" lesson is that more is different. The Internet, by giving everybody access to a market of hundreds of millions of people, can work at participation rates that would be a disaster in the traditional world of non-zero marginal costs" - The miraculous power of scale (C. Anderson)
And isn't that the beauty of it all? When everybody can get the same stuff, you can have a core audience spanning the globe, across ages and education backgrounds - and still with something in common that makes it work. Be it Wikipedia or DeviantArt. Combining a sense of community effort, partaking in something bigger - while at the same time using those "spare cycles" to create something more than just filler.
It is actually okay to have a solid share of 'lurkers' - or readers as they are know in the traditional media. Because that 1% (or less) that produce the opinions and content make it worthwhile for the other 99% - and then some. It's all good, as the saying goes...
...and the sun is much missed - 'tis the season to get another pot of tea brewing...
