When they freeze your account, your network keeps you alive. When they fire you for non-compliance, your network connects you to work. When they deny you store access, your network has food channels that don't require their permission.
That's what a functional network does. Practical coordination that keeps you independent when they try to force your hand.
But you need to become someone worth coordinating with first.
Most people think networking means finding others to help them. It doesn't work that way. Capable people don't waste time with those who only consume. If you bring nothing to the table, if you can't deliver when it matters, no one worth knowing will coordinate with you.
You need actual capability. Skills that solve real problems. Reliability people can count on. Following through on commitments. Showing up when you say you will. Delivering what you promise.
And you need to do the actual work.
Not just coordinate. Not just manage. Not sitting back telling others what to do. Coordination is work, but it's not the only work. As a Citizen, you do everything you can do to make this work. You build networks. You strengthen them. You become a solution, not someone who rallies others to solve things for you.
If you're just sitting back while others do the work, you're not building anything. You're consuming. And that makes you the same as the parasites in their system.
We're all in this together, which means we all work together. And that work extends beyond just your immediate network.
Here's what Citizens need to understand: You are now a representative. An ambassador.
Your actions represent the UCF whether you're waving a flag or not.
The UCF itself is a network. A federation of sovereign individuals - nations - working together so everyone within the network benefits. When you build smaller networks with others, you're establishing smaller federations that connect to the UCF as a whole.
The UCF isn't a faction or ideology. Any network that works with this network is part of the network. They don't need to call themselves UCF. They don't need to adopt our symbols. If they coordinate with us, if they share our principles of mutual benefit and sovereignty, they're part of the larger network.
Treat them accordingly.
When you work with others, you represent the Federation. Your reliability reflects on all of us. Your ability to deliver builds trust not just for you, but for every Citizen they might work with later. Your failures damage that trust.
The work you do now echoes forward into later phases. The networks you build, the alliances you nurture, the relationships you strengthen - these become the foundation that supports everyone when pressure increases.
There's a story about a man who saves a child. Years later, that child becomes a surgeon and saves that same man's life. That's what this is. We thrive when everyone else thrives. The work you do for others now returns when you need it later.
Start now. Build relationships. Prove reliability. Do the work.
Find people who show up and deliver. Test coordination on small things before you need it desperately. Look for complementary skills, not identical ones. Build with people already around you.
When systems fail, when they lock people out, when coordination becomes survival - networks survive. Networks built on mutual benefit, where everyone contributes, where trust has been tested and proven.
You're either part of that or you're alone.
— Citizen Soto