Thought provoking post and replies. One observation that I think supports the quality of the community here is that there is a barrier to entry to engage on SN. You need a lightning wallet, browser extensions, and optional nostr keys, to get it all working. If this barrier is lowered, you wind up with Craigslist or Reddit.

It is my hope that SN, despite that it is VC funded, makes every effort to fine tune incentives to reward high quality content over short term profit and growth. As has been pointed out, incentives can and will be gamed. So game theory needs to be well thought out. My concern is that the owners/operators of SN have incentives that are likely divergent from the community. And getting a valuation like Craigslist or an exit like Reddit may be precisely what they are after.

One thing is certain. The model that SN has pioneered has legs.