I just read about it below, and can now correlate with some personal experiences. Thanks for sharing.

https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-...

yep, my first though as well here - and one of my favorite reads.

lots of posts, even one this month https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41214180

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21767151