Welcome to Whoop!

Answers this: how the hell does this thing work?

The rabbit out of the hat pit now

If you are looking for an ongoing quest, you can find it here. If you are new or need a refresher, please read on!

Opening Gambit

Howdy argonauts!

It gives me immense happiness to share ‘whoop!’ with you! I am

waveman

¹, and I will be your shoulder angel.

As I write rewrite this introduction on the third Sunday of September first Thursday of October, in the year of the King 2081, the clock is 50 04 minutes away from striking thirteen sixteen where I am.

But —

before I descend into an air
of intrigue and atmosphere,
some secrets you must hear,
soul sistahs, chers frères!

That opening should tell you a little something (or a lot) about ‘whoop!’. And we will talk about ‘whoop!’ some more, but first…

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Welcome, and Thank You!

Thank you because you are here in the first place when you can be anywhere else on the interwebs or IRL. And welcome because, well, come…

This post is a cross between an introduction and a navigational aid. Let’s start with the introduction.

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Introduction

Simply put, whoop! is a weekly riddle-solving contest.

It combines riddles' playfulness with community building and content curation to create an alternative to toxic social media feeds.

The About page summarizes the ‘what’ and ‘why’ of whoop!, as does the helpful image gallery below.

(whoop!) What Is It, And Why Should You Care?

Feel free to download these images (or their PDF version below) and share them with folks who you think will love whoop! or benefit from it.

(whoop!) What Is It, And Why Should You Care?

599KB ∙ PDF file

Download

A six-page PDF deck to help folks understand 'whoop!' and its benefits.

Download

You can also find a more opinionated, manifesto-in-progress post about whoop! here.

Right now, it is less a manifesto and more an in-progress mess. You can skip it if you want. It’s out here in public anyway because of the STFU ethos whoop! is being built on.

Now that that’s out of the way, here’s how things work (for now)² —

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How whoop! works

The Weekly Whoop

Every Friday at 0600 hours PT (0900 hours ET and 1830 hours IST), for three weeks a month, I will post The Weekly Whoop containing:

1. a key (i.e., a riddle or a puzzle),

2. a quest (the question(s) to be answered or objective(s) to be achieved using the key),

3. a playbook (the rules of the quest, reward amount, and other helpful guidance)

I will follow up on these three with a clue (a hint or a clarification) every 48 hours, for a total of two clues. So you can expect the clues on Sunday and Tuesday at 0600 hours PT.

Now, let’s dive into these four components in more detail.

The Key

The key is a verse, prose, image, or some other artifact that hides the answers you seek. The poem below ain’t Wordsworth, but the words are worth your time as they describe the attributes of the key.

Answers are shrouded, 'tis a riddle,
there’s wordplay afoot, so go fiddle.

The key may speak in metaphor,
and language old like ‘nevermore’ 

It may mean one thing, two or three,
Discern the right one to go be free.

The seas of the key have red herrings,
Careful, mariner! Mind your bearings.

The Quest

The quest is a collection of questions that you must answer (or objectives you must achieve) using the key.

Sometimes, a quest may have only one question. Others may have many (making them a scavenger hunt).

For now, the plan is to release all questions in one go. Of course, the format will evolve as our budding community undertakes more quests.

The quest ends when:

1. a subscriber (free, monthly, or annual) sends through the solutions (i.e., the correct answers AND the logic behind them) for ALL the questions of the quest; or,

2. the time runs out (typically six days from when The Weekly Whoop is released, BUT extendable in most cases).

The Playbook

The playbook carries the following details:

1. rules of the quest (especially if they are different than the general rules mentioned in this post)

2. the quantum of reward and how it changes with the release of clues (e.g., in some cases, the reward may reduce with each new clue)

3. clarifications regarding the key and the quest (as applicable on a case ot case basis), including any exceptions to the information in this post.

In general, if the information in this post and a specific playbook conflict, the playbook should take precedence.

