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I was reflecting on a previous post Cheapest way to put up a very basic website?.
I got some awesome answers, which I'll be taking a good look at when I do my next bare-bones site. Thanks for those.
The thing that really struck me, though, is this - I did a fair bit of research before picking the option I did (Weebly). And I'm usually pretty good at research.
And now I find out that...there's TONS of other options that are WAY cheaper and probably better or as good as the one I picked, the heavily promoted one.
The truth is in the comments. The heavily promoted products are easy to find, but the real gems are often in the weeds. The gems are mentioned by people who don't make money off them, usually. They just want to help people out.
In other words, it's hard to find good information nowadays. Thank goodness for sites like stacker.news.
Another case in point - I had a friend who had some seriously painful back issues. She went to the emergency room multiple times. They gave her opiates, did some scans, etc. And these emergency room visits were insanely expensive!
But nothing was useful. The pain continued, until she saw a physical therapist. The physical therapist used some of the exercises from the book Treat Your Own Back by Robin McKenzie. Now that book is AMAZING. Anyone with back pain, read it (it's short). There's a 90% chance that it'll fix your problem. And you can get a used copy for about $1. But they did NOT tell her about these exercises at the emergency room!
And of course Bitcoin is one of these answers. Dissed by the mainstream, but ultimately true (in my opinion at least).
What are some other examples you can think of?
I tend to avoid the thing the more heavily it has been promoted.
Time/money spent on advertising could have been spent making the product better. The best products don't need promotions. It will be promoted naturally by its users.
Its human nature to share greatness.
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^^ Products like this I think of as the ones who get the Good Morning America treatment. They are all of a sudden on every TV show with 'segments' that are just free advertising, they end up on Happy Meal boxes. And suck.
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I feel this way about a lot of things. I do my vest to reflect conventional forms of knowledge and look for insight though my connections and experiences with people. The thing that needs to be hyped probably isn't that good. And the gems are hidden for a reason.
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I totally agree, the true information is always hidden in the weeds!! Thanks for the information about the book for back dollars, I'm sure it will be very useful to me. We find the real information in sites like these from awakened people.
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In my opinion, the same principle applies to every topic.
I mean, whether it's searching for a flight, building a house, or choosing the right backpack that lasts, it all comes down to the fiat standard. Everything exists in every possible form, whether it's useful or not.
The only thing that matters is diving into the topic and getting through it quickly.
I've found wood to be THE material for building houses. I've also come across Tasmanian Tiger Backpacks, which, in my opinion, are real quality products.
It's all about time preference. You want products that last long. So, search for quality and gather knowledge on how quality is defined in your desired topic.
Follow the white Rabbit. Bitcoin teaches you ...
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You make a good point however I think most people are too critical just because someone has a polished brand. These brands and (especially ministries, church leaders, etc) really receive TOO much criticism just (because they have grown big)!
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One of the great things about Bitcoin is that the future value of Bitcoin is much higher than the present value. Therefore, when purchasing anything, we have to consider the long term value of the thing. When I buy something, I ask myself if the future value of this thing will be retained, or even grow. We don't want to buy something and see that value decay immediately. Better to HODL. Now when I buy something I research it much more thoroughly and I look for things like lifetime warranties. A good tool that will last a lifetime is so much better than a cheap tool that will break quickly.
The Bitcoin community on Reddit is mostly garbage in comparison to SN, but there are still some good communities there. One go to place for this very topic is /r/BuyItForLife/
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The truth is in the comments. The heavily promoted products are easy to find, but the real gems are often in the weeds. The gems are mentioned by people who don't make money off them, usually. They just want to help people out.
That reminds me the famous lines from Thomas Gray
Full many a gem of purest ray serene
The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear:
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.
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Yup. It is possible though, Google used to work when I was a kid.
Might think of it as fiat v the real thing.
Eric Weinstein and Bret Weinstein are always talking about these things.
Eric calls it the DISC - Distributed Idea Suppression Complex. Those institutions and their influencers who bewilderingly suppress good ideas in favor of idiocy.
My examples from experience and/or that I've run into recently would include critical thinking, Ron Paul and libertarianism in general, Ghost vs Substack, Stacker.News vs Reddit, Nostr vs any other social media, real food vs garbage.
Everywhere I go, whoever I ask, I get bad ideas. That's not actually universal - it's just among people who proclaim to be professionals in their field. Higher education is a myth - it comes from experience.
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Yes, absolutely, I remember thinking that as well - Google did work way back, and now it's just trash! Even something as simple as recipes - for most of what comes up, it's just almost identical copies of the same heavily SEO optimized site that buries the real nugget of information that you're looking for.
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