Online, everyone seems divided. In line at the coffee shop, the stranger ahead of you is usually friendly. In part two, Don Templeman argues that gap is a design problem rather than a flaw in human nature, and that fixing it means building a ranking system readers can actually trust: one that pays writers for support across communities, not for engagement from the fringe.
Don walks through how Aemula ranks writing on recency, the writer's track record and how readers responded, with a visualization that shows readers why they see what they see. He's candid about where things stand, with 41 publications and nearly $14,000 paid to writers, and about the cold start of an empty network, fundraising without a journalism track record and why he is now hiring for community growth, product design and engineering.
The paired essay, “Trust Follows the Power You Give Away”, can be found here: https://www.sparkoftrust.com/p/trust-follows-the-power-you-give-away
Disclosure: Keiron connected the Spark of Trust publication to Aemula, so the paired essay is also syndicated on Don's platform. He has been an informal advisor to Don, one founder to another.
Episode Timestamps:
00:00 – The Bar vs The Library
00:39 – The Spark of Trust Introduction
01:16 - Trustworthy Algorithms
04:37 - Ideology Map Curation
07:27 - Credibility and Diversity
10:33 - Minority Views and Bounties
15:20 - Business Model Breakdown
19:31 - AI Licensing and Foundation
22:40 - Beta Status and Traction
25:58 - Hard Lessons Learned
31:05 - Solo Founder to Hiring
38:08 - Future of News Rituals
43:14 - Hope and Trust Actions
49:01 – Get Involved
51:22 – Sign Off
Aemula: https://aemula.com/
Don on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donald-templeman/
Reach Keiron directly: keiron@sparkoftrust.com
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