Recently, I came across this video called One Thought Can Change You Forever, which argues for hard determinism through the lens of someone just learning about the free will question. Its conclusion prompted me to think up a rebuttal, which I now consider to be a strong argument for believing in free will. It goes like this:
Either free will exists, or it does not exist. We can also either believe that free will exists, or deny that it exists (I'm ignoring the suspension of belief for reasons I can discuss later, if needed). We can consider the 4 possible conclusions that result from combining the propositions with our doxastic attitudes towards them. I argue only one of these conclusions yields a desirable result while the remaining are either meaningless at best or greatly undesirable at worst, so we ought to act in accordance with the desirable result. The conclusions and their implications follow:

1. Free will exists, and we believe free will exists - This is good, because we are correct in our belief and we have all the benefits that come with free will. (Some might argue free will isn't desirable, but I think this is a fringe belief, and most hard determinists would want free will if it were possible. )
2. Free will does not exist, and we do not believe free will exists - This is the increasingly common view of those that accept the world is deterministic, and it is enticing because we want to have correct beliefs. In this case, we are correct in our belief, but this is meaningless since denying free will entails we can't choose our actions over alternatives. We value having correct beliefs because we desire truth and want to avoid being wrong, but these very desires imply we can choose to avoid, and that we will err if we choose wrong. Again, without free will, there should not be fear (or pride) because we are predetermined to act as we will (although any such emotion will happen anyway because it's determined to).
3. Free will does not exist, but we believe free will exists - This is the case that hard determinists fear, that we are wrong about free will existing. But similar to the previous case, it is meaningless that we are wrong, because we never had the choice in the first place; us and the world will carry on behaving as it is determined to behave. One might consider this case the worst so far for there not being free will, and us being wrong in our belief. However, I argue the last case is the most egregious.
4. Free will exists, and we do not believe free will exists - In this case, not only are we wrong, but we are dead wrong. We are utilizing our free will to deny its existence, bankrupting ourselves morally, and encouraging others to do the same. What makes this case even more damning is that this is a very real threat considering the increase in popularity of hard determinism.

What can we conclude? (1) If we believe free will doesn't exist, then we are at best merely correct about our state of affairs—but that correctness has no value as we couldn't err, nor choose our values in the first place—but at worst, wrong and willfully denying our moral responsibilities while encouraging others to do the same. And (2), if we believe free will does exist, then at worst we are incorrect—but that doesn't even matter because we have no way of choosing to be correct anyway, except as it is determined—but at best we are not just correct, but have grounds for our ordinary experience which includes moral responsibility, agency, and the ability to shape our future. And so, because there is no point or value in believing free will doesn't exist and only proposes negative consequences, then we ought to believe free will does exist, considering there would be no meaningful consequence if we were wrong.
I'll leave it mostly there even though I have more to say, except to mention some definitions and a counterargument. This argument implies that leeway freedom (the ability to do otherwise) is a necessary condition for free will. So compatibilists may find fault if they believe a minimal sourcehood freedom is sufficient; likewise, if a free will denier also merely requires minimal sourcehood freedom for their condition for free will, then they may think my requirements too stringent. However, if you're compatibilist, you'd believe in free will anyway so the point is kind of moot, and most free will deniers are not of the latter sort I mentioned, and more so hard determinists who also require leeway freedom for a sufficient understanding of free will.
That's all, looking forward to the rebuttals.

Contest Rules For Best Song Of The Month • Updated May 19th, 2024

Click here to see summary of changes.

Best Song Of The Month Contest

Music Or Lose It hosts a monthly Best Song Of The Month contest at this musicorloseittv subreddit community. There is no cash or monetary value prize at this time. This contest is simply just for fun. Winners earn the enjoyment of being voted the best. Winners may cite the win in their biographies and social media posts.
The moderator (mod) is available to help music creators with the entry process, eligibility requirements, and deadlines. Music creators are allowed to contact the mod to ask questions about the contest anytime and mod will reply as soon as possible.
Definitions
Music creator: refers to a solo creator, band, group, choir, orchestra, or duo.
Brand identity: refers to how a creator presents themselves as an entertainer making music for the general public. For example, Simon & Garfunkel as a duo is one brand identity. Paul Simon solo is another brand identity.

