Without an incentive (reward) for zapping, people just freeride. No one zaps on nostr (essentially) and everyone zaps here (essentially).

There are many downstream effects of this.

• I think the way we just scroll past stuff, on other platforms, is partially a result of not having an incentive (reward) for engaging with it.
• When people aren't zapping, good content doesn't get elevated out of the noise, which makes it even harder to find good content.
• Without zapping, people will stop paying to post
• More importantly, without zapping, people will stop putting in the extra thought that currently goes into SN posts and comments.

The whole thing falls apart without the rewards system. If you think it's hard for newcomers now, the world without rewards would be so much more challenging (see nostr). Only people with established sycophantic followings would get zapped on their posts.

Perhaps not surprising, then, that the person who's been here the longest and has the most sycophantic following is leading this effort.