Most of the communities that had open-ended collaboration defaulted to sharing public information.

· Bits and Bobs 6/30/25
  • Most of the communities that had open-ended collaboration defaulted to sharing public information.
    • It wasn't just optimizing for making it so people could choose to help others with their own actions, it was defaulting it so that users created that indirect value as a bonus even if they didn't intend it.
      • Napster automatically shared your files with others.
    • People are OK with indirect benefit for others from their actions, but don't typically take proactive actions[gt][gu][gv][gw] to make that happen.
      • A kind of reverse trolley problem.
    • Defaults matter.
    • This is a summary of the key insight in Dan Bricklin's The Cornucopia of the Commons: How to get volunteer labor.