Process & Deadlines

🟡 Round 1
1) Discovery ◦ Each month, moderator keeps track of songs shared at this musicorloseittv community.
2) Notifying Music Creators ◦ When a likely eligible song is seen, the u/musicorloseittv profile or u/themusicfanman profile will notify the music creator of likely eligibility within the qualifying song’s post. The reply will indicate, “⏳ This song appears eligible for the Best Song Of The Month contest. Please provide the following information…” If the song is confirmed to be eligible by a mod, the mod will make a reply “🟨 This is confirmation notifying you that this song is eligible and in consideration for the Best Song Of The Month contest…” within the qualifying song’s post.
3) Determining Contestants ◦ The Music Fan man will evaluate all eligible songs by the month’s eligibility deadline. He will then at his discretion choose up to 5 songs to compete.
3) Finalists Post ◦ At this musicorloseittv community, the musicorloseittv profile will announce the top finalists (up to 5) in a post tiled “Contest: Best Song Of The Month Finalists (Insert Month & Year).” This announcement will be done in a post made 4 days before the final day of the month. The post will be made sometime in the morning. The songs will be listed within the post in a manner most representative of music diversity as determined by the musicorloseittv profile mod. All songs available on YouTube will be included in a playlist titled “Best Song Of The Month Contestants • (Insert Month & Year)” hosted by the musicorloseittv channel on YouTube. Songs not available on YouTube will be excluded from the playlist. The playlist will be mentioned in this post. The available playlist will help voters get familiar with the songs.
The u/musicorloseittv profile or u/themusicfanman profile will notify the music creators of qualifying for the contest in their post of the song. The reply will indicate, “✅ Congratulations. Your song qualifies for the Best Song Of The Month contest…”
4) Voting ◦ The “Contest: Best Song Of The Month Finalists (Insert Month & Year)” post will specify a duration of 3 consecutive dates during which music fans can vote for only 1 of the top finalists. Voting occurs by the voters making a reply to the post in the following manner: “🗳️ I vote for….” Failing to vote in this manner will result in vote not being counted. To best ensure vote accuracy, voters must not use the “🗳️” emoji anywhere else in the post’s comments section. Music creators may vote for another music creator yet may not vote for themselves. For music creators, it’s “word of honor” voting. The top vote earning song within these three days will become the winner.
‣ Community moderator profiles musicorloseittv and onesongoftheday will abstain from voting. Also, themusicfanman and any special judge involved will also abstain from voting - unless they’re needed to serve as a tie breaker, in the event of a tie preventing a clear winner. If themusicfanman and any special judge involved are needed as a tie breaker, they must come to a consensus to achieve tie breaking. If no special judge is involved, then themusicfanman alone will serve as the tie breaker.
🟢 Winner Declaration!
Declaration Post ◦ At this musicorloseittv community, on the final day of the month, the musicorloseittv profile will announce the winner in a post tiled “Congratulations! 🎉 Best Song Of The Month Winner (Insert Month & Year)” in a post dedicated to celebrating the song. Using the sticky-post feature, the post will be prominently displayed the home page of the musicorloseittv subreddit community for ≈ 24 hours.
Achievement ◦ The contest winner may promote their song as:
My song “Song Title” won:
🏅Best Song Of The Month By Community Vote
(Insert Month & Year)
At The Music Or Lose It Community
The winner may promote themselves and the song as the winner at venues like X/Twitter, Facebook, Threads, or their YouTube channel’s Community feed. The winner may also cite the win in their biographies online including their personal website.
🏆 Song Of The Year
A similar Song Of The Year vote will occur in December. It will be similarly organized and scheduled to conclude on the final day of the year. To determine a Song Of The Year by the end of the year, December’s monthly contest will only be ≈ 2 weeks. Why? Because we need time to conclude The Song Of The Year vote by the end of the year. Additionally, this is a busy time of year for many people. What’s more, non-Christmas music released in December is typically overshadowed by Christmas music. It seems to be a bad idea to release new-original music in late December. See opinion commentary: The Best And Worst Months To Release Music.
Achievement ◦ The contest winner may promote their song as:
🏆 Best Song Of The Year By Community Vote
(Insert Year)
At The Music Or Lose It Community
The winner may promote themselves and the song as the winner at venues like X/Twitter, Facebook, Threads, or their YouTube channel’s Community feed. The winner may also cite the win in their biographies online including their personal website.

