> The quality of the median writer would drop, as would the median income, until the perception that it was easy money reduced enough to stop people joining. Y

> The quality of the median writer would drop, as would the median income, until the perception that it was easy money reduced enough to stop people joining. Yes, yes, no. Folks' perception of Substack/ Youtube/ Twitch aren't shaped by looking at 100% of the producers, or even 50% of the producers: folks are overwhelmingly focused on the top 10% (and narrower), so their perception is shaped by the disproportionate success of the few. To rephrase, the bottom 50% of the production group do not have 50% of the audience -- they may not even have 5% of the audience. Their lack of success isn't being seen broadly enough to shape folks' perceptions. Also, millions of people buy lottery tickets when only a handful win more than $20.