Cosmos-Twitter is caustic, it needs to stop.

3 min readDec 4, 2022

Twitter has become an incredibly hostile forum for validators and Cosmos-SDK projects lately. It’s disappointing to watch. I want no part in it and do my best not to engage, but it’s not always possible. That’s why I’m writing today. I’m focusing on how the discussions are handled instead of discussing the specifics of the various governance proposals.

A stop sign — Image by Anwar Ali via unsplash

I will not be pointing out any specific individuals; there are too many involved, and singling people out, in this case, isn’t the ethical thing to do. I’m not going to convince anyone to change their social media marketing strategy or personality, so there’s no point.

Putting a name to and examining the benefits of the behavior can help those either targeted or watching the drama unfold to understand the motivations. We see what you are doing and there is a name for it.

There has been a lot of research on toxicity in social media. The combination of impersonal interaction and the micro-doses of dopamine can make people act viciously. I’m not talking about trolling; what’s happening is much worse.

The main problem in our community seems to be threefold: moral grandstanding, delusional benevolence, and a lack of ethics.

Moral grandstanding is the extreme form of virtue signaling. As a validator, I use virtue signaling when engaging the community. Sharing the beliefs that guide my governance choices and approach to managing technology helps to market to potential like-minded delegators.

Virtue signaling can be toxic or constructive. When someone uses virtue signaling to increase their reputation by calling out and shaming others, it becomes moral grandstanding. Let’s be clear, this behavior is beneficial to the person who uses the tactic, and while it may cost them a few followers, the benefits far outweigh the negatives. Often the more toxic, the more followers.

Moral grandstanding is a win-at-all-costs strategy, treats interactions as zero-sum, and relies upon a loser. The person that uses this tactic cannot perceive that they are possibly wrong, and there are no grey areas for them. The person or organization targeted by them is dehumanized and seen as a means to an end. In short, it is an exploitative marketing strategy to increase the person’s reputation and expand reach on social media. Typically done by individuals, but in the case of validators, development shops, or so-called influencers, there is also a profit motive in using moral grandstanding.

When I say “delusional benevolence,” I am talking about the actor’s need to feel like she is helping everyone else. Never mind if this help is wanted, beneficial, or factual. There are many amateur sleuths on crypto-twitter, and finding something shocking or uncovering fraud is advantageous to the community and gives a big adrenaline rush.

It’s addicting. Once hooked, a person constantly looks for more secret conspiracies, plots, and schemes to call out. When these theories are half-baked, they cause immense damage. The target of their tweet-storm can be seriously harmed, be they a business, through lost revenue, reputational injury to individual contributors, and can cause serious psychological harm. Once again, this “benevolence” is a marketing strategy used to increase either reputation or profits at the cost of someone else.

Is it a paradox that morals and benevolence should be positives? Ethics are a part of regulating behavior and avoiding toxicity. I’m not going to lay out some treatise on ethics. Instead, I will leave it to the reader to ponder.

To those who are being toxic: please, be respectful to each other, don’t use moral grandstanding and benevolence as a weapon, and if you are going to call someone out, be sure you have your facts straight. In the words of the wise sage Rufus “be excellent to each other.”

Here are some links that inspired this post:

Cosmos-Twitter is caustic, it needs to stop.

Written by Todd G