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Another week some way around the sun, another answer to the immortal question:
This week, we published two articles and two podcasts:
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The Anti-Fan Phenomenon: Inside the online communities where people love to hate
Fadeke Adebguyi in Cybernaut
For every fandom, there’s an equal and opposite anti-fandom. On Discord and in forums dedicated to hating on individual influencers, dedicated haters including some former fans gather to discuss the minute details of YouTube videos, TikToks, and Instagram posts—all in the name of revealing some of the internet’s most popular influencers as frauds, phonies, and freaks. Fadeke spoke with some of them, and came back to tell us what she learned.
Content Moderation Double-Bind Theory: The market failures damning content to ever increasing sensationalism
Evan Armstrong in Napkin Math
In researching the recent (and since reversed) decision by OnlyFans to ban pornography on its site, Evan discovered a disturbing trend that affects creators and consumer across all platforms, and explains all sorts of success and failure in media: the closer a piece of content comes to the line of what’s outlawed, the more attention it will attract; but the more attenton received, the costlier moderation becomes.
Listen
Understanding the Culture and Commerce Driving NFTs, with Kyle Chayka
Li Jin and Nathan Baschez in Means of Creation
Kyle Chayka, whose work reporting on technology and culture for The New Yorker, and his experience working with decentralized networks to fund his own newsletter, made this week’s conversation very entertaining and insightful. Li, Nathan, and Kyle discuss how platforms exercise control over their creators and users, how he uses NFTs to power his newsletter, the commercial incentives and cultural dynamics powering DAOs, and how algorithmic platforms mediate culture.
Ted Lasso Recap: S2 E5, “Rainbow”
Dan Shipper, Nathan Baschez, and Rachel Jepsen in Talk Therapy
We hated it. In Ep 93 of Talk Therapy, the gang discuss the low point of a season that has already had its share of peaks and valleys. Why does the latest installment of Ted Lasso feel untrue to both the spirit of the show and the world beyond it? Listen through to find out—and to hear how each of the hosts hope the creators might turn it around in the season's back end.
Every in the wild
Means of Creation host Li Jin was profiled by Taylor Lorenz in The New York Times. Quoth Lorenz: “If there is such a thing as an It Girl in venture capital these days, Ms. Jin, 31, would fill the bill.”
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Have a great long weekend, everyone.
