✅ Create a Crypto Persona
I am most well known for being the world's first publicly traded person, AKA KmikeyM. The name comes from my early online username, which was based on my full name, K. Mike Merrill.
As the KmikeyM project grew, the persona of the publicly traded man also grew. It got to the point where I felt there was a real difference between me, Mike Merrill, and the Brooks Brothers wearing, pro-markets capitalist KmikeyM. Having a persona was fun, especially within my scene of incredibly liberal friends in Portland, OR. I got to play the villain.
This split of personality and beliefs worked until it didn't. Thankfully I didn't need to resort to anything as dramatic as the ending of Fight Club, but when I moved to Los Angeles I worked to incorporate KmikeyM back into Mike Merrill. The end result has been a pretty well-adjusted pro-markets capitalist who is also a card carrying member of the DSA. What can I say, I contain multitudes.
As I enter the world of web3 working at Roll I have encountered crypto-enthusiasts in my job and some crypto-skeptics among my shareholders. My job at Roll is public facing, so online I am representing both the company and KmikeyM. Looking back now, I can see how I slowly and unknowingly separated myself by creating a persona, but this time I want to do it intentionally.
A Crypto Persona
Creating a crypto persona would allow me to have a social media presence that is used for my web3 interactions, keeping everything blockchain off main. It’s not a misrepresentation of what I believe, but an opportunity to fully inhabit only my most optimistic thinking around crypto.
Also, I like the concept of creating a persona, it feels a little like developing a character for pro wrestling. Loosely based on me, but more exaggerated in certain ways. It’s not unlike what KmikeyM was when I was in full business drag, but this time it’s with intention and forethought. The ongoing development of the persona could also open up some interesting future votes!
Shareholder Questions:
Q: Does this change your official position on cryptocurrency?
A: No. I’m still interested in crypto, fascinated by the promise, and would not encourage anyone to invest too much. It’s all still very new, so while there is fascination, there is also caution. But maybe it’s time for a new vote as well, this position was ratified in September of 2019.
Q: Is the intent to hide activity that some would find unsavory?
A: It’s not the intent, but it could happen that way. The idea is to separate conversations that some find uninteresting. The accounts would be linked and easy to find, so not hidden.
For example, on the KmikeyM List I created a sub-category just for letting people know about live streaming. I know there are shareholders who definitely want those updates and those that don’t, so now those that don’t can opt out.
61 users voted with 6520 shares
Comments
Results
I'm just me, now with a little more web3. :)
Kayfabe in the service of separation of concerns and/or compartmentalization of motives/actions? I say yea.
Kayfabe 💯!!! For those not familiar: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kayfabe
I'm mostly interested in seeing how these two personas converge, or not. So voting yes.
I'm strongly against the fragmenting of your online self. I don't think you should have to hide your opinions from your followers and friends. Find an actual position to take on this complex topic and Roll with it;)
I think that experimental villainy is an important part of the KmikeyM project and creating a separate kayfabe account is playing it so safe that young Mike would be disappointed with himself, and us, for voting yes.
Vote NO to Keep Mike Conceptually Combative
It sounds like this new persona would not link back to KmikeyM. That's valuable online reputation that could benefit the KmikeyM stock price now lost.
Kweb3M
@ Marcus, I think less fragmentation + more division informed by a source, which is K. Mike Merrill, the person. More accessible + specialized. Like branches or Wizard of Oz. It's also good branding. I mean not for nothing. Holding a web3 mike token is hilarious + important.
@krickeyb would definitely link back. here is an example of how I might set up a twitter account: https://twitter.com/K5M
Vote updated, to reflect the potential for now multiple character lines of cred that all link back to the source.
While I have some concern around the distraction from KmikeyM, I think part of who you, Mike, are is someone who is a pioneer into online world. And I think we have to accept that.
Because the "segmenting livestreaming info out so people can subscribe to it" example proves that can be done without creating a new persona, creating one is needlessly complicated and doesn't achieve anything meaningful.
I think it works! You can go all in with an NFT pfp and a .eth name
I'm torn on this, ultimately voting no.
