Were people more sincere and authentic, 15 years ago? Nope, I don't believe so... but I don't think the idea of developing an "online persona" had been as developed/exploited yet... so most people were "just themselves."

I don't think they were more sincere either, just worse at personal branding. These days though, I feel that I see through a lot of the branding now and am more sensitive to potential engineering of circumstance. I am much more on guard when I expose myself to mass consumption type content too.

Asher has an interesting role in this, too. His "leagues" tend to encourage a level of engagement that transcends "just leaving a comment;" people end up having lengthy comment dialogues, as a result of which there is more of an authentic revealing of self.

Yep, it does tend to create better engagers and even if they start off looking for reward, many have shifted to actually being part of the community. He has done well with it.

In a strange slightly "backwards" sort of way, I think @surpassinggoogle is onto some of that with the "ulog" initiative.

I think it has also brought some people out of anonymity and given them a chance to reveal themselves. I haven't investigated it much but from what I have seen, @dlive has grown in popularity because of it too. Good to see.