[mdoms]

I have always followed a lot of tulip growers. Never have I see so many gardeners I follow prospering at once, mostly thanks to the tulip ecosystem.

The buyers seem happy to support the growers. The growers seem happy to receive this support. For all the cries of it being a bubble, I'm not quite sure who the victim is meant to be here - at least within this rather specific niche.

[at_]

Witty, but ignores the artist <-> artwork <-> fan relationship dynamic that is at play here. To me the scene feels closer to a platform like Bandcamp than it does the more speculative world of Opensea.

[mdoms]

Sorry what's the difference between the "artist <-> artwork <-> fan relationship dynamic" and the "grower <-> tulip <-> enthusiast relationship dynamic"?

[at_]

I mean, maybe the original tulip buyers were doing so as they got genuine satisfaction out of supporting the growers themselves (ie their primary reason for buying was patronage rather than speculation), but that would be quite an amendment to the standard narrative

[mdoms]

People buy tulips for the sheer pleasure of having them around to this very day.