Eligibility

Here are the rules for the Best Song Of The Month contest organized by Music Or Lose It just for fun. The eligibility rules are intended to make this contest as fair as possible to the music creator participants.
**👤 Personal: **
Requirements:
✔️ Must be an actual human.
✔️ Must be 17 years of age or older.
✔️ Must be a music creator abiding by the rules of this musicorloseittv subreddit community.
✔️ Must be a music creator posting using either your personal profile or your brand profile as a music entertainer.
Ineligible:
🚫 Profiles run by publicists, music labels, or channels hosting performers.
🚫 People posing as other humans using imitation avatar type creations by artificial intelligence (AI).
**🗿 Music creator’s stature status: **
Eligible:
✔️ Unsigned amateur or unsigned professional yet lesser known.
✔️ Lesser known music creators who have not yet achieved two different songs with over 500,000 views/listens and are signed to deals with small to medium-sized record companies or seeming one-song-per-time type distributors.
✔️ Lesser known music creators who have not yet achieved two different songs with over 500,000 views/listens and are signed to deals with to a major label.
**📅 Release date: **
Eligible:
✔️ Your song must be published and accessible to the masses anytime between November 15^th of the prior year and 5 days before the final day of the current month.
**💽 Songwriting, singing, & recording: **
Requirements:
✔️ You must be the copyright owner of the song (lyrics and sound recording) or authorized/licensed to perform the song by the copyright owner as the first original performer.
✔️ An exception is made if your song is an authorized/licensed remix or includes authorized/licensed interpolation or sampling content by the copyright owner in collaboration with any other amateur music creator(s) or unsigned professional yet lesser known music creator(s). The aforementioned release date also applies to any remix, interpolation, or sampling content.
✔️ Collaborations within the aforementioned rules are allowed so long as the song is entered into the contest by the lead. Lead refers to the first person named in the collaboration.
Ineligible:
🚫 Copyright/trademark violations.
🚫 Songs written by artificial intelligence (AI).
🚫 Songs primarily generated artificial intelligence (AI).
🚫 Cover, parody, nor artificial intelligence (AI) imitation.
🚫 Songs likely to be very divisive for political or religious/anti-religious reasons.
🚫 Collaborations within deceased music creators akin to “Unforgettable” by Natalie Cole featuring Nat "King" Cole.
🚫 Interpolations, remixes, or samplings of a song by a creator signed to a record company of any size or signed to a one-song-per-time type distributor.
🚫 Song with hard cussing. No variations of F word, S word, C word, D word, N word (er or a), ahole word(s), or sexually vulgar words.
🚫 Extremely sexual, gang promoting, violent, or especially scary/gory/maleficent/evil aesthetic content.
🚫 Songs primarily about brands. For example: “I Love Driving Such-And-Such Brand Name Trucks.”
**👂 Recording quality: **
Allowed:
✔️ Professional quality recordings (live or studio).
✔️ Amateur quality (including songs record in a bedroom, car, outdoors, etc…) yet reasonably pleasant sounding.
✔️ Demos are welcome.
Ineligible:
🚫 Live records with too much interfering audience noise.
🚫 Recordings with excessively poor sound quality (abrasive on the ears, difficult to hear).
**📏 Song length: **
Requirement:
✔️ Minimum of 01:15 minutes up to 10:00 minutes.
**💻 Distribution venues: **
Requirements:
✔️ A song published and accessible to the general public masses at a well-known music website such as YouTube, SoundCloud, or Bandcamp.
✔️ A song uploaded to a channel hosting live performances is allowed so long as the song is entered into the contest directly by the creator and so long as the creator confirms permission by the channel. Confirmation can be done in either your original upload URL link source or at this community within your posts’ body-text section or a reply to the post.
✔️ The song’s upload date must be visible at the distribution venue website.
⚠️ If you enter this contest with a Spotify or TikTok URL link, ensure you’ve provided a link for the entire song (not a teasesampler) in a manner that does not require login; ensure the publish date is visible; and be weary of looping flashing visuals necessitating a “⚠️Possible Seizure Trigger Risk Warning.” Failing to do this will result in ineligibility.
Ineligible:
🚫 Login required to access the song.
🚫 Payment required to access the song.
🚫 Uploads of songs directly to Reddit.
🚫 Links not fully available to the public such as an “unlisted” YouTube video.
**🖼️ Song’s artwork: **
Definition: artwork refers to the image/drawing/photo/visuals accompanying your individual song at a music distribution venue such as YouTube, SoundCloud, or Bandcamp. It is sometimes referred to as “cover art.”
Requirements:
✔️ You must be the original creator of the song’s accompanying artwork.
✔️ Alternatively, you must be the copyright owner of the artwork if you paid to have it made. Otherwise you must be authorized/licensed to publish the artwork as part of the presentation of your song.
✔️ Artwork primarily generated by artificial intelligence (AI) is allowed so long as you are authorized/licensed by the AI source to publish the artwork as part of your song’s public presentation. However this is advised against because public sentiment may be hostile towards AI generated content.
✔️ If your song’s artwork uses aspects of copyrighted, creative commons, or “free” material content, you must confirm you’ve got authorization/licensing to use the content as part of your song’s public presentation. Confirmation can be done in either your original upload URL link source or at this community within your posts’ body-text section or a reply to the post.
✔️ Your own logo that you own the copyright to may be displayed in the song’s accompanying artwork (including on a person wearing a hat or T-shirt).
Ineligible:
🚫 Copyright/trademark violations.
🚫 Parody notably displayed in the artwork.
🚫 Visible logos of any brand other than your own logo as a music entertainer.
🚫 Extremely sexual, gang promoting, violent, or especially scary/gory/maleficent/evil aesthetic content.
**🎥 Song’s music video (optional): **
Including a link to a music video is optional.
Requirements:
✔️ You must be the original creator of the song’s music video visuals including: animation; moving graphics; prominently featured still artwork or photos.
✔️ Alternatively, you must be the copyright owner of all the video’s visuals if you paid to have them made. Otherwise you must be authorized/licensed to publish all the video’s visuals as part of the presentation of your song’s accompanying music video.
✔️ Visuals (including: animation; moving graphics; prominently featured still artwork or photos) primarily generated by artificial intelligence (AI) are allowed so long as you are authorized/licensed by the AI source to publish the artwork as part of your song’s public presentation. However this is advised against because public sentiment may be hostile towards AI generated content.
✔️ If your song’s accompanying music video uses aspects of copyrighted, creative commons or “free” material, you must confirm you’ve got authorization/licensing to use the copyrighted material as part of your song’s public presentation within the accompanying music video. Confirmation can be done in either your original upload URL link source or at this community within your posts’ body-text section or a reply to the post.
✔️ Your own logo that you own the copyright to may be displayed in the video (including on a person wearing a hat or T-shirt).
✔️ Allowed music videos include “Official Music Video,” “Live Performance,” “Dance Video Version,” “Animated Video,” or “Lyrics Video.”
✔️ If you opt for an “Animated Video” or a “Lyrics Video,” you must be authorized/licensed to publish all the video’s visuals as part of the presentation of your song’s accompanying music video. If you hire an animator or use AI or an app/software designed to create music video lyrics, you must be authorized/licensed by the animator or AI source or app/software creator to publish the animation and/or lyrics as part of the presentation of your song’s accompanying music video.
✔️ If you opt for a “Dance Video Version,” the dancing and/or choreography must be originally created for your song’s accompanying music video. If you hire a choreographer and/or dancers or collaborate for free or for barter, you must be authorized/licensed by the choreographer and/or dancers to publish the video’s dancing/choreography visuals as part of the presentation of your song’s accompanying music video.
✔️ “Official Audio” type music videos are allowed so long as an accompanying still image complies with the aforementioned “Song’s artwork” rules. Alternatively, if the “Official Audio” music videos has moving visuals, it must comply with these above-mentioned “Song’s music video” rules.
✔️ “Live Performance” music videos may be made from your home/cafield (pretty much anywhere decent and reasonable) or from one of your well-recorded performances from a show. Be sure to avoid copyright and trademark violations in the video.
⚠️ Brief uses of music distribution venue logos at the end or start of a music video may be allowed at mod’s discretion, when the intent is to inform the viewer of venue availability of the song. This is however discouraged unless the distribution venue, at their website, specifies this is allowed. Music videos that display any trademark logos (other than the music creator’s own copyrighted logo) entirely throughout are ineligible.
Ineligible:
🚫 Copyright/trademark violations.
🚫 Notable use of virtual reality program recordings.
🚫 Notable use of filters from apps/websites similar to Snapchat.
