what the hell is this "tpot" thing
my flawed hitchhiker's guide to an online community (and more)
WHAT IF I TOLD YOU THAT AMONG US NOW, THERE ARE A BUNCH OF PEOPLE - MANY OF WHOM ARE ANONS - THAT HAVE CREATED A MASSIVE THOUSAND-PERSON-WIDE GLOBAL NETWORK OF TWITTER ACCOUNTS
AND THESE PEOPLE ARE DATING, OFFERING SERVICES, MAKING FRIENDS, GOING TO CAMP, HOSTING MASS MEETUPS IN MAJOR CITIES, AND DOING A LOT OF STUFF
… And everyone’s just, going along with it and having their lives changed by online spaces? But this one is one of the weirdly undefinable, unmonetizable, unfundamentally alterable, interesting-vibed places?
Yep, that’s tpot!
““What’s tpot?!?!””
A: A cluster of accounts that started interacting with each other and noticed they’re all having similar experiences — shared vibes — mutual followings — and suddenly everyone all at once stumbled upon a “scene” that emerged but was online. There’s different cliques, different clubs, different sections.
Nevertheless, just like if Twitter were a city… this is a scene. A town square for those on Twitter that wanted a place to belong that wouldn’t be “hierarchal”. Now you can reply to a bunch of people and start making real friends that talk about topics mainstream doesn’t always have the space for! Stuff that you can’t get anywhere else.
If you read this post in the wild, not linked directly from a mutual friend, you may have no clue what the hell I’m about to be talking about. But if you’ve stumbled upon this, it’s definitely a “If You Know You Know” sort of thing where you sort of half-know about “this part of Twitter”. This is a very specific niche, not defined by any special interests, but purely in the fact that people on the Internet are seeking community that trends wholesome and inclusive and they… unintentionally but now somewhat formalistically created a network!?
God, I wish that I could give you, dear reader, a neat breakdown and some direct links. I’m new to this space though. Upon authoring this at 11pm on a Tuesday night, I have been officially in this game for 6 months. I don’t know the “lore.” It’s not all centralized in one area. But after the fourth new friend asked me who I kept meeting in my newfound home of New York, I realized I had to take it upon myself to centralize my explanation.
Alas, I can only pin certain tweets and hope you can trace a vague pathway down the rabbit hole into swimming in these waters of intellectualism.
DISCLAIMER GOES HERE:
This is a growing doc. This is a landing page for us to compile the BEST takes on what this “tpot” thing is. I will CONTINUE to add to this as people take the liberty of sending me things to add. (Please don’t solicit my DMs telling me why this writeup is flawed and incomplete. This Google form can help you formalize and contribute to this!)
It’s quite weird to describe tpot. Chances are, you’re probably here because you recently asked something among the lines of:
“Who are all these people that seem to all know each other in X major city and have meetups? I live here, and I don’t know whose parties you’re inviting me to IRL.” (A: tpot people that have gone IRL)
“Who do you talk to all day on Twitter anyway? Do you have a friend group or something that knows each other?” (A: more like different friend groups, think of it like a university, tpot people though yes)
“How did you grow your Substack so fast? Who’s subscribing? Who’s upvoting your thoughts?” (A: tpot people who are friendly and curious)
“Why did you ditch all your IRL friends and suddenly complain about ‘normies’ and use Internet acronyms only? I want to do that too!” (A: … you get the idea)
And you got sent to this place.
Simple but flawed explanation: It’s a channel for people to meet other nerds who are candid about their questions, curiosities, interests, and needs. Their objective is they want to meet other people like that because their immediate IRL communities need a subsidization of “intellectual” “theoretical” or “wistful” types.