TL;DR I'll still support a separate persona if that's the way the vote goes, but I'm more supportive of you continuing to evolve KMikeyM.
I think if you didn't already have a persona of sorts I'd be more open to the idea. You've already put so much work into building KMikeyM, and that work includes a representation of who you are, what you've done, and the community that's along for the ride.
I don't see a need to separate that persona from the very real connection you now have to the world of web3. Change is natural; we all ebb and flow in our growth and the things we believe. You're in a unique position to take advantage of your existing platform and add a whole new world on top of it.
It's hard enough to rebuild, and doing so just for the sake of doing so feels unnecessary to me.
I am in favor of creating a persona, but the values of the persona should align with KmikeyM.
@joshuaberger - that's a good point. i think the fun part of a persona is that at its best it is an exaggeration of a viewpoint, but not a violation of what I actually believe. so a "crypto persona" would represent all my fascination with crypto but still work to understand the downsides. for example, "crypto mike" is never going to love high gas fees, and will continue to make fun of people who promoted crypto as a replacement for traditional payments because of "middle man" payments. :)
I voted for a separate crypto persona. Normally I wouldn't have voted this way on adding a new brand because of loss of focus, the importance of continued investment in the core KMikeyM brand, etc. But crypto is still a really wronky new transdimensional anomaly. It is a real game changer associated with mysterious genius computer scientists, world finance, celebrities, and other good folk; but also scam artists, bad actors, hackers, and hardened criminals. I am looking forward to meeting the new "crypto persona" online!
@Adam Kessler - I really like thinking about the new crypto persona has a product, and how the KmikeyM can help influence the development of it as an extension of the larger brand.
I'm voting Yes, not because I'm excited about the crypto persona and the crypto-biz itself, but because I would like to still follow your updates without all the crypto noise.
I think this should be a subsidiary holding company of kmikeym and should not be a separate persona. This would benefit our stock price if they were linked
For the record/historians: Ultimately, Marcus' thoughts and gentle questioning in the livestream won me over to feeling 'No', but as it doesn't affect the vote at this point (too many shares have voted 'Yes', I'm leaving my vote as 'Yes'.
Whatever helps K Michelangelo Merrill live an enjoyable and prosperous life, increasing our share value, is what works in the end.
metamike incoming
If it includes deep dive into the https://www.impervious.ai/ a yes vote is obvious.
@doug if you flip now there’s only an 800 vote gap… curious if we could rustle up some more no votes (I was originally yes but flipped)
@Marcus convinced me to take no for an answer. There is still an hour to change votes.
Just to clarify: if you're pro-crypto, I think a NO vote would be best for the project.
If the vote lands on "no" I will sell all my shares if kmikeym changes his profile picture to laser eyes
I am conflicted on crypto (too early to criticize should mean too early to evangelize), but I do love chaos. 😈😈😈😈
(Same, tbh;)
I am not pro-crypto, but Marcus convinced me that a "no" is the better choice. I would rather see kmikeym bring some skepticism to the crypto world rather than appear to be fully bought in with a separate persona. The livestream and Q&A with Marcus was a good insight into how I expect this will go.
Nice.
I feel like there is a middle ground. I don't know that you need a whole new persona around crypto. I voted yes to keep it off main because I find most of the crypto stuff that winds up in my feed exhausting. But I feel like your linked kmikey.eth account doesn't necessarily need a whole new persona.
I think it will be strong for the brand.
for what's it worth in either direction, I'll pledge to not use laser eyes (the @k5m was just me being silly)
perhaps @adam kessler would also reconsider...
I feel that separating crypto engagement/activity from the main KmikeyM is like creating a separate entity that the market may not recognize as part of the core product. So rather than contributing to the value of my shares, that value might be diluted unnecessarily. Voting no.
How do we have 56% voting yes and 58% voting no?
@eubie67.. excellent question..
thought maybe there would be an update about this irregularity on the live stream.. seems to also be afflicted.. perhaps a coordinated attack?
Mike and I are addressing the percentage weirdness here: https://live.kmikeym.com
For what it's worth. Percentages are weird because you can vote for both options.