🚫 Parody of intellectual property characters prominently displayed in the video.
🚫 Notably visible logos of any brand other than your own logo as a music entertainer.
🚫 Notable display of brand products with visible logos including but not limited to toys, stuffed animals, autos, hats, T-Shirts.
🚫 Extremely sexual, gang promoting, violent, or especially scary/gory/maleficent/evil aesthetic content.
🚫 Limitations on involving minors (under 18 yo): no minors doing dangerous stunts; no depictions of minors participating in drugs/drinking/smoking or very sexual behavior (including sexual dancing); do not prominently feature children that are not your own in the video (exception may be made if a relative only allows you to involve their children).
⚖️ Quantities:
Requirements:
✔️ One song per music creator’s brand identity.
✔️ If a music creator uploads more than one of their brands’ potentially eligible songs, the music creator must inform mod which song they prefer to be included in the contest.
✔️ A music creator may win this Song Of The Month contest up to three consecutive times. If this happens, thereafter the creator must abstain from the contest for the next month and then may return to the contest after that 1-month eligibility hiatus.
Ineligible:
🚫 Every collaboration will not automatically be considered a new brand. For example, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss collaborating one time should not be considered a brand. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss making an entire album together should be considered a brand. Music creators attempting to enter multiple songs under multiple brand names will be scrutinized. If there is no social media presence for any additional brands, their songs will likely be rejected as “also eligible” by mods. If this happens, the music creator will have to enter only 1 song.
**🖱️ Accounts you may post from: **
Requirements:
✔️ Your post must be made directly from either your personal Reddit account profile or your brand’s Reddit account profile.
✔️ If you have a medical condition necessitating aid, on your behalf, you may appoint a publicist, manager, caretaker, helper, spouse, partner, friend, guardian, or family member to post from either your personal Reddit account profile or your brand’s Reddit account profile.
✔️ If your song is from a band, group, choir, orchestra, or duo brand, the post must be made directly from either from one of the members’ personal Reddit account profiles or from your brand’s Reddit account profile.
✔️ If your song is collaboration, the post must be made directly from either the lead’s personal Reddit account profile or from the lead’s brand Reddit account profile.
✔️ If you want another song to be a part of the contest from another brand identity you are involved with, the song must be posted by a Reddit account profile for that separate brand – or one of the brand collaborators’ personal Reddit account profile.
👩🏾‍🏫 Presentation at this musicorloseittv community:
Requirements:
✔️ You must post a link to the song at this musicorloseittv community by tapping “+” on smartphone or clicking “+Create a post” on desktop/laptop. You must select the “My Song” flair.
✔️ Your post must be done by the “Title & Link Share Only method.”
✔️ The song’s URL you provide must be of the standalone song upload - not part of a playlist URL link.
✔️ You may post an audio only upload URL link (such as an individual song published at SoundCloud or Bandcamp). Alternatively, you may post a music video link from a venue like YouTube.
✔️ You may include a smartlink for the individual song (not album or playlist) within your posts’ body-text section or a reply to the post.
✔️ You may title the post whatever you want within the community’s rules and the contest’s rules. Remember: no vague titles; limit post title emojis to no more than 2 (if you decide to use them); and don’t request feedback.
✔️ Your post title may be done in the style of “Entertainer - Song Tile” (or something similar). Alternatively, the post title may be more elaborate. For example: “This Is My Latest Song. It’s About A Wonderful Time I Fell In Love.”
✔️ In your posts’ body-text section or in a reply comment, optionally you may share details about the song that you feel the audience would enjoy knowing.
**📝 Needed information: **
Requirements:
✔️ Within either your posts’ body-text section or within a reply comment at your post, provide the following information – as is:
❇️ Contest entry for your consideration:
• Entertainer's Name - Song Title:
• Published on: [Insert date & year. Refers to date published at your URL link source]
• Genre:
• I am an independent creator unsigned I am signed to [insert label name]
• Interpolations/remixes/samplings disclosure: N/A this song contains authorized/licensed interpolations/remixes/samplings [specify] of another song released since 11/15 of the prior year in collaboration with other unsigned music creator(s)[specify]. The link to the original song is [insert URL link – publish date from URL link source must be visible].
• Al disclosure: N/A. A portion of this [song/artwork/music video] is created by Al. Explanation: [specify if this applies to song/artwork/music video].
• Copyright disclosure for song: I confirm I’m the copyright owner of all the contents of this song (lyrics and recording) as it is presented including the artwork [(if applicable) and music video]
Copyrighted content I am authorized/licensed to use commercially in the promotion of my song include: [insert details]
• [optional/voluntary] Confirmation of substantial human involvement: A real human substantially arranged/compose this music. [Note: This type disclosure is strongly encouraged by creators who use instrument sounds and beats from apps/software in substation of instruments played live at the time of recording. This is especially encouraged for music creators who do not show their face and/or don’t show themselves creating the music in a music video or behind the scenes video. For music fans opposed to music primarily created by AI, this type of disclosure can be helpful and assuring.]
• Lyrics: [insert URL link or embed URL link into “Lyrics” text] [note if the lyrics are available at the upload source] [only if you're the copyright owner of the lyrics, you may entirely include them] [type “vocalized” or “instrumental” if applicable]
Ineligible:
🚫 Uploads of songs to Reddit.
🚫 No engagement pleas disguised as feedback requests in post titles nor in your posts’ body-text section. No feedback requests.
**👨🏼‍⚖️ Copyright/trademark compliance: **
‣ Important note: Aforementioned rules already state you either must be the copyright owner of the content you enter for this contest or you must be authorized/licensed to commercially use the content by the copyright owner. Aforementioned rules already state you must disclose use of copyrighted, creative commons, or “free” material. Mods reserve the right to ask for additional proof for confirmation. Suspected violations will be removed at mod’s discretion. You are strongly encouraged to upload your best, newest, utmost original content.
‣ Resources:
U.S. Copyright Office, Copyright in General https://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-general.html
What Musicians Should Know about Copyright by U.S. Copyright Office https://www.copyright.gov/engage/musicians
U.S. Copyright Office Fair Use Index by U.S. Copyright Office https://www.copyright.gov/fair-use
**🤝 Mutual Support **
Requirements:
✔️ You must be active in the musicorloseittv community regarding mutual support and engagement with other posts. You must post a comment reply to at least two other posts of any kind at the musicorloseittv community before the final day of the month. Failing to do so will result in disqualification.
Ineligible:
🚫 Posting then ghosting the community.
**😎👍 Encouraging fans to vote: **
Ineligible:
🚫 You are not allowed to ask for votes in anywhere in the musicorloseittv community’s comments section.
🚫 Music creators may not offer anything to anyone whatsoever in exchange for voting for them.
Allowed:
✔️ If you see a music fan has voted for you, you may thank them in a reply comment.
✔️ You may make social media posts at venues like X/Twitter, Facebook, Threads or your YouTube channel’s Community feed to encourage your fans to join this musicorloseittv subreddit community and vote for your song.
Example post:
My song “Song Title” is a finalist for Best Song Of The Month at the musicorloseittv community at Reddit. At [insert URL link] please vote for me and my song. Thank you.
**📜 Rules adherence: **
‣ Important note: If you are new to the musicorloseittv community as either a music fan voting or music creator entering the contest, latitude may be given as you get familiar here. It’s up to mod’s discretion.
‣ Important note: This contest is just for fun. Likewise playing boardgames or cards with friends is also just for fun yet people expect rules to be followed.
**🕊️ Truthfulness: **
Requirements:
✔️ Contestants and voters are expected to behave honorably and ethically.
Ineligible:
🚫 If anyone is ever discovered cheating or being dishonest akin to author James Frey or music entertainers Milli Vanilli, they will be disqualified and also likely be banned from this community.
Additional Info
If you do not want to be in the contest yet want to continue sharing your songs in this community, it is totally ok. Please inform the moderator. A “Message the mods” option is at the homepage.
In circumstances where uncertainty arises due to an unforeseen issue not addressed here in this outline of rules, moderators reserve the right to approve or disapprove eligibility. Moderators reserve the right to disqualify any song for any reason. Unfortunately, not every contest can perfectly satisfy all participant hopefuls.
Just do your best, don’t take it too seriously, and have fun.
Thank you.
END

