High-quality ecosystems are grown when people are drawn to the heat, not the light.

Building on my old self-sustaining flame essay.

Think of the heat as the actually substantive energy and momentum of the system that makes every participant more productive and engaged.

Think of the light as the buzz, the marketing.

If a lot of people are drawn to the light but not the heat, they'll be disengaged, they won't produce heat themselves.

The overall mass of the ecosystem will be full of inert objects, cooling down the heat of the overall thing.

You want to attract heat-generating, engaged members at each stage to have the highest quality ecosystem.

A great way to do that is to be open but illegible. Only engaged people will have the patience to dig in enough to join.