And don't get me wrong — we're celebrating.

Scribble has come a long way from two guys with half-baked ideas trying 144 different things, a first deal to reward 4 creators, and a spreadsheet of creators we were desperately hoping would take a chance on us.

But if I'm being honest, the thing I'm most proud of isn't the milestones, you all know them.

It's what happened every time we screwed up and boy we screwed up a lot.

How It Started

4th April, one call, and it took off, slowly and steadily

We secured the first deal in mid of April, Reviewed the first batch of content. Rewarded the first scribblers.

The rest, as they say, is history and if you're reading this, you probably already know how this goes.

What you might not know is what was happening behind those chapters and how many times we made mistakes and you will know them as you read this article

Chapter #1 — We made a blunder by which we sent everyone else's money to the wrong people

Let me set the scene.

It's a weekend. I curated a list of winners and I sent it to the Kaavya to do the disbursement of an entire prize pool to the wrong set of wallets — Phase 1 winners who weren't supposed to receive this round's rewards, got the rewards.

Me?

In Panic. Full, scattered, "what did I just do" panic.

The money was gone. It was a weekend, and crypto certainly doesn't wait for apologies.

Most people in my position would have quietly hoped for the best and braced for the worst, which i also did, I am a human afterall,thoughts in my head were that the money was gone, that the community would be furious, that this was the beginning of the end with JO in the head

I texted Kaavya with HOPE: "We'll get it back by Monday."

I don't know if I believed it. But I went back on X and started messaging every single person who had received funds they weren't supposed to.

Within 36 hours — before it was even Monday — every dollar was back.

Not because of a smart contract. Not because of legal pressure. Because I knew these weren't just Twitter handles, They are real people. And real people, when they know who you are and what you believe in, they do right thing

They sent each and every PENNY BACK!

If you ever want to talk shit about crypto communities being scammers, un-reliable, with all due respect, take it elsewhere. My community is not the same.

https://x.com/tanmaytarte3/status/1978833024201412679?s=20

Chapter #2 — We Trusted the Wrong People

We partnered with a project — Alpha Navy — and sent our scribblers to work (brings back old wounds innit?)

We rolled out a grant and the project was supposed to pay the creators for the content they create + we did not charge any management fees from the project, it was all for the community and the scribblers responded

They created content, did the research, used the product and promoted markets, built audiences, put genuine effort into something they were promised would be compensated.

Then Alpha Navy dropped this:

"After reviewing all entries, unfortunately we found that none met the FULL criteria… So, nobody won by our metrics."

crap , buncha crap! You know it, I know it. They know it.

We were blindsided.

Some creators genuinely did everything that was asked of them but we couldn't get them paid.

And it wasn't because of Scribble — but Scribble's name was attached to the campaign, and that meant Scribble owned the outcome.

Here's what I expected — creators to be furious at us, you don't take money upfront, how could you trust brands like these

Here's what happened — they took a public stance with us, against Alpha Navy, went out ballistic.

They didn't separate us from the mistake, They separated us from the bad actor, They cared and they Understood

That only happens when a community trusts you enough to know the difference. And that trust?

You don't manufacture it. You build it slowly, with every reply, every delay explanation, every time you show up as a person — not just a project out there to make money/

Knowing your community isn't knowing their follower count.

It's knowing their name, their timezone, their frustration, their patience and most importantly their character

And we're one lucky community in that.

https://x.com/scribble_dao/status/1992892218114482622?s=20

Chapter #3 — We Announced a Winner We Had to Take Back

This one stings differently because it wasn't a wallet error or a partner's bad faith.

It was MINE.

We ran a judging round with Skillful AI.

The process had gaps, this is back in the day when projects used to judge the content — criteria weren't followed consistently, and when we announced a winner, the community flagged it immediately.

Loudly! Correctly so!

We took the announcement down.

That's not a small thing. Publicly walking back a winner announcement, in Web3, when everyone is watching for any sign that you're just another project that does what's convenient — it's a risk.

But we redid the judging, properly this time, i remember sprinting the judging as they were just too many submissions and we came back with a result the community actually respected.

Building in public means failing in public. And failing publicly, with accountability, is one of the few things that actually builds loyalty.

Not because people love watching you fail — but because they need to know you won't pretend you didn't.

What All Three Have in Common

Three different mistakes. Three different kinds of pain.

One constant: the community showed up.

Not because Scribble is perfect.

We are demonstrably, repeatedly not perfect. But because we've always chosen transparency over optics — real explanations over PR statements, real people behind every delay, real accountability when we get it wrong.

Anyone can build a community. Set up a Discord, drop some rewards, run a campaign, call it a movement.

But having a community that shows up for you when you've messed up — that returns your mistake, that defends you against bad partners, that holds you accountable and then keeps building with you anyway?

That's not something you build with a strategy.

That's something you earn, one honest moment at a time.

Scribble exists because of this community.

And everything we do next — we're doing it with them.

WWF.

Happy birthday, Scribble. Here's to making more mistakes worth talking about.