Dear PancakeSwap Community,
Hello and Welcome to the PancakeSwap Support thread, Feel free to ask your questions in this thread.
We use this thread to integrate any support questions or queries into one place.
Please keep in mind that for the safety and the privacy of our users, we do not ask for your private keys/ seed phrase on Reddit or anywhere at all they are not meant to be shared with anyone. We only ask for your receiving wallet address or a transaction hash id, please understand our intention, and cooperate with us for us to be able to assist you. Please note that any support requests outside of this thread will not be attended to, thanks for understanding.
Do not hesitate to help your fellow PancakeSwap user as long as their inquiry is a general one, however attempting to engage in private messaging, or providing wrong information will lead to the comment being removed or banned if you private message users regarding their issues and NOTE that PancakeSwap mods never dm first.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some sample topics for you to consider would be:
​

• You're new to PCS and you want to exchange tokens
• You think you received the wrong amount of tokens
• You don't know about the fees
• You can't sell tokens especially tokens with extreme high supply (quadrillions)
• You don't know how to farm, stake, bridge and so on...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rules:
· search this thread for already asked questions before you ask your question. It's likely that someone else had the same question and it's already answered.
· check common problems and solutions on this thread before asking questions. There are tons of material and FAQ about PancakeSwap.
· Please add a new comment if you have a question. Don't ask your questions as an answer to a comment.
· Questions outside of this thread about swaps, transactions, slippage, fees, etc will be deleted.
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How to post about your issue
Please follow this format:
​

1. Comment on this thread with:

· your transaction hash id or wallet address if your question is related to a trade or a transaction.
· Picture of an error if its about other PancakeSwap product.
​

1. Provide a description of your issue (we’ve included a few common problems below)

If your case gets resolved, please delete your comment. Or, at least update it to say resolved. This will help users that still need help get the attention they need. Thank you!
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Common problems & solutions
1. Issues on the Exchange
· INSUFFICIENT_OUTPUT_AMOUNT
· INSUFFICIENT_A_AMOUNT or INSUFFICIENT_B_AMOUNT
· PancakeRouter: EXPIRED
· Pancake: K
· Pancake: TRANSFER_FAILED
· Transaction cannot succeed
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Hi, David here!
Let's first clarify that by a polarizing personality I don't mean that you should be purposely divisive, blatantly harsh or rude. However, while you should not purposely try to offend, you should at the same time not be afraid of offending by simply being who you truly are.
You may be wondering why being too agreeable can be a bad or unattractive trait? Isn't it good to be nice to other people? Sure, it's good to be a nice person, as long as it's not only the result of one of the following two reasons.
The first reason being when a person is only being agreeable because they lack the confidence or strength to stand up to even the slightest confrontation or controversy. Thus acting agreeable is simply a coping mechanism.
The second reason is when a person only acts agreeable in order to try to get something back from another person. This is the typical "nice guy" who wrongly believes that he can barter or buy another person's affection solely via the way he treats them.
Imagine an attractive woman who is used to every guy trying to please her in order to win her over. The one guy who in turn is not desperate for her approval will likely be the one that she finds the most intriguing. Only through first sensing that he is not afraid to lose her approval can she then actually trust anything that comes out of his mouth.
Being polarizing is not about purposely getting into arguments. It's about stating your opinions honestly, and not qualifying your opinion or changing it if the other person disagrees. A person who is very confident and self-secure with themselves and their beliefs does not need to feel that everyone else agrees with them. This of course does not preclude having the willingness to change one's mind when presented with new evidence.
Most people play not to lose instead of playing to win. Thus they hold back in conversation out of fear of saying the wrong thing. More often that not, more attraction will be created through your willingness to be disagreeable than lost due to a difference in opinion.
Don’t actively try to be disagreeable. Rather, simply remove your filters, speak honestly and do not be afraid to say something that others may disagree with. Give others the opportunity to actually get to know the real you.
​
Adding to that, I just finished putting together my dating eBook "How to Date Any Girl" version 4.0 and would LOVE to get some honest feedback from you!
I decided to give it away for free for the time being.
​
The eBook is 27 pages long and gives you a practical step-by-step solution to meeting women (15+ years of knowledge put into it).
You can get the eBook by clicking here!
​
This book is the result of going out and socializing with girls for over a decade. I have put in there all the fundamentals I have learned over that time so I would really appreciate all the feedback I could get!!
​
What are your thoughts? Do you have any tips to add?
Let's discuss in the comments :)
Thanks for reading and have a GREAT day!
Coach David