“in broad strokes, tpot is a group of people on Twitter who value curiosity, openness, earnestness, intelligence, kindness, and vulnerability. Tpot gets a lot of its cerebral and analytical vibes from the rationalist community, but there are also influences from decidedly non-rationalist spaces. You will see many different forms of spirituality and self-help discussed on tpot: buddhism, meditation, psychedelics, different types of therapy and emotional work, but also more esoteric or “woo” forms of spirituality like tarot, astrology, and straight up magic.” — Otis, “A quickstart guide to tpot”
You can also check out A Guide To Twitter by @christineist ^
Anyways — now on to the Value Prop FAQ part of this writeup:
Many people drawn to tpot have ostensibly been looking for this your whollle online life: a group of accounts that all follow a similar network of accounts where people tweet about similar things, but the common theme is they are things that make you feel alive again. Loneliness is why people flock to books and wholesome wide eyed posting. They want this: to Feel that Life is rife full of meaning. They want to meet Someone is curious about the world like you (many someones). There are many threads about this quest people have going. (I will compile them as I continue to find them)
What is tpot History? How did it start?
AGAIN, fill in the blanks for me, I don’t know lore nor do many people i know. Enlighten me:
^old timey post about how this relates to postrationalism, can someone explain this tie though?
My hypothesis is that at some point, a bunch of friends began tweeting at each other and forming a tight knit group ~the late 2010’s going into the 2020’s. They then continued to grow this network via shared interests and, ostensibly, shared goals of making third spaces a reality. The pandemic probably also sped this up. Originally a part of social movements like Effective Altruism, Rationalism, etc. soon things evolved (???)
Thread below is one such account musing:
These people were probably starved for social company that made them feel safe and desired and cherished for their bookish brains, their eager thoughts etc. offline. Thus online became the reality that they wanted to weave into their lives to better themselves and others. And this was no longer the livejournal, xanga era. Now it was all about Twitter, and it was all about making these relationships REAL too.
So I’d say tpot is a liminal space where intellectual camaraderie transcends its online Platonian vibes and you start having real live symposiums IRL. It takes the place of church youth group in Judeo-Christian tradition; since socializing is no longer centralized, you have to meet friends who get high on the same supply somewhere else. Who else reads Nietszche and Freud and Kierkegaard who also applies the principles to living a whole life outside of their tech job? Oh wow, a tpot dude! Nice!
It also seems to center on people following this account, a cool dude named Visa, who popularized a lot of etiquette of growing your friend group through his awesome books and interesting threads:
And slowly, Twitter became less of a place for you to “promote” yourself and your brain, and more so for you to seek out other cool brains and show off your cool brain as a way to brain-bond with others.
Soon, people were brain-bonding with each other often enough to merit a follow, then more replies and retweets after said follow, then perhaps some DMing, and hopefully eventually IRL hangs.
Why would anyone join?
Who IS tpot for? Good question. You’ve probably read some of the lit. You probably know it’s for “friendly ambitious nerds.”
I’d reckon though, that it’s for anyone who really lacks something in their life that they are trying to find through online. Whether it’s stimulating conversation, mentors who’ll encourage you, mentees who you want to give back to, job opps, partners — tpot is the place to go for anyone who needs a boost in their life. It is honestly lonely when you may feel like you’re the only one in your immediate surroundings prioritizing learning, and this is a very common experience for people in tpot from what I’ve heard.
Those who are more self actualized yet still lurking are still seeking something from friendly, ambitious nerds. It’s a matter of admitting it to yourself.
And also realizing: you want to be around people who are trying to solve their problems too. Not just recognize them as valid, but also be alive enough to make them a reality.
What are the things people do in tpot?
Non-exhaustive list:
Run Book Clubs
Make tweet threads
Write essays
Host Salons
Complain and get tweet validation
Join meetups
Fall in love
Worry about the world but together
So what “is” tpot?
A place for you to find other smart theoretically people
A place to collaborate and test out an idea
A place to get hype for your place in the world
What tpot isn’t:
An escape from living your real life
A place to go be creepy, racist, sexist, or anything vile
A place to take without contributing anything of value (as in, be respectful and champion everyone)
What tpot should be:
Some say monetizable, some say volunteer driven to keep infastructure alive.