The Clues

The clues are hints to help complete the quest. Though I doubt these will be needed, I have made the provisions just in case.

Typically, only two clues will be supplied for a quest:

• at 0600 hours Pacific Time on Sunday

• at 0600 hours Pacific Time on Tuesday

Generally speaking, clues are for monthly and annual subscribers only. Only some clues are made available to free subscribers and only some of the times.

There will be exceptions to this in some weeks. E.g. for our first quest, clues were made available to all subscribers. Such exceptions will be notified in the quest’s playbook.

Consider subscribing to receive the clues.

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Questions, Answers, Clarifications

Ask questions, seek clarifications, confirm answers, brainstorm, and send the solutions (the answers and logic behind them) via DM (preferred method):

Or via email.

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Rewards

The first subscriber to complete the quest is eligible for a cash reward. Right now, that’s the only reward. There are no second places unless a discretionary dispensation is made.

Similarly, there are no rewards for partly correct solutions.

For our Monthly and Annual subscribers

In addition to all the fun, the paid subscribers get the following additional rewards:

1. You get a cash reward IF you are the first to complete the quest³.

2. The typical reward for The Weekly Whoop is US $200. However, this may change, so check the playbook every week.

3. Unless the playbook says otherwise, the cash reward for our monthly subscribers will be reduced with every clue.

4. The reward remains unchanged for annual subscribers, the folks in it for the long haul.

For our Free subscribers

As a free subscriber, you are in it for the fun — the joy of the hunt, the jolt to the brain, and the eventual Eureka!

You can always add to that with a shot at cash prizes if you upgrade to a paid subscription.

Additionally, say you are a free subscriber and the first to complete the quest successfully. You may now decide that you want to claim your cash reward after the fact.

You can always do so if you upgrade to our Annual Subscription.

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After the quest

The following things happen after a quest:

1. If there’s a winner, they get a special shoutout on all of whoop!’s socials

2. If there is no winner, and the community asks for it, extra time (at whoop!’s discretion) to complete the quest!!!

3. Monthly and Annual subscribers can join the Whoop Group Debrief to discuss The Weekly Whoop and the thought-provoking ideas it unlocks⁴

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The tools to complete the quest

In addition to putting that beautiful mind of yours to work, you can:

1. work with friends and family

2. collaborate with colleagues and strangers

3. brainstorm with me⁵

4. collude with other whoopers⁶

5. use the internet,

6. walk into the local library (remember that old thing),

7. use AI and any other resources

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Parting Shot

This is it for now. Please ask me more questions via DM or Substack chat or comments below.

I will respond and keep improving this post to incorporate the changes and the feedback.

You can find the ongoing quest here. With that, let me leave you with a parting verse.

Riddles riddled with rabbit holes,
for explorers and other curious souls.

Riddles pulling rabbits out of the pit, 
riddles that help you whoop! the feed. 

Come, challenge your mind!

Love,
waveman

1. AKA Arvind.

2. At its core, whoop! is an experiment. The format may change as we grow due to community requests, learnings, operational requirements, or other factors. Evolution will be vital to our success.

3. Please remember that the quest ends even if the first one to communicate the correct solutions and logic is a free subscriber

4. Ideally, on the day after the quest ends, but typically when a critical mass of folks can attend. Let’s stay flexible on this, as we may even have multiple debriefs to suit the time zones. Also, FYI: if the winner is from our free subscribers, they get a special invitation to join these sessions.

5. DM me on Substack (waveman). That’s the preferred route. You will have to opt for a free subscription for this.

Since we are starting out, you can also find me on LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, Lemon8, and X at the handle whoopthefeed. This facility is available for a limited time only. I will notify the community once we move entirely to Substack DMs.

6. [This benefit is available to paid subscribers only] You can access the community chat to work with other community members. Just (a) be respectful, (b) please don’t disclose the answers on the chat (use DMs if you must), and (c) remember that there’s only one reward per quest, and it will go out to the subscriber who communicates it first via DM or email.