Popularity stats/maths is easy to explain: it's like a differential equation, dsuccess/dt ~ success Just the same as new stories on HN, where a single upvote

Popularity stats/maths is easy to explain: it's like a differential equation, dsuccess/dt ~ success Just the same as new stories on HN, where a single upvote makes it much more likely to take off. The reason is that (almost) no one wants to take the risk of being "first": whether at an empty restaurant, liking, kickstarter, comments, etc. But then as more people pile on, it increases faster. So Thomas, it's not a tautology... it's human behavior. :-)