from Egypt(3A) about Atlantis.

Plato uses the FOAF technique twice. First to give himself credibility (that this meeting happened and these things were said) then again to give the speaker Critias credibility (that the city/country of Atlantis was indeed a real place).

For the rational this is too far removed to be trusted, but for the emotional with ties/respect for Socrates this is only one use of FOAF and likely creditable.

And of course Star Wars opens with

“A long(1) time ago in a galaxy far(2), far(3) away.”

Each modifier here adds distance and with FOAF gives enough credibility to narrative about to crawl across the screen before the star destroyer appears.

Now of course it’s just a fairy tale nod.

“Once upon a time(1), in a kingdom far(2), far(3) away.”

but with less modifiers the story’s required suspension of disbelief is at jeopardy from over scrutiny of the audience. With more modifiers like Plato’s Dialogues the relevance to the target is called into question and the information can be judged objectively on it’s merits.

“A long(1), long(2), like really long(3) time ago, in a far(4) away place, like further(5) than you’ve ever been before in your life far(6).”

This preface will be ignored and the story will have to stand on it’s own merits

Or

“A while(1) back, a few(2) towns from here.”

This story can be investigated. It’s too recent and too close someone else would need to corroborate that the story is true.

The Second Method of manufacturing creditably is through association. This is target specific and what gives you credibility with one group may make you worth skepticism from another.

Is the Professor from Oxford, Harvard, Yale, the ivy league, Any-town College, or Community College.

Those I’ve met who’ve topped out at a High School diploma provide less credibility the higher up the Academic ladder of Prestige one has climbed. But for those with less than a High School Diploma or more the higher up on Mount Olympus one has climbed and degrees authority from the more credible they are.

Is the best selling author recognized by the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, Goodreads, or Amazon.

The NYT list is a curated list and lends itself to a higher amount of credibility to those outside the publishing industry. Publishers Weekly list is mostly data driven and objective but there are clear cases of advertisers (cough Disney, big 5) consistently placing high even when there numbers may* not be reflected by Amazon’s sales numbers of the same titles. But Amazon has many different categories and in order to have a best seller author’s may have in the past incorrectly categorized their works and personally bought just a dozen copies to claim the top spot and become a number one best seller. Which is why it ranks lowest in credibility even if the top spot was truly earned for a hard category like Fantasy or Romance, it’s impossible to tell those Amazon bestsellers from Fictional Johnny who listed his fantasy novel under Contemporary Fiction.

-IMPORTANT Aside-

Amazon is currently testing Amazon Author Rank as a replacement for their individual category best selling lists. Which means that going forward if the system will be much harder to game but the damage to their reputation will be persistent. This is a good thing for Amazon’s reputation but a bad thing for upcoming Authors who are now competing in the back pages of for potential readers attention. It means that J.K. Rowling will be the Most Popular Fantasy Author even if she never writes another book in here life. Her work will rank at the top spot for decades to come because if this is how readers are introduced to the fantasy section they may just start from the top and give her eight points over her nearest competitor. Sad times really as independent authors job to get notice just got much harder.

-Aside over-

The last method I’ve found is introduction and vouching.

“Have you met my friend Jane she is a classically trained Pianist.”

Now it doesn’t matter if any of that is true. It doesn’t matter if my and the Target are friends. All that matters is someone has vouched for Jane and her credibility. Even If I am a known liar and Jane looks disheveled and perhaps homeless. What matters is the Jane’s credibility is TWO v. ONE. And the target’s resistance to the group is all that stands in the way of Jane being the an authority of whether Handel’s Messiah can be played with only the left handle.

This is credibility through group authority. Essentially the more people you have one your side the more credible you are. A tactic of politics, Head cheerleaders, and Ceo’s who have more than one assist in entourage. The more people eyes nodding in agreement the higher the credibility of the speaker.

Did you hire a cameraman to follow you around, How about a whole camera crew.

Those are the method’s I’ve learned about Manufacturing Credibility.

TL;DR

I heard it from a friend of a friend that this is true.

As a Harvard professor: “this is true.”

“Meet Jane she’s an authority on the subject and she says that this is true.”

but none of these are in themselves true though they are highly credible.

With love,

HngyHngyHppo