Obscurity is a curation problem
Obscurity is a symptom of a failure to curate. A Manifesto Jam 2026 entry.
The cover art is a collage of public domain images curated by the Public Domain Review: one on the celestial phenomena on 16th century Germany and the other Attack of the Monsters.
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I don't understand the whole hate for algorithms. Sure, they are bad, but opposed to what? So many writers and painters died before their works were ever recognized as grandiose. Obscurity isn't a just-nowadays problem. My favorite ever VN was recommended to me via word-of-mouth, by a friend, but how did they come across it? No doubt the algo played a part.
"Curation creates conversations, and those conversations are the most important part. And without this exercise, we are left alone with our own thoughts as if we are living in a post-apoc world." Ouch. I am someone who... Doesn't really talk about what they've read? Come on, it's so hard to find someone who read the same work as you. Most conversations I have with book readers are the both of us mentioning books that are on each others' reading lists but not yet read. I had this happen to me with an anime fan of all things. We knew each other's animes just enough to acknowledge each other, but not to discuss.
"Yeah, I'd have a frosslass in my pokemon team" "oh you mean the yuki onna pokemon? She's cool. literally." "of course you would call it the yukki onna pokemon".
I really like this manifesto (though unsure if I comprehended it), the repetition of the title makes for a stronger message, though since it can be defragmented into so many lenses, I think such a reductive message doesn't portray the full meaning (but perhaps this is due to being non-native in english. Doesn't help that all references to internet phenomena flew completely over my head.)
"Hidden gems" have always been something I loved to find "by myself" and I think in part, the fascination comes from them being "hidden", from being something I found on my own and that is very, very niche. I don't understand these micro communities the author speaks ofQuite identified with the paranoia around keeping one's youtube algorithim intentional and the fear that induces when you want to watch something interesting. Cool stuff.
great stuff, really enjoyed reading this, and shoutout to a fellow PDR enjoyer!
this piece brings such clarity into a lot of frustrated contradictory thoughts i’ve been having about curation, culture and criticism, thank you for this!
To be fair: "This Is How You Lose the Time War" won the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and BSFA awards for its category in each, long before BD recommended it. A lot of readers believe it was/is an excellent story; it's not surprising it got a lot of acclaim when it broke out of the fairly insular scifi reading community. (That said - everything else you mentioned is accurate. No publisher is going to find their own Bigolas Dickolas to promote their books; that's not how it works.)
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Fanfic communities have a lot of tiny curators, both individual and group activities, to help people find the fic they like and avoid the stuff they don't like. Part of why it works as well as it does, is the lack of commercial activity. There is no "I got this for free in exchange for an unbiased review" bullshit.
(There's bias in "I decided to review this at all." If they got their free book because they found it on a park bench, would they have read & reviewed it? If they picked up the game in a bundle of 350 games for $5, make each one effectively free, would they have played through it and reviewed it?)
I buy megabundles. Lots of them. I have literally thousands of games almost nobody has ever heard of. Some are indeed gems. (A lot are... not gems. Discussions of obscurity should mention that there's a reason most obscure things are obscure, and it's not "they have not found their true audience where they can shine.") I'd love to help the people who'd like this or that particular game find it; I'm not sure there's any way to do that beyond "hang out in a few places where games are discussed and occasionally mention one that seems relevant."
I forgot that the book won awards.
But yeah, I was thinking of spaces like the fanfic communities as I wrote the latter half of the manifesto. I want to remind people that such curators do exist and we should encourage other communities to adopt them.
I sometimes wonder if there should be a Megabundle Review, the same way Public Domain Review has a newsletter where people write about articles about objects from the public domain.
I have considered doing megabundle review things.
...I have nearly a hundred bundles (not all megabundles) and a spreadsheet of over 15,000 items. While I'd love to do a review project, the fact is, damn near nobody is interested in reviews of 2-page TTRPGs or 15-minute platformers. Even the really cute ones. Nor in managing the admin for a review project focused on Games Nobody Knows About That Are Never Going To Be The Hot New Thing.
If you find someone who wants to manage such a project, definitely let me know.
I think you’d like the Public Domain Review’s monthly newsletter..
That’s where I got my cover images from!
Nice thoughts! When you think about it, aren't most things doomed to obscurity? I might be tempted to invert the title and say "Popularity is a stochastic problem!"
That could make for a fun thought experiment. Everyone is hunting for the highs that may have never existed.
I think I've recently read another Manifesto Jam entry that pretty much says this haha..
("NO-ONE IS GOING TO BUY YOUR GAME")
it seems to be a refreshing realization!
Lots of great points. As someone early in curatorial hobby, many things you wrote spoke to me. Currently my site (https://exhibitplay.com/), has a lot of niche topics in games, but its lacking many things that go beyond it just being a listacle. I want community, discussion, collaboration, critique. A hub of new ideas where the curation is just the spark for something deeper. Thanks for writing this manifesto.
This is still a sick website. Thanks for linking. I’m always looking for more resources to find new and interesting things.
This is well written. Discussion and criticism are important, and encouraging that is useful as curators. Conversations and sharing of knowledge is the best and most freeing part. Knowing what you're can show you a direction and purpose, so I've been very careful in being specific about it in kinds of lists and databases
Not sure if I agree about the parts on what obscurity does, the helplessness of readers relying on other curators and some other theories, but the final point about being your own curator is really good. Do it yourself, and have faith in people to support each other! Don't be beholden to these companies and their manipulative greedy interests!
There are some recommendations here that are cool. I've seen the movie of Night is Short, Walk on Girl, that was the best part. Being in a library, finding what speaks to you with your own experience and feeling is good for your own agency and determination. This is truth and real freedom.