"One thing I did notice throughout a variety of conversations is that the competitive nature of Farcaster has definitely increased. This is not a bad thing and if anything means that the ecosystem has grown to a point where many people have opinions, want to get their hands dirty, and prove their thesis on the future of this protocol is right." I had the same impression. I think it's also because the cake isn't growing fast enough - if Farcaster had a steady influx of qDAU, it'd be easier to stay in the more cooperative mode. However, many new projects have been launched in the last year, and not enough quality users joined the network to satisfy the growth goals of all founders. And since user's attention and funds are limited, people become more competitive. Also, many founders I spoke with IRL were more critical of the Farcaster & Warpcast team than they used to be. Which I think is a good symptom, as if people bet their projects on a protocol, they should keep the team behind it in check.