These days, while sipping tea and watching on-chain transactions, the more I look at it, the more I feel that "cutting in line" isn't really about who is smarter, but who has the qualification to change your fixed price.

MEV/ordering actually impacts ordinary token swap users the most: when you click swap, you think you're executing at the screen price, but if you're squeezed or experience a little slippage, the money flows from your hands to those who are better at queuing.
Market makers/LPs also passively suffer from unfriendly transaction orderings; the depth looks there, but the actual usable layer gets front-run... it's quite annoying.
Recently, during the airdrop season, the competition has intensified, with task platforms fighting against bots and implementing point systems that feel like clocking in at work, making the chain even more crowded, and the space for cutting in line actually larger.
My mom even asked me, "Isn't this just scalping?"
I could only reply half-heartedly: Almost, but scalpers still have to run errands; this is just code running fast.
Anyway, I now place orders a bit slower, preferring to split orders and loosen timing rather than compete with others for a second.
That's all for now.