How online subcultures die and what can we do about it

The article Geeks, MOPs, and sociopaths in subculture evolution by David Chapman is a great read on how online subcultures work with inviting new members, and how they die when they become too big and the sociopaths take over. Article

Quoted in that article is The Gervais Principle which uses the TV show The Office to explain further the concept of three types of people in an organization (Sociopaths=Sociopaths, Losers=MOPs, and Clueless ~= Geeks) as the original article and how they interact in a corporate environment.

Here is an excerpt from the original article summing up both articles:

Rao postulates three groups in any organization: the Clueless, the Losers, and the Sociopaths. The Clueless mistakenly believe that the organization is actually supposed to do whatever it pretends to be for: selling widgets, saving endangered herons, or educating school-children, for instance. They are dedicated to this mission and work hard, and creatively, to further it. The Losers have a job because they need a paycheck; their motivation is to make work reasonably pleasant in exchange for minimal effort. The Sociopaths recognize the reality that the organization is just the setting for a power game played among themselves. Nobody really cares about widgets, herons, or other people's children. The Losers also understand this, but don’t have what it takes to play the game.

In subcultures, Geeks are roughly parallel to the Clueless; they are passionate about whatever the subculture is supposedly about. Mops substitute for Losers: they show up for a reasonably pleasant time in exchange for minimal effort. Sociopaths are Sociopaths. The detailed dynamics are rather different, though; for instance, the Gervais Principle says that organizations begin with Sociopaths and end up with mostly Clueless, whereas subcultures begin with Geeks and end with mostly Mops.

It's a must read for anyone in the crypto scene, as crypto started out with a bunch of geeks postulating on the New Thing (Bitcoin). If we updated the original article to reflect today's crypto conversations, we'd see a different image, one that shows the decentralization of subcultures on different communication platforms talking different aspects of the original ideals of Bitcoin. Eventually these ideas roll up to the de facto platform Crypto Twitter where we debate their alignment with Bitcoin and the worthiness of their tradeoffs for inclusion into the crypto believe system, or what David terms ascension into superstardom. Vitalik has fostered a unique subculture with a clear goal (To be the world's computer) that also allows for the growth of subcultures.

~ Sam (glu)

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