Developing software used to be hard and expensive, so only problems within enormous markets were worth pursuing. But as software became easier and cheaper, it became possible to address problems in the long tail.
Similar to music and gaming, an “indie” movement emerged, bypassing traditional funding and go-to-market strategies.
Indie Hackers discovered that building an audience was a fantastic marketing channel, so they began to build in public and share their successful businesses online. This attracted hustlers and tricksters, who are always looking for easy ways to make money easily.
Nowadays, with AI lowering the costs even further, the Indie Hacker movement has degraded into a “I'm rich, and you can also be rich⎯if you buy my products” scheme.
I still believe that we ought to get even deeper on the long tail. The world is still full of unaddressed problems, some small, others tiny. Perhaps it's time to propose an alternative set of ideals that focus on solving problems and helping others.