Item — HN Reader

> And it is not all bad. While the community is less genuine, it is also more productive, if anything, just from the sheer numbers.

And it’s basically just a natural and recurring cycle:

Phase 1: Novel thinker creates something new

Phase 2: Early adopters pick it up

Phase 3: General public joins in

Phase 4: Early adopters get crowded out by newcomers and turned off by lack of ‘authenticity’ and either retreat to obscure niches or leave in search of the next trend

3 comments

I'm not sure the lack of 'authenticity' from newcomers is an actual phenomenon, or at least not as universal as people make it out to be. One can be authentic in joining a community after it's no longer a niche only hipsters know about. D&D, for instance, has gotten much greater visibility thanks to Youtube and Critical Role, but the new fans seem just as passionate and creative as the old fans.

The assumption seems to be that only the early adopters care, but that seems unnecessarily elitist.

The article Geeks, MOPs, and Sociopaths[0] also discusses this cycle.

[0] https://meaningness.com/geeks-mops-sociopaths

You just described the process of gentrification.