Hi everyone,
I run the Sahkaan Wahlook stacker news profile. It would be inappropriate for the profile to break character, so here I am.
Happy to answer any questions if anyone has any!
I have a theory. You are seen as a villain by some, but I have a feeling that
  1. You are a well known stacker, and
  2. You have the best interests of Stacker News in mind
Why do I say this? Well, you could have kept a low profile and continued to collect sats with little effort indefinitely.
Therefore, what advice do you have for SN and the rewards system?
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I'll point out here that @nullcount was the last person known to have cracked the leaderboard in this fashion.
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Im pretty sure all of us have tried one time or another. I did for a while, it only lasted a week though. Because most of us make it on the board, it isnt so suspect when we move up a few ranks. But we all try to optimize our posting, right?
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It's not as fun. I engaged in this depravity during MSM, but those were dark times and they called for dark measures.
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I dont think that is gaming, though. When we are optimizing our posting? Or is it?
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It's inauthentic to zap something just because you're confident others will zap it later, but there were a million sats on the line.
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28 sats \ 1 reply \ @anon 16 Sep
Oh, to clarify, I NEVER EVER zap anything that I don’t think is sincerely good content. EVER
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You rarely post, though. I feel it is important to zap replys, because it keeps the conversation going. and is polite.
nemo playing around?
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Can't be. I know who he is. Just my spy eyes have found him though I'm still trying to connect some broken pieces together. Will reveal once I have some strong evidence.
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Dunno
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Whos nemo?
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Actually, I suspect it is someone who knows SN well. How possible is it to game the system this well?
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40 sats \ 6 replies \ @anon 16 Sep
I have learned stacker news pretty well, but again, not trying to game the system. “Gaming the system” was a bit of an accident, followed by a trolling of the system, and finally, realizing some folks were offended, hosting this AMA to determine if I want to continue zapping or just be a reader/poster.
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Did you have a system in place for zapping or was it serendipitous happenstance?
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21 sats \ 2 replies \ @anon 16 Sep
I never zapped someone else’s content to get sats for myself, if that’s what you’re asking.
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No, I'm asking about the quantities you're zapping.
I first shot up the leaderboard, because I was running an experiment to figure out how much I should be zapping. #287074
I'm wondering if something similar is going on here.
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Its very interesting. Today, all the things you zapped were things I didnt. But to tell you the truth, I rarely zap stuff that is more technical, especially posts about the lightning network.
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At this point, I dont think anyone is going to downzap you on your AMA. You might as well post with your nym.
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I was not joking about not wanting to break character with the Wahlook account.
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Any stacker has the opportunity to set the record straight. Once the story is determined, Wahlook will not break character.
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haha You even used an anon so you wouldnt get downzapped. Smart Now, the big question. How are you doing it?
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Today you have zapped 2222. Can you go through where you zapped it? I am just curious. I thought I was careful to zap early, and comment early. Yet you zoomed above me.
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11 sats \ 20 replies \ @anon 16 Sep
Not comprehensive, but here’s a snapshot Definitely hit up some of the saloon goodies
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Killer shots! These two rocked, didn't they? 1 sat for true
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What? Thats it? Maybe I am spraying my zaps too freely? I knew you were careful with them, but wow.
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75 sats \ 15 replies \ @anon 16 Sep
There are a number of comment zaps too and some posts that aren’t on the leaderboard! You may just not be zapping enough PER zap. My base zap is 100 and my upgraded can be as much as 2000. If you zap someone 21 sats for an article that took an hour to write, that’s…well that’s just not enough. Also, if you zap someone 21 sats for drivel, that’s too much. Just don’t zap 21 sats.
Also, if you only do 1 zap a day, you get a cowboy hat. If you make those one or two or four zaps early, good ones, you get the kickback. The kickback really I only found out by accident and have only perused to troll people (although, don’t get me wrong, I need sats just as much as the proverbial next guy). I thought it was all in good fun, but it seems that the weasel may be popping for some folks.
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Most prominent stackers are aware of this but don't interact this way. One person's zapping drivel is another person's acknowledgement that someone took the time and effort to post or reply to them. The punishment for zapping a lot content and non high value stackers has always been a bone of contention of mine but I understand why it exists as the need to root out spam is a weighty problem.
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acknowledgement that someone took the time and effort to post or reply to them
This is something we probably need to reconcile with the rewards system a little better.
20 sats \ 1 reply \ @anon 16 Sep
I think folks are confused. Maybe I wasn’t clear enough. When I say upgraded, I mean if it’s good content, I zap it more than 100. I don’t ever do the thing where you zap the same thing twice and the second zap is bigger or whatever.
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Actually, you have given me a lot to consider with this AMA. I might just not be zapping the right content enough.
If you don't really need them, donate them to the leaderboard rewards.
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Zap ⚡ here 2k Sats.
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Interesting. I hadnt thought of that. @koob, if my base zap is 10, but I push it 10 times, does that mean only the first zap of 10 is counted, and the other 90 dont have as much as a kickback?
