I can’t say for sure, I can only analyze the numbers you presented and my own experience. I’m a new user, and my perception is that the frequent posts by long-time users keep the system flowing, while some posts from new users or less active veteran users give more depth to the community, which then prunes that content through the zap system. So yes, I do believe it works within what it’s meant to do.

Personally, I always search for everything related to Bitcoin here first. For other topics, I don’t — and that might be the bottleneck for new users. There are many territories that could be unified under a general theme within their segment, which would help navigation. Posts that aren’t about Bitcoin don’t get the same attention and, without incentive, tend to fade away. But maybe, with time and more people using the other territories, that might change.

I particularly like the economic incentive model. I’ve seen a lot of nonsense being praised on platforms like Substack that wouldn’t get a single zap here. That’s exactly why I never bothered to use that platform.