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I agree. I call this the Publisher’s Clearinghouse phenomenon. There was this guy, Ed McMahon, who used to show up on people’s doorsteps in America with a cartoonishly huge check for a million dollars, and people went bananas. I mean full-blown, cut-and-paste-a-million-little-stamps-bananas. They’d do these elaborate stamp puzzles and mail them in with the hope that maybe, just maybe, Ed would knock on their door.
The real trick—the heartbreaking, sock-you-in-the-ribs trick—is getting people to move, really move, when there’s no pot of gold. No real money. No clear reward. Just the vague, hopeful scent of meaningful value. That’s where most products die.
They die on the altar of unclear value and even slightly inconvenient UX, because it turns out people aren’t as motivated by community (before it’s formed) or creativity (for the sake of creativity) or “the joy of discovery” as we—appreciators of art, math and culture—like to think. Not without frictionless fomo-peppered path. 1 reply
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