As many of you have already noticed, yesterday (June 23rd) morning, the official Splinterlands Twitter account was "suspended" suddenly and without any indicated explanation. Jerks.
Why We Use Twitter
You may be thinking, "but Splinterlands, you're a decentralized game built on a foundation of blockchain and cryptocurrency. Why do you even need Twitter?" In the shortest possible answer, we don't. Thanks to our incredible community and the power of blockchain ownership, our game and our success will absolutely continue to grow without the big tech giant, as you'll see demonstrated during this period of banning. Still, there is one mainstream social media platform that has been invaluable to us through the years, both in terms of reaching and growing our community: Twitter.
We decided long ago that it was well worth playing by Twitter's rules and adhering to its policies, because thousands and thousands of free impressions per post are hard to come by anywhere on the internet. Twitter has proven useful for sharing news and updates, supporting community content, holding contests and more.
As blockchain enthusiasts, we have never fully trusted the mainstream platforms and we were always prepared for this eventuality. As expressed by co-founder and CTO Matt Rosen in Discord, being Twitter banned is a "rite of passage" for successful projects in this industry. In some ways we are flattered, but that doesn't change the fact that we were wrongly suspended and our free speech was violated. We will do everything in our power to get our account reinstated as quickly as possible, after which we will grow even more strongly than before.
Not so Easy to Silence
The Hive blockchain ecosystem is one of the most capable and powerful decentralized forces in the world. We may still be comparatively small in some cases, but the people of Hive have declared forcefully that they will not be ruled, they will not be controlled, and they will not be silenced.
With this suspension, we may be the victims of an unfair and unjust system that favors the giants, but even victims can find incredible opportunities in unlikely places.
This is your chance, Hive community, to do what you love to do. Mobilize the hive, shout from the virtual rooftops, throw your windows open wide and proclaim "This is what we were made for and we won't back down!"
Overcoming Resistance
Splinterlands has survived and thrived through the long crypto winter of 2018 and 2019. In the shadow of less innovative projects with greater resources and greater funding, we have beaten the odds by delivering one of the greatest blockchain games in the world, and we're just getting started. We have no intention of slowing our success because of negative attention from Twitter, whose attention we have never craved or needed.
The best place to fight this injustice is on Twitter. Boycotting the social media giant doesn't solve anything. It must be a fight of words, it must be civil, and it must be on their territory, which is the only place they are comfortable. You have Splinterlands' blessings to share the news, promote the censor-resistant Hive blockchain we love, even get riled up if that's your thing. Let's all come together and show some support for the technology we believe in so strongly.
A Little Contest - CALL TO ACTION!
We've decided to make a little contest out of this Twitter call to action. Show your support for Splinterlands on Twitter and share your tweet in the comments below this post. In a few days, we will select the most creative, the most humorous and the most engaging tweets and award their authors with TBD Splinterlands prizes.
Make sure to use @splinterlands and #splinterlands in your posts.
The Streisand Effect
The Streisand effect is a social phenomenon that occurs when an attempt to hide, remove, or censor information has the unintended consequence of further publicizing that information, often via the Internet.
"This will only help us grow. We're thankful to the community for ensuring our messages of true asset ownership, economic freedom, and a trip to the same moon get out there even when we ourselves are silenced."
-@aggroed, Splinterlands co-founder and CEO
"Being blocked from Twitter is like a rite of passage in the crypto world - it means we're important enough to block lol. We can all make a big fuss about it on Twitter and get more attention too. 😛"
-@yabapmatt, Splinterlands co-founder and CTO
This may seem to some of you a setback, but rest assured that Splinterlands is strong and growing stronger every day. The team is in excellent spirits, and it would take far more than a flagrant infringement of our free speech to hinder all the fun and success we're experiencing.
Thank you all for your loyalty and your continued support. We are strong because our community is strong.
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Don't miss tonight's AMA @ 8PM EST.
It's gonna be a good one. 😎
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