Recently, I've seen the secondary market toggle the royalty switch back and forth, with creators complaining and traders saying "I just want to save some friction costs"... Honestly, both sides are right, but in the end, whoever has the loudest voice wins, which is a bit boring.

I calculate gas and slippage for cross-chain routing every day, and what I save is life; but once "creative income" is also optimized as slippage, creators are left only with emotions and airdrop expectations.

Should royalties be mandatory or not?
I think if not mandatory, there should at least be a default respectful path, otherwise don’t pretend to be a community.

These days, the staking unlocks and token unlock calendars are being revisited repeatedly, everyone is afraid of selling pressure while competing for liquidity, and in the end, fewer people are willing to pay for long-term content.
Anyway, I now prefer to spend a little more on transaction costs rather than participate in a cycle that forces creators to become "only capable of posting mint links"... for now, that’s how it is.