I'm not saying you have to have superfans; you're welcome to do whatever you'd like (and there are plenty of paths to success!) I just think there's so many examples of a small, passionate userbase forming the bedrock of success. Why not try to foster that?
My totally uninformed assessment of human nature is that you probably _do_ want your action to spread to as many people as possible, regardless of their response to it. The success of public networks like Twitter demonstrate that.
Overgeneralization, is what I see there.
Actually, "avoiding success at all costs" motto is great.
I think that quote from Adam Chlipala (author or Ur and Ur/Web) is quite appropriate:
"I also want to emphasize that I'm not trying to maximize adoption of Ur/Web. Rather, I'm trying to maximize the effectiveness of people who do choose to use it. This means that I'm completely happy if basic features of Ur/Web mean that 90% of programmers will never be able to use it."
http://www.impredicative.com/pipermail/ur/2010-December/0003...
I think that author is wrong.
You don't have to have superfans.