In Defense of Mystery's Hat

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Once upon a time, in the 1990s, there was a man named Mystery. For reasons best understood by himself, he decided to devote himself solely to the pursuit of getting laid in Los Angeles nightclubs. In pursuit of this goal, he wore a very stupid hat.

I say to you that wearing the hat is a good way to pick up girls in Los Angeles nightclubs.

First, some girls like the stupid hat (and the eyeliner, and the nail polish, and the earrings, and the steampunk goggles). Since no one else in the nightclub is wearing a stupid hat, women who like stupid hats will flock to you. Most women, to be sure, hate the stupid hat and therefore hate you. But women who are indifferent to you and women who hate you will sleep with you the same amount, i.e., zero. If you only want to get laid in nightclubs, and you have the option to make some girls like you and some girls hate you, take it!

A similar phenomenon applies to Substacks, in that people who are indifferent to you and people who hate you buy the same number of paid subscriptions. In fact, people who hate you are better, because they might complain about you on social media and thus act as your volunteer marketing team. This dynamic explains a lot about the blogosphere.