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40 sats \ 1 reply \ @k00b 16 Sep
All are counted the way you'd expect them to be.
I was a little salty last week but perhaps I've gotten too reckless in my zapping and need to tighten up the shots.
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I've gotten too reckless in my zapping
As Darth was always saying: zap wisely... but very few are listening.
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We need to identify some Reckless Spammers, if any exist. The other three quadrants seem to have their exemplars.
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I didn't really get it. Will you please tell me where do I fit into?
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You might need to spend some more time climbing the leaderboards, so it's easier to find your ranks in the different categories.
However, in all likelihood you're in Yellow Squad like most of us. That means you rank higher in stacking than spending and higher in comments than posts.
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Thank you so much Yes. I do more comments than post and my Stacking Spending is approximately 1/2.
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They only person who ranks higher in posts is rsync.
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On what timeframe?
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In forever, right? He keeps posting left and right everyday.
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Who are you talking about?
@TheMorningStar isn’t second on posts.
Thank you for forwarding zaps 🤠 In fact, I have nothing to ask as it is already clear to me how you are accomplishing this and it is quite difficult. Primarily because I cannot stay away from zapping for very long and secondly, I lack the precision to hit the exact target.
In my opinion, it's not your intention to earn sats with this magic, because otherwise you wouldn't do it so openly. I think you just want to show the 'fragility' of the algorithm. I'm sure you have other account(s) and I already have 3 suspects 🤠
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Am I one of them?
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I think you could pull off what he did, but I don't suspect you.
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That's disappointing
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Why is it disappointing? He believes your morals are higher than that.
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It's nice to be considered.
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He did consider you had the ability to do it, but he doesnt suspect you would.
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Am I one of them?
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not in top 3 🤠
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But a suspect! Lol! 🤣 I'm still to figure out how all of this zapping or downzapping works. I'm like a confused stacker here.
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Why did you choose the five of us?
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44 sats \ 29 replies \ @anon 16 Sep
@Undisciplined - seem to have a friendly rivalry @Satosora - seem to have a friendly rivalry @0xbitcoiner - seem to have a friendly rivalry @TheMorningStar - seems legitimately offended, I don’t feel comfortable not addressing this @grayruby - seems legitimately offended and is actually my favorite stacker in all the land, if I can’t address his concerns, I will certainly stop the trolling and maybe stop zapping altogether
@coinsreporter would have been included if I could have forwarded zaps to more than five people.
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In terms of your activity, I am more annoyed than offended. I was mildly offended in my debate with @k00b at the implication (which I don't think was his intent but was how it came across) your behavior holds more value than that of a lot of great stackers that put a lot of time and effort into the SN community.
Whatever your motives and whether you deem it as such or not, I perceived and still do, your activity in your Wizard form as net negative to the community and morale of stackers. Maybe I am not as open minded as other stackers.
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46 sats \ 17 replies \ @anon 16 Sep
OK, well this gets to the heart of why I wanna talk. Does it come across as creepy, because it’s definitely supposed to come across as fun? Even the idea of an AMA from a villain that’s not a big name in bitcoin is supposed to be a little fun while we’re hashing this out. But if it comes across as mean spirited, I certainly don’t mean that. I thought the fiction of it was over-the-top enough to be enjoyed as coffee break tomfoolery. Or is it just too much of a distraction from the serious content on the site?
If you give me that I’m not trying to game the system (the intentions of which are impossible to prove), what’s the primary net negative? Too creepy? Too much of a distraction? Or is it still something that’s going over my head?
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Maybe they are all pissed off because you find out (before them) a way to play around with SN algo.
I am just a spectator in all this "drama". For me is not the main goal to earn more sats from SN.
But is fun that many stackers are in this AMA.
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No, I think many understand it fairly well, they just choose not to exploit it because the main goal is not to extract as many sats as possible out of SN.
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TBH, I'm yet to believe that early zapping can rank someone so highly. I'm like 12+ hours on SN these days. But the leaderboard rank I'm getting these days hasn't come because of early zapping at all.
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It can definitely make a big difference. I've seen that myself, but you can overcome small early zaps with lots of huge zaps.
Someway, that's why I muted so many territories, and keep clean and reduced my SN feed. Otherwise I would be always in top 5 leaderboard if I would comment in all territories.
I think I know how he played the algo, some time ago I saw it playing with nemo some stupid games zapping each others. It's involved an anon zapping a lot beside that SN account.
You guys are not playing enough attention to what is going on in SN. This AMA is a joke.
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I've also muted so many srackers who keep posting just links only in attempt to find one or two links that somehow become success here. Is that a right practice to just post a link, in your opinion?
I think they fixed the exploit that involved anon zapping.
This AMA is a joke.
It's bullshit. This account wants to get acceptance among stackers, nothing else. He certainly has got another account. I dare say koob and any other stacker can find this entertaining when without any comment or post a person can slip away with big rewards, I can never accept it.
I think I am more amazed he can actually pick the correct posts to zap. The touch of midas. But it did bother me for a while that he didnt post anything, all he did was zap.
