> This was really well written, such a good read.

The author's extreme user empathy, attention to detail, and willingness to do whatever it takes to reach a standard makes this a comforting read. You know it's going to end without disappointment, because he does whatever it takes to get good results for all stakeholders.

Using the algorithm to eliminate leeching middlemen was one of the promises of the future.

Real estate in general is full of middlemen looking for a cut and providing little to no value. The whole industry is overdue for a shakeup.

Sadly, our experience shows that 'the algorithm' becomes very centralized (because of the network effect), and suddenly this new middleman starts extracting fees comparable to the previous middlemen.

Please see: ticket sales: Ticketmaster, Stubhub, etc.

In theory, these make sense and reduce anti-consumer inefficiency like scalping that individual venues are not equipped to deal with. In practice, they extract fees. It's not that they are bad, per se, just that if the opportunity exists, someone with a spreadsheet will spot it, likely with the best intentions but no eye to the overall impact.

EDIT: To be clear, I think these services are a net good. Stubhub allows me to get sports tickets at a reduced price if someone can't go to the game. Ticketmaster stops people from spamming the system to gobble up tickets, it's just that these industries are now going to want a fee for that and we end up back where we started. I'm sure at one time brokers were helpful as well (a landlord free way to compare properties).

Not sure about Stubhub, but Ticketmaster exists to be the bad guy. Lots of Ticketmaster fees are shared with the promoter and venue operator.

I'm dubious about that line. It always read like Ticketmaster trying to deflect blame to me.

But I do note that "the artist" isn't even mentioned in that list.

Now it's just used to eliminate the poor and unemployed.