There's also simply the aspect of time. Npubs that have been around longer don't only tend to have more followers, they are also on the "recommended" lists, have stratospheric WoT scores, and every fart they make trends.

So new npubs automatically follow them and they make zero effort to attract anyone with better content. They post lacadaisically or seldomly, and often just wash-rinse-repeat the same sort of thing over and over, which is why Nostr seems so dull.

The funnel effect has been so strong that they had no incentive to change or think about how to attract more followers, and that has made them intellectually lazy and arrogant. So, when they see someone more ambitious using novel tactics they're like LOL.

But we have DVMs, now...