I can't speak for the commentor that you're replying to, but I also found the whole "only $5,000" point to be a hard to identify with. I've personally never had

I can't speak for the commentor that you're replying to, but I also found the whole "only $5,000" point to be a hard to identify with. I've personally never had $5,000 at one time in my entire life, let alone $5,000 to spend on a short video. For me (and quite a few people that I know) that would literally be life changing money, so it's difficult to grasp. I don't personally think the commentor was "making a show" with his question. In fact, if expressing opinions on this topic counts as "status seeking", wouldn't your defense of this business model count as the exact same thing you're decrying? By my understanding of what you've just said, (paraphrasing here) "I can't imagine spending money on this" seeks to establish a status, but "I do not have a problem with people spending money on this" does not seek to establish a status. The way I read it, if "status-seeking" is at issue, the main difference is between the status you attempt to seek vs the status you perceive the other person to be seeking, not an indictment of the practice as a whole. Edit: typo