Has anyone else noticed that going into a telegram chat or perhaps a slack channel for a project that there are some pretty upset investors in there regardless of how the coin or token is doing? Here's how feelings and your coin could get mixed up.
And please, by all means, don't be the baby at the party.
"WHEN MOON?"
"WHEN LAMBO?"
"REKT"
The Devs (Developers)
What I have found interesting is that many dev teams and their supporters are unbelievably emotionally wrapped up in their product offering. With the dev teams I understand. After so much hard work it is difficult to accept criticism. Who could blame them? To some teams' credit, though, those that receive criticism, listen to it, and then work to adjust around it will in the long-run be rewarded for being adults about it and moving forward. After all, it is a widely accepted tenet of customer relationship management that the company that fixes the problem, whatever problem, is the company that will win themselves an extremely loyal customer base. (This is a widely proven fact. You can have a terrible product that breaks down all the time, but if your company fixes it for free when it does break down then the customer will be happy and continue supporting and buying from the company.)
As a caveat, the teams that do not listen to well-informed, well-intentioned criticism are putting their project on a highway to probable decline.
The Supporters
However, with the group of supporters I have no idea why they would be so dogged about supporting any companies' services if they are just investors and things seem to be going wrong. It probably has to do with cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance is the reason one holds on to a losing position even though they know it's better to let it go. In short, cognitive dissonance is the amount of perceived effort that goes into something and that perception of effort manifests itself as a dogged determination to rationalize a bad situation, e.g. holding onto a dying crypto or bad stock position in the market. It also makes someone run another person out on a rail in a chat if they do not have the same opinion that whatever product offering might not walk on water.
On the other hand, a really good project could have dogged supporters too who feel their sentiment should not be impinged upon. This group I like to call "the true believers." This is a double-edged sword in that it is nice to have "yes men" in the ranks because it keeps spirits up, but "yes men" rarely add to the value of any situation since they do not bring anything new to the table. Also, if you have access to the source material of any project, in this case the devs, I'm sure they would love to hear positive feedback, but also, as an investor, you have a right to hold them accountable without fear of reprisal. This leads to my next point...
Bad Projects
The absolute worst situation I have seen is when dissent is silenced. This is an attractive proposition online because trolling is fairly easy and some people are just bad news. However, I have witnessed first hand a project that actively sought out and silenced any negative opinion in their chat rooms and slack. Even the opinions that were positive criticism were silenced. I was astonished. In short, I can tell you that they can keep their offering and their fan base. I want no part of it.
I also happen to think that because of the structure of the project, i.e. no white paper, simply dumping air drops everywhere, very odd approach to the whole situation, with seemingly lemming-like "investors," that there was something wholly amiss. But that would be an extreme example and I only did some investigating in order to see if it was a legitimate marketing tactic in crypto. That time it certainly did not seem to be a real offering.
Guidelines to be a good contributor to the community
Don't be that guy who talks shit about price all the time. Don't be the guy who rudely goes after the devs. Putting anyone on the defensive, even if you get the benefit of anonymity in a chat, usually does not help any situation. And the devs usually are not in control of the price. The market is in control of the price.
Don't go after others in the chat If you're a supporter of a coin or token, that's cool. Yet if someone is not a supporter you need to try to be constructive in understanding why they are not so that they too might be a buyer and increase the value like you.
Do your research There is nothing more annoying for everyone in a chat about a project then having to repeat the same thing over and over again, or worse, having to defend a product against made up junk and FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt). At the minimum just scroll up a few days of the chat to see what was going on then if your question or idea isn't above throw it in.
Stay positive while criticizing "I love X of the project, but do you think that it might help if you added Y." This will help endear you to the devs and supporters and perhaps get your idea incorporated in the project.
There is a time to run for the hills If some project seems like it is just scam just leave and do not bother with it. Take it from me, the hive-mind of people thinking they will get rich quick will make green faced monsters of them all.
In sum, a lot of information about the state of a project can be garnered from visiting the slack, telegram, or social media of a project. Use it to inform your decision to buy or sell a token. If the devs are positive and working to make sure they are communicative and responsive, that is an incredible strength for any project. If the devs do not care or there is no admin in a group that is a bad sign. If the community surrounding the project is largely constructive, that also bodes well in the long-term. However, if anyone is trying to silence dissent that is framed in, at the very minimum, a polite way RUN FOR THE HILLS.
Good luck and by all means comment! I'd love to hear from you.
We're all gonna make!
Minderbinder
[Disclaimer: All the opinions expressed in this article are my own and are in no way meant to be construed as investment advice. All images come from either personal files or websites that allow free images and each has an inline citation for reference.]