Sorry if this is a dumb question but I got in an argument with a friend and need some input. So the way I have my world set up right now is essentially every person for themselves type scenario where it doesn’t matter who you everyone is free game. I brought this up to a friend and he said it was unrealistic and the men would take over the world and it would practically be colonial days all over again. And we talked about it for a while and while I still disagree with him it got me thinking. Is the way I have things now that unrealistic? Again sorry if it’s dumb or if this is the wrong place.

Might be a bit of a long story but I need some advice. My 2 bestfriends and I had a falling out a little over a month ago now. We have been close friends since we were about 13 (we’re now 20) excluding a year or two after highschool when we went our separate ways for a little while. So about a month ago my friends had driven down to somewhere that I live very close to while living in uni. Bearing in mind it’s about an hour drive to get to where this place is. A couple days before we had been talking about going there as a group for a little day outing, they had then decided to go by themselves and posted all about it on social media. I sent one of them a reply to their post asking why they had gone and not thought to ask me to come with them, or even meet them there, when I live a 20 minute drive from where they had gone. She replied quite inconsiderately saying that they “hadn’t even thought to ask me”. After she sent me that message I rang them up and we had maybe a 10 second tiff on the phone and i ended up hanging up. Obvs I was hurt by their lack of consideration to ask me to even just meet them there or even just an invite when I live so close and they had travelled all the way down here and not even a thought to see if I was free. I left it there and hadn’t messaged them the rest of the day.
So the next day I got a lengthy paragraph from one of them in our group chat where they basically just spoke down on me about how I told them to fuck off on the phone (which in hindsight maybe not the best thing to say but at the time I was hurt and angry). They kept going on about how I can’t speak to them like that, that i’m disgusting and throwing a childish petty tantrum just because I felt left out. I had already told them that it wasn’t the fact that they were spending time together without me (which they seemed to think was my issue) but it was the fact that they had travelled an hour to go to somewhere that I live so close to while in uni when they knew I was there and not back home. We argued throughout the whole day and their whole thing was that they were mad I had told them to fuck off, which I don’t think is the most awful thing to happen but they had made it seem like it was. They were so patronising towards me it was unbelievable I have never experienced anything like it to be honest. I was insulted again and again, them calling me disgusting and childish and selfish and rude, yet I was the one in the wrong because I told them to fuck off the one time.
So it’s been about a month and a half since that all happened and I haven’t spoke to either of them since. I thought i’d give everyone space to calm down and do their own thing for a while, but today I had been thinking about everything and decided to message one of them as I was home for the night from uni, asking if they would like to meet up for a chat in the day to sort things out. Just messaged a hey and she replied back pretty much straight away, I then asked her if she was free in the day to meet up tomorrow to talk and she didn’t reply for about 10 hours, but had been posting all over her stories. But that’s neither here nor there so whatever. Comes around to about 11pm and I get a reply saying “i don’t wanna sound horrible but im still not happy about everything”. Please anyone tell me if i’m being crazy and stupid here and If I am actually in the wrong because after a month and a half you’d thing that someone who claims to be above all the petty drama, wouldn’t be holding a grudge for this long and would’ve gotten over it. Because I do hold a grudge and i’m over it that’s why i reached out to fix things between us. so I said yeah that’s why i’ve messaged and wanted to talk to sort things out, but said it’s fine if she wants to end our friendship here so asked her to let me know so I can figure out what to do, a bit of extra conversation that’s not worth mentioning and then she said “not trying to be dramatic but i think we should just leave it for now” which i said “that’s fine if that’s how you feel, i do think it’s a bit dramatic and unfair” just considering how she’s let go of sooo many awful things my other friend has said and done to her, but i said that’s whatever and that’s fine. she said she wasn’t arguing with me but I was in no way looking for an argument, it was a pretty simple conversation to be honest but she seems to think every thing is an argument if it’s not something that agrees with her outlook on whatever the situation is. I’ve left it there with her, I didn’t expect her to be like that honestly, but looking at how she treated me when we had our fallout and completely disregarded my feelings i shouldn’t have been surprised.
I blame myself for this happening mostly even though I don’t think what I had said to them was half as bad as what they’d said to me, and sometimes i think it might have been a blessing in disguise.
I guess what i’m looking for on here is some validation for my feelings about the situation, or even criticism if anyone thinks i’m genuinely in the wrong. I was going to reach out to the other friend tomorrow but is it even worth it now if one of them has already rejected my offer to reconcile, and the way they had spoken and treated me, would it be worth trying to get our friendship back after that?
(sorry if some things don’t make sense, it’s 3 in the morning but It’s been on my mind and I can’t sleep so what better way to get advice than from strangers haha)