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I think we have to get over that attitude. Zapping is one of the ways to add value to SN. Not everyone wants to talk and content curation is valuable.
Sure, the precise algorithm might not be perfectly tuned, but that's a different question.
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I am starting to understand that.
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Zap ⚡ 10k Sats. Can you do it?
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Nice try, fed!
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You've been saying you aren't doing it for sats, That's the real nice try, fed!
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53 sats \ 0 replies \ @anon 16 Sep
No, I don’t think it’s fair to judge someone’s intentions just because they won’t give you something. When I learned to solder, a friend gave me a soldering gun because he didn’t need it anymore. I never asked him for it. I’m not going to tell you if I still have that either, and I’m certainly not giving it to you if I do. I know a ton of other folks that would like it as well.
I think you’ve contributed good things to the ecosystem and I’ve zapped those posts and shared them with others (who have zapped them as well), but while I sympathize with gray ruby and the morning star’s concerns, this one is meritless. No one owes you personal property just because they weren’t seeking it out. I’ve never said I don’t need sats, but even if I didn’t, that doesn’t mean you’d be the default person for them to go to.
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would have been included if I could have forwarded zaps to more than five people
And you call yourself a wizard?
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Touché!
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They have been watching the posts. Wait, is it they? He is a wizard, right? Can wizards be a she?
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I don't know, man, but anything can be an "it" if you care little enough about it.
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Did you copy this name from here?
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Only one question. Do you have another SN account where you do something other than, as @DarthCoin would say, assmilking?
I assume so since this has 1k zaps.
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Wouldnt it be a kicker it if was koob? lol
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That would be an interesting twist but I don't think so. I do think it is another stacker who has created this account out of experiment or to amuse themselves.
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Tonally, it feels more like @ek. I could see this being a procrastination lark.
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Not @ek. I had conversation about it before and @ek said he'd look into what's making the leaderboard behave like that.
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This is exactly how @ek would look into how the leaderboard is working.
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Could be paranemo.
He is using us to make this post rank amongst the top and he zapped it 1k sats from his wizard account. But at least I appreciate the novelty of this attack.
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Yeah, we're playing right into his hands.
hahaha I cracked up there.
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I don't think it is but if it's @ek he cost himself 10k sats because he didn't get a pick in last week while he was too busy larping as a wizard. Haha.
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That sure sounds like something @ek would do.
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Yes, I also feel like that. He knows big too much about SN. Not a noob for sure.
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It feels like one how he advocates this ID. Lol.
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Not sure he advocates for this ID. I think he advocates more for the value weighting of early zapping that this ID is attempting to exploit.
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It certainly might be. He was talking about the freedom of pseudonyms, recently, and making explicit statements about what this wizard is up to.
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No, it wouldn’t.
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50 sats \ 1 reply \ @anon 16 Sep
What is @DarthCoin? Is that a some sort of meme coin? I’m a toxic maxi and probably wouldn’t get along with this @DarthCoin character. Alt coins are for dweebs.
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You just showed a screen shot to @Satosora showing you zapped Darth's post today.
Have fun with your game. I hope zapping this 1k from your wizard account moves you up the ranks. As silly as this is, at least you are actually trying to interact with the community today.
Bonne chance.
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I don't think this is assmilking technique... is something else.
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Zap ⚡ here 20k Sats and prove you're a real wizard.
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Well, there you have it. The wizard is ready for some downzapping. Should we commence with the witch trial before the execution though?
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Just erase it, your post. No one wants to downzap you, we just want to know your intentions.
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To be clear, I don't really give a shit about its intentions. This is fun, though.
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37 sats \ 5 replies \ @anon 16 Sep
Thanks. You’ve been a good sport (although I will overtake you soon). This may be hard for some to believe, but I NEVER set out to game the system.
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You may strike me down, but you'll never defeat (presumably) @siggy47.
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Well I'm nowhere close to the wisdom of @siggy47 @Undisciplined and all veterans here. It may be just because I comment too much.
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Correct, another mighty hero is rising.
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🙏I'm learning a lot from all of you. As I said above, it may be SN loves my ignorance. You may see me keep asking more and more. And if anything, I know 😄 I always try to mix India in everything. I would again say that if I'm ever a mighty I'd still be under the mighty nights of @siggy47, @Undisciplined @DarthCoin @k00b @grayruby and so many other exceptional Stackers here.
They had the balls to make an AMA. The least we can do is follow through. Downzapping just seems to be in bad faith.
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They can downzap me off the leaderboard, but they can never downzap me out of the hearts and souls of the people!
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I do appreciate they did this AMA. Noticed they zapped it 1k sats in the screenshot they sent you. If it becomes the top post of the day could be lucrative.
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57 sats \ 1 reply \ @anon 16 Sep
It’s climbing the board, but trust you me this, anon comments ain’t cheap baby!
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and the problem is that with anon, even if I zap you, it doesnt go to your account.
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I dont know if it is enough to reach the top post. Maybe with enough high ranking stackers posting, it might? Not that I am a high ranking stacker or anything.
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Thsts a good
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