If you were an American teenager in the 1970s, you couldn't avoid being exposed to a lot of half baked spiritualism served up with a healthy(?) dose of hallucinogens, and I was no exception. In addition to Carlos Castaneda novels and The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe, most of us wound up reading Zen And The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M Pirsig. The book captured the mood of the time: We all wanted to get high and live out our Kerouac On the Road fantasies, and the self sufficient minimalism was perfect for our post Easy Rider lifestyle. That was my introduction to Buddhism.

Now, I must say I don't consider myself a card carrying Buddhist. But let's face it. A real Buddhist would never carry a card. The point is, in the end I absorbed a few truths from guys like Pirsig.

I'm sure you're wondering what the hell this has to do with Bitcoin in general, and Stacker News in particular.

Well, let me try to explain...

I have seen many posts by beginners asking for advice on how to earn sats on this site. Some are blunt pleas, and others try to finesse it in an attempt not to appear too greedy. You might as well be honest. You want us all to throw thousands of sats at you, and preferably very quickly. Well, forget it. That ain't gonna happen. Nor should it. And that's a good thing, whether you know it yet or not.

But, I will try to help you have a long, rewarding experience here.

Some may wonder what makes me think I have the knowledge needed to tell anyone how to stack sats here. It's true that I'm still learning, and it's not like I'm getting rich spending what is probably way too much time wandering around this site, but I think I can help newcomers avoid my mistakes and explain what seems to work for me, an average SN stacker.

If you're the guy who bought 10,000 bitcoin at 8 cents each in 2010, and managed not to sell them during the many pumps of the early years, and you didn't lose your keys, and didn't get wiped out during the Mt Gox mess, and you resisted a shitcoin siren call in 2016, and you still have your stack, just stop reading. I have nothing to teach you. You are the master. I am your humble student.

And, I hate you. Go fuck yourself.

(*Jealousy and hate are not the Way of the Buddha. I am imperfect)

However, if you're new to bitcoin and just learning, Welcome!

So, what I took from my brush with Buddhism is basically to learn as much as you can about a topic, absorb it from all angles, and then forget about it when it's time to act. When you know enough, conscious thought gets in the way.

Once you are prepared, you just do. You don't think about doing.

You start by learning.

Take a breath. Explore. Read through the FAQ and Guide that you can find at the bottom of the page. Spend some time poking around the site. You will discover that there are many types of people here: beginners like yourself, people like me who have been around bitcoin for a few years but are still learning, some OG hodlers from back in the day, some bitcoin celebrities, some bitcoin core guys, and many really smart, 20 or 30 something year old coders and developers who work in the bitcoin ecosystem and are doing some amazing things. You can learn from everyone. And you should.

Alas, no one is going to throw lots of sats at you when you first get here, and, in all likelihood not for a long time.

After getting familiar with the layout and reading some content, the next thing you should do is create an account. Choose your nym. Most people here protect their privacy, and you should too when choosing a nym, unless you want to be identified. Next, create your bio. I think this is important, since it's your opportunity to introduce yourself and tell us why you're here. By providing information in the bio you might interact with other users who have things in common with you. It's important to develop relationships with people to share advice, experiences, etc.

Keep in mind that publishing your bio is making your first post. It's free. Take advantage of it. I don't recommend short bios. The more you say about yourself, the greater the likelihood that someone will find something interesting to talk to you about. You might even get a welcome tip of a few sats.

One caveat : This is a bitcoin site. The site is filled with bitcoin maxis. If you're at the stage where you're experimenting with other coins, or if you think there is a place for sh... um, alt coins in this world, you are entitled to your beliefs. You will find your people here too, eventually. Mentioning it in your bio, though, might not be the best move. You can bring it up later. If you ignore my advice, at best you will be ignored. At worst, you shall suffer the wrath of DarthCoin. Good luck, brave one. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger! (I don't buy that. If you live but lose a leg? Or suffer serious head trauma? Never mind)

I know it took me a while, but now we'll get down to the zen. You have a few sats from your bio post and maybe from your free second post and a few more from your five free comments. Now what?

Well. Why are you here? I hope it's because you have become obsessed with bitcoin, and you need to know more. Not want, but need. You may have gotten interested due to greed. That's understandable. Most of us did. I first got interested during the 2017 pump. Am I rich now? No. Do I have a Lambo? No. But guess what? I don't want a Lambo any more. It's meaningless to me now. I own a 20 year old Toyota. Is that all I can afford? No. I could buy a nicer car, but I'd rather stack sats.