Open Access Scientific Literature

There are multiple movements and sources for open access to scientific literature.
This thread is a resource for open access. Please list links to open access scientific literature. This dynamic is certainly changing, but there is clearly literature that is still pay wall restricted.
Here is a solid opening story by Radiolab

APR 7, 2023
The Library of Alexandra
How much does knowledge cost? While that sounds like an abstract question, the answer is surprisingly specific: $3,096,988,440.00. That’s how much the business of publishing scientific and academic research is worth.
This is the story of one woman’s battle against a global network of academic journals that underlie published scientific research. In 2011, Alexandra Elbakyan had just moved home to Kazakhstan after a disappointing few years trying to study neuroscience in the United States when she landed on an internet forum where a bunch of scientists were all looking for the same thing: access to academic journal articles that were behind paywalls. That’s the moment the very simple, but enormously powerful, website called Sci Hub was born.
The site holds over 88 million articles and serves up about a million downloads to people in practically every country on the globe. We travel to Kazakhstan to meet the mysterious woman behind it all and to find out what it takes to make everything we know about anything available to anyone anywhere, for free.

Special thanks to Vrindra Bhandari, Balázs Bodó, Stephen Buranyi, Ian Graber-Stiehl, Joel Joseph, Noorain Khalifa, Aparajita Lath, Steve McLaughlin, Marcia McNutt, Randy Scheckman Tanmay Singh, Deborah Harkness, Joe Karaganis, Lawrence Lessig, Glyn Moody, and Steven Press.

Episode Credits: Reported by - Eli Cohen Reporting help from - Karishma Mehrotra, Emily Krumberger and Norihelys Ramos Produced by Simon Adler with help from - Eli Cohen Original music and sound designed by - Simon Adler Mixing by - Jeremy Bloom Edited by - Alex Neason
Our newsletter comes out every Wednesday. It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show. Sign up (https://radiolab.org/newsletter)!
Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member of The Lab(https://members.radiolab.org/) today.
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Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook u/radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailing [radiolab@wnyc.org](mailto:radiolab@wnyc.org).

sources and resources for open access
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/competitions/finding-and-accessing-scientific-papers
https://www.nnlm.gov/about/DOCLINE/OpenAccessResources
https://www.twas.org/open-source-scientific-information
https://library.purdueglobal.edu/library/oa
https://about.jstor.org/oa-and-free/
https://libguides.cmich.edu/web_research/oa
Please feel free to add resources, links comments etc.

Everyone says don’t join something that you see online especially on Reddit or Facebook but i guess it depends on where you look I’m 100% with all this
Background story. (You can skip this) I am from Arizona I have been here 17 years and my famliy always went places but we always came back I’m 19 turning 20 now I have a good understanding of a lot because I was never around phones or fake shit I dropped out 8th grade and it was because of the agenda they pushed in my middle school let’s put this in terms that everyone should be able to catch on to
6th grade History,English,Math was taught by a short foreign Teacher that could barley speak English or know anything about America history he was good at math tho I will give the man that
(Side note) This is where it got me the most for the last 2 classes which were the longest I had a female foreign teacher that was putting on the news about the elections and the riots and the killings and everything that was going on then made us write what we thought and stand up and read it and for half a year I watch people turn on each other and form little groups that was left or right This is in middle school remind you I would go home day after day and watch political arguments and debates and old school debates and I educated myself so much for the people I was around from the school and from this country this happened all middle school until I said fuck it and didn’t go back they also tried to vaccinate me and that’s why I didn’t go back But from 14 to 19 turning 20 which is now I have learned so much about the bullshit and the realness of everything that’s why I ask you to join me and make AMERICA great AGAIN without politics or politicians (End)
In the old days 20 year olds did so much they were men and now if your like that no one your age will talk to you because you don’t play video games or do drugs Well they loss
A year now I had a voice in my head (in a good way) tell me AMERICA IS EVIL THEY ARE ALL EVIL DONT LISTEN TO THEM THEY ARE BRAINWASHING PEOPLE and I knew it was the truth and I put down my cup of alcohol and for the rest of the time from now I been seeing exactly what they have been doing to people like I said from 14 to 19 i educated myself on it all but that’s what THEY WANT you to do is be caught up in something so they can do what it is they do
I want to start something in the United state of America where you have a community of people who are broken free of the brainwashing and protects its people and land just like the people back in the day and I feel like if I have at least 25 to 40 people no matter what age but 18 and older to stand with and make this country great again it will make movement and we can reach the people
If you comment under this or dm me I will reach out to you with details and information and links

There are multiple movements and sources for open access to scientific literature.
This thread is a resource for open access. Please list links to open access scientific literature. This dynamic is certainly changing, but there are clearly literature that is still pay wall restricted.
Here is a solid opening story by Radiolab

APR 7, 2023
The Library of Alexandra
APR 7, 2023How much does knowledge cost? While that sounds like an abstract question, the answer is surprisingly specific: $3,096,988,440.00. That’s how much the business of publishing scientific and academic research is worth.
This is the story of one woman’s battle against a global network of academic journals that underlie published scientific research. In 2011, Alexandra Elbakyan had just moved home to Kazakhstan after a disappointing few years trying to study neuroscience in the United States when she landed on an internet forum where a bunch of scientists were all looking for the same thing: access to academic journal articles that were behind paywalls. That’s the moment the very simple, but enormously powerful, website called Sci Hub was born.
The site holds over 88 million articles and serves up about a million downloads to people in practically every country on the globe. We travel to Kazakhstan to meet the mysterious woman behind it all and to find out what it takes to make everything we know about anything available to anyone anywhere, for free.
Special thanks to Vrindra Bhandari, Balázs Bodó, Stephen Buranyi, Ian Graber-Stiehl, Joel Joseph, Noorain Khalifa, Aparajita Lath, Steve McLaughlin, Marcia McNutt, Randy Scheckman Tanmay Singh, Deborah Harkness, Joe Karaganis, Lawrence Lessig, Glyn Moody, and Steven Press.
Episode Credits: Reported by - Eli Cohen Reporting help from - Karishma Mehrotra, Emily Krumberger and Norihelys Ramos Produced by Simon Adler with help from - Eli Cohen Original music and sound designed by - Simon Adler Mixing by - Jeremy Bloom Edited by - Alex Neason
Our newsletter comes out every Wednesday. It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show. Sign up (https://radiolab.org/newsletter)!
https://radiolab.org/podcast/library-alexandra

