Unsolicited advice is mostly a status move wearing the costume of generosity. Whoever offers it takes the higher position for a moment, and the person receiving it is expected to be grateful for being made a little smaller. People sense this immediately, which is why correct advice delivered uninvited so often produces resistance instead of change. The content may be sound. The arrangement is what offends.
Asked for help runs on entirely different terms. When someone requests your knowledge, they have already granted you the standing to give it, and nothing is taken from them in the exchange. The same sentence can land as a gift in one conversation and an insult in the next, and the difference was settled before anyone spoke.
There's an old rule that follows from this. Teach nothing unless asked, and give no advice unless you're being paid for it. It sounds cold until you live by it for a while and notice how much of your peace was being spent supervising people who never hired you.
Nostr happens to be the first place where that second condition can be met directly, since anyone who genuinely wants your opinion can attach a few sats to the question. I'd point out that this post is itself unsolicited, but you already noticed. Zap accordingly
Asked for help runs on entirely different terms. When someone requests your knowledge, they have already granted you the standing to give it, and nothing is taken from them in the exchange. The same sentence can land as a gift in one conversation and an insult in the next, and the difference was settled before anyone spoke.
There's an old rule that follows from this. Teach nothing unless asked, and give no advice unless you're being paid for it. It sounds cold until you live by it for a while and notice how much of your peace was being spent supervising people who never hired you.
Nostr happens to be the first place where that second condition can be met directly, since anyone who genuinely wants your opinion can attach a few sats to the question. I'd point out that this post is itself unsolicited, but you already noticed. Zap accordingly
6❤️2💯1🤝1