I say, continuing to be a strange place for nerds to enjoy.
I don’t read enough literature about “online culture” to say, but it is interesting that tpot is liminal. Not “officialized” or “formalized” anywhere, really.
Its approach to community is also nebulous, which I caution people about. Be careful about assuming people have the same values as you. They are just as likely to, at a glance, as they just as likely are to not, once you get deep enough.
This is still the jungle of the real world, even if you have a greater chance of striking gold. The rules of life still apply, no matter how brutal, and it’s your job to see the extent they do.
People who idealize their online friendships and ruminating in this space, who don’t feel safe operating in the world, can come here to gain some skills and some safety.
But in my opinion, this is your wheels to get you off the ground and lifted into thriving where you are right now (and if you don’t like it, change it.)
My call to action: Use tpot to inspire you to make your real life better. Do not escape here. Let reality humiliate your knowledge. Let tpot people be the ones you let in enough to sleep you in the face. Let’s do that.
Questionably documented account by Joisey John: (again, please leave comments in the Google form)
Who is a part of tpot?
A lot of accounts (check out the directories above and Christin’s article).
You can start with my account @crystalxduan. We can be friendly Internet acquaintances, though that’s the extent of my investment.
How do I get involved?
Tweet at people. Give more thought to valuable convos already happening.
Follow the accounts in the Google Docs guide that has more accounts on it.
And just honestly, make sure your reply game is strong before you try to add your own takes on main that you’ll be disappointed don’t get noticed.
Tpot especially is about giving more than you take. Make some Internet friends instead of “trying to make it big.” Rome wasn’t built in a day.
What’s the political leanings of tpot?
People will often tweet “controversial things,” so it’s not the best place at times to gauge.
Caveats people have are: everyone questions neo-anything. So far left, far right, whatever. People came to tpot to have candid conversations with the expectation of civility. This is not a place for extreme emotion directed at others. Maybe you can experience a crying breakdown on the timeline and have others witness you, but argumentative combat isn’t the jam here.
There’s a type of personality that does well in tpot. I can’t put my finger on it, but it’s something probably among the lines of “friendly logic-favoring but curious being”, a lot of the “post-rat” attitude of people who are adjacent to the Effective Altruists or Rationalists or honestly I’m butchering it all because that is not who I am. (Again, please fill out my form if I’m fucking up too badly)
If you want to be coddled or “respected” or emotionally validated — often you won’t find it here. Friendship runs well on objectives, so figure out your intentions when joining and what you want to learn and what you want to contribute. You won’t find everyone is your ally, but you might find a few people have the same political beliefs as you. Don’t expect everyone to though.
Instead, think of tpot as your new “classmates.” (If you never had to go to school with people who’d challenge you, well…)
And who the fuck r u? Why did you write this?
I’m Crystal.
I’m an ex-community skeptic. I’ll write some more words some other day about my philosophy on community, namely around how communities fall apart if they come together only on shared interests or shared qualities, as opposed to shared goals and processes for those goals, and also around how people really are lonely and don’t want individual friends. They want friend groups.
I’m one of those suckers. Against my will, I find most of my enjoyment comes from making friends online these days, taking them offline, and watching if the plants bloom.
Some have. Some haven’t. Tpot is not for the weak, but it can make you stronger.
Are you tpot mommy?
god no. None of us are tpot parents.
But if you need help getting in touch with local tpot people in your community, you can tweet at me.
Okay, addressing tweet about it where people who don’t want to fill out my form can just tweet their responses below.
I missed a good chunk but here’s a start.
I was literally introduced to tpot this year (2023) by a coaching client of mine who said I was tpot or tpot-adjacent, but I didn't know what it was lol. But when I looked it up, I knew Visa would eventually be part of it, and I was right. I've been on the Visa train for a while and a growing Crystal fan too! Anyway, this is a good primer and I'm now ready to officially consider myself in tpot.
I'm still confused about whether TPOT is an acronym that actually stand for something?