scihub https://www.sci-hub.pub/#google_vignette
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/competitions/finding-and-accessing-scientific-papers https://www.nnlm.gov/about/DOCLINE/OpenAccessResources
https://www.twas.org/open-source-scientific-information
https://library.purdueglobal.edu/library/oa
https://about.jstor.org/oa-and-free/
https://libguides.cmich.edu/web_research/oa
Please feel free to add resources, links comments etc.

Hi! Posting here again. I'm a 3rd year college student lf part time and also a freelance ghostwriter since 2022! For my credentials, I have graduated from an associate arts degree in writing with latin honors (with a GWA of 1.25).
If anyone's interested to let me cater any write ups, pls comment or hmu.
Here are my services! I offer rush and non-rush commissions btw.
I do essays, reflection papers, write ups reaction papers, position papers, critique essay, infographic, script, case studies. can also do ppts, literary pieces or literary analysis, poetry! anything technical or creative writing!
I also do research (rrl, methodology, etc.)!
I can show samples too of my creative and technical writeups soI can show my quality works. My rates are usually 0.6 per word or 150-200 per page depending on the complexity of task!
Thanks!

Hi! Posting here again. I'm a 3rd year college student lf part time and also a freelance ghostwriter since 2022! For my credentials, I have graduated from an associate arts degree in writing with latin honors (with a GWA of 1.25).
If anyone's interested to let me cater any write ups, pls comment or hmu.
Here are my services! I offer rush and non-rush commissions btw.
I do essays, reflection papers, write ups reaction papers, position papers, critique essay, infographic, script, case studies. can also do ppts, literary pieces or literary analysis, poetry! anything technical or creative writing!
I also do research (rrl, methodology, etc.)!
I can show samples too of my creative and technical writeups soI can show my quality works. My rates are usually 0.6 per word or 150-200 per page depending on the complexity of task!
In case, I also offer NSFW pics and videos (no face). Though this depends on how much commissions of writeups I can get.
Thanks!

My favorite tub is Black Ice and 2nd favorite behind that would be Star Fruit.
I also tried Ocean Potion and xqc The juice, these ones arent bad but they are a little too sweet for me to have everyday.
I got to try Bahama Mama from some free sample sticks they sent me and I really liked that so i might buy a tub of that.
so any recommendations based on what i already like?

Hi friends
Here I share with you some of the best free tools that were released during the 2nd week of may 2024.
Audio examples included & all download links.
In this list you'll find: an awesome harp instrument by Steinberg, a cool rompler with tons of sounds possible by Soundware, a mastering plugin by IK Multimedia & more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OW6z0IuCE4

Let me preface this by saying I do live with my parents but I pay rent to them. I also run errands for my parents frequently and help out around the house. I can not afford to live on my own and I don't qualify for low-income services.
So my family is downstairs watching a movie together and I'm upstairs in my bedroom. It's been a hectic weekend that was hard for me. My social battery is at an all time low and my ability to deal with other people and bad sensory input is at zero.
Meaning that I don't want to deal with my mom's pet dogs that are a sensory hell for me. One barks almost constantly because nobody cares except me because it hurts my ears. The other dog stinks and gets so much positive attention from everyone that as someone who was and still is emotionally neglected it's easy to get jealous of the dog. The third dog is cute and all but like that's all I have to say about that dog.
I just spent the weekend being out of town for a college graduation celebration of a family member and it was a lot for me. I was dealing with nerve pain during the two hour drive up and back, I am also still recovering from a partially dislocated jaw, and my bladder decided that it was going to act up as well in terms of being overactive. So like I was already dealing with a lot of shit but I put that shit aside to be present and cheerful for my sister who graduated.
Whenever a medical issue was causing me discomfort or pain I would mostly just push it aside as my parents aren't very accommodating and I didn't have my own transportation this time around. My dad was accommodating but often impatient about it. Like needing to stop back at the hotel after dinner for a bathroom break and to change or before we left town when I needed to use the bathroom and that was apparently super inconvenient for everyone.
My mom on the other hand was not accommodating at all. She frequently didn't want to change her plans to accommodate my medical needs and would make that known. When I needed to take meds to hopefully help with my nerve pain before heading home she grilled me on why I needed the medication and then tried to invalidate my need for it.
She also told me at one point that I'm her most emotionally taxing daughter out of the three of us which was very hurtful.
When we got home she apparently went into my bedroom without my permission and didn't close the door behind her. I have a very firm boundary that no dogs are allowed in my bedroom and therefore the door must stay closed. We have one dog that has peed on just about every bed in the house and ruined the matress on my sister's bed recently so I feel it's a reasonable boundary. But it's normal for my boundaries to be disrespected in this family.
Then tonight they wanted to watch a movie and I was going to join them but my sister and dad took the two seats that were dog free. I tried asking them to move which resulted in an argument and then I gave up and went to my room. I honestly don't think I was asking to much. My sister gets along fine with the dogs so it makes sense that she would sit there while I get to sit in a space that is sensory safe for me.
I'm just exhausted from people pleasing so often and getting nothing but disrespect in return. If I could afford to move out and live on my own I would.