Soon you won't care either. First, you'll learn about low time preference. Later, you'll understand what that really means.

You will stop caring about the fancy house and the car. Soon, you'll be thinking more about the mother in some poor African country trying to feed her family. Without a bank account. With decaying fiat money. You start feeling all those We Are All One vibes from bad 1970's Coca Cola commercials. Except now you know it's true.

You start donating to Alex Gladstein and Anita Posch.

But I digress. Back to business:

I advise you to pretend you can't earn sats. But remember you can give sats. I would start by reading the recent posts. When you find an interesting one, tip the poster some sats. Make this a regular practice. Don't worry about making your own posts yet. By doing this, you will be learning about bitcoin. You will be supporting people who post stuff you find interesting, AND you will start earning sats. How? Well, the way SN works, you get sats for tipping top content early. Odds are, you will tip a few posts that become popular. If you liked it, others will likely like it too. By reading recent posts, you can discover good content early and earn more sats. As you learn more about bitcoin, you will be more discerning, and will tip top content early more consistently. You learn, then earn.

You will start building trust. What's that, you ask? Well Keyan Kousha, our leader and guru, is one of those wiz coders and developers I talked about earlier. He created some kind of fancy algorithm that increases your status here based on the quality of your tipping and posting. The higher your trust score, the more sats you can earn. How does it work? I have no clue. Ask him.

As your knowledge grows, start commenting on other people's posts. Ask questions. At the beginning you will have a lot of questions. Ask them. You may get lucky and one of your questions might become a top comment that earns you sats. Or maybe not. Who cares? It's very likely someone will answer your question, and you will learn.

Soon, you discover the zen of this whole thing: The less you try to earn sats, the more sats you'll earn. I discovered this the hard way myself. Early on, I would think about what posts would likely earn me sats. I would put some thought into the post, carefully craft it, and post it. Then I'd sit back and wait for my sats. Crickets. Nothing. My post would get ignored. Then, later I'd read a post and respond with a quick comment or question, pretty much spontaneously and without expectations, and I'd earn a few hundred sats. I was dumbfounded. Then it dawned on me. Genuine, real posts mattered. Honesty, like bitcoin itself, is what counts. Contrived crap, like a shitcoin, is ignored.

I think that's why ChatGPT posts are usually ignored. The writing quality might be higher than what we post, with better grammar and syntax, and perfect spelling. But, it seems fake and lifeless. I can't always put my finger on what's wrong with it, but I don't like it.

Soon you will start posting. Maybe a few links here and there. Avoid posting dupes! Also, try to keep it interesting. Everyone has seen yesterday's Bitcoin Magazine, Coin Desk, or Cointelegraph article. Don't post it again. Post what you like to read. Don't worry if it's a little off topic, so long as it's thought provoking. Of course, others may not agree. Your post might get ignored. So what? You're still learning.

You can use a little creativity for your link posts. The title can be edited. In fact, sometimes you must edit the title for length. Experiment. Make a funny headline. Maybe the mainstream media source sugar coated the content in the headline. Write what the article really means. By doing this, you bring value to a simple link post.

Next, you will create discussion posts. At first you might ask questions about something you don't understand. You can be pretty sure you'll get answers. If it's a complicated issue, you may inspire arguments and discussion. Your simple question could turn into a significant post, with lots of sats and a daily bonus. That will happen, just not when you expect it.

As you get more comfortable here, be generous. Tip new bio posts so that user has the sats to post right away, without having to fund his or her wallet. Tip new accounts who put some effort into crafting a post, whether or not it's great. You've been there. You're not so removed from being a beginner yourself. And spread the wealth. You want to help increase adoption, right? You want to promote value for value, right? Circular economy? Start right here.

In the meantime, keep learning. Run a node, try to set up a nostr relay. Listen to podcasts night and day. And read. Read every damn bitcoin book you can find. Watch old Andreas Antonopoulos lectures on YouTube. Go on Gigi's web site and read everything he's ever written. Soak up as much information about bitcoin as you can.

And always talk about it on Stacker News. You will help others on the journey. Soon the sats will be rolling in, but you won't be thinking about it. You will be too busy learning more.