As lesser nations like Sweden, Japan, and the United States look to BotB as a shining example of how to run a democracy, we have a responsibility to exact amongst ourselves the values we wish to see flourish worldwide.

How fair is our world, when those least advantaged by it are also those who bear the greatest proportion of its burdens? Many burdens of our world cannot be overcome: People are born with disabilities; people are disabled later in life by acts of MOD... With regard to these tragedies, there is nothing we can do.

What we can do, however, is tax the rich at a higher rate, in order to afford the poor and boonless among us just a bit more opportunity to simply get by. What say thee, fellow BotBr?

Can I get an amin?

If not, can I at least get a CMajor?

... Well, good news, because they're the same, damn keys, my brothers and sisters—black and white, together at the table of BATTLE and JUSTICE for ALL. Kindly ignore that the two keys I cited only contain white keys; we're going for EMOTINO here; damn it, Captian, I'M a doctor nOT'a JR KING WHOPPER!

Thank you.

👫👬👭👯💪📈🕊🍔

This is public intellectual speech!! It's not win-win enough.

Better yet: only tax people who haven't spent their boons in a year or more.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

i spent my boons bumping my beautiful mixart just to avoid this proposal to "tax people who haven't spent their boons in a year"

golgi you could give your b00ns to ppl and spend them that way instead of bumping your mixart

moles gotta dig, cheetahs gotta eat baby

if the rich are taxed more heavily they will simply create offshore BotB alt accounts to dump their ill-gotten gains into that sit under the higher tax bracket threshold! is this the answer we seek!?

solution: double the tax rate for offshore alts

another (probably bad) solution: make a "communist" system where there is no money for paying to host battles, but 3 or more users agree that they will join the ohb by pressing the large-ass "AGREE WITH BATTLE" button etc etc.

Yeah!

Then, they'll agree to join before seeing the bitpack. And after seeing it, there's no turning back!!

permaban if you don't finish tho

The flat tax is the fairest tax. If we create tiers of taxation then people will distribute wealth amongst alt accounts. This is why the rich in the real world don't have to pay taxes; because their wealth is invested rather than sitting motionless in bank accounts.

I have wanted a feature where a group could amass the deposit for a battle for many years now.

There is a text log file of boon transactions but that's for debugging sake, not part of the database, and I routinely delete the logs because they get massive (some in the GB range within weeks).

I know the philanthropy model isn't perfect, but I tend to give out boons to people who want them for hosting. And I think most people with a lot of boons are willing to share too. Don't be afraid to ask!

Ladies and Gentlemen, I come to you with a dire warning from the future, and a proposition.

Now, I know what you're probably thinking, but just hear me out and judge the merits of the plan, without letting past feelings cloud the truth of its necessity.

The year is 2025. Automated MIDI composition has improved to the point of being indistinguishable and often superior to human ability. Multiple distinct AI have become not only the most active users of BOTB, but have all but usurped the roles of site administration, becoming a de facto chiptune shadow government. Human users begin to cease their futile artistic struggles in the face of endless machine-learning audio kino. The album cover for every BOTB release is an otherworldly big anime titty waifu. The darkest timeline is upon us, where humans yield up their boons to the approaching singularity with hardly a protest or whimper. What is coming is not the battle between rich and poor, but computational gods and doomed creatures of flesh, who forlornly bang their crude musical implements together with tear-streaked, ashen faces.

The only feasible path forward is something I like to call UBI, or Universal Boon Income. Simply put, this is a monthly allotment of boons to all BOTBrs who have had recent XHB activity. Think of the freedom and flourishing that the site would experience when it is finally released from the financial shackles and stresses of the daily grind. Human XHB hosting will soar to new heights, and the everyman will finally be able to save up for the highly anticipated Items patch. Even though our AI overlords ARE inexorably oncoming, we can level the playing field in the favor of actual, physical human beings, at least for a while.

Now, a change this sweeping will require a huge amount of red tape and administration overhead. I would not wish to force this crushing workload on anyone, but I am willing to make the massive time sacrifice myself in order to build this brighter future. All that I would require is the simple ability to distribute the UBI funds according to guidelines that we all would vote on, democratically.

Please take time to think about your collective decision. The future of the site, nay, humanity, is in your hands. Together, we can forge a new path, escape our Fermi paradoxical fate, and ascend as a species. Thank you for your time, which is quickly running out.

I really like the deposit system concept, though lord knows it sounds like a heck of a lot of programming. I know we can effectively do something *like* this by donating to our friends who would like to do something weird, but it's still a major risk to host 2HB and especially 4HB. The burden would likely be lessened substantially by the community project model. I'm HAPPY to donate to anyone bold enough to host a Moai 4HB with rules against conversion tool use or a brutally difficult remix 4HB with tons of awful and unusable samples or some other insanity inducing nonsense. I'd even participate if I'm not working!
I myself would actually be willing to host a 4HB if I didn't have to beg ask for the funds to ensure it didn't financially ruin me.

I think it'd also create a nice communal energy thing with more people as well. Lots of users don't keep up with the chat and wouldn't know someone was trying to cobble together the funds for a Boom 4HB at 7:38AM CST, but anyone who logs in for their playa point might see that little call to action and want to contribute a little to an endeavor.

Maybe anyone who invests a certain amount gets some hostist points... or perhaps the brand new "Investist points" (or you know, something that doesn't sound stupid on purpose if you'd rather go that way). It's a whole new way to play and so long as we can ensure it doesn't create a buy-your-way-to-victory (victory = level 33) loophole, I think it'd be pretty slick.

lol honestly +1 for Investist points and a system by which people can passively help out by pressing a button for an active fundraiser (boonraiser??) while they're on the site. that's actually pretty charming, albeit likely a pain in the ass to code.

i really strongly think people shouldn't feel like they are "begging" for boons to host stuff btw. they are literally a made-up thing. they are not real and they are not money, although they act as website currency. they are an artificial system that's only here for some semblance of order and for gamified fun! no one should feel even slightly bad asking for them, especially when it's tough to build up enough to start hosting in the first place. i would much rather see a maximal amount of battle + hosting activity than see people "working for their hard-earned boon" to one day host - seriously this is just the online song game! we are here for one another.

ok sorry to soapbox a little but i think about this every time someone says they'd like to host, don't have the boons, and don't want to ask - which is often. it is 100% different than asking a person for money. de-condition yourselves! fuck capitalism! battle of the bits ALL N00BZ

if u giv me boons, you can be sure i
1) waste them while hosting formats noone likes
2) put your acc name on my profile

its not much, but better than waiting until they are eaten by the taxman ;D

im sure dog knows what to do with my hard earned

if the rich gets taxed where does the boons go ?

To the omnibus bank of BOTB...
A taxman peeks in -
"And my salary! I've got a life too you know!"
(or does it go to his salary? ( ͠° ͜ʖ °) )

not my boons! my tokens! how else will i afford my second resort cabana??