Agreed that reposts tend towards zero. However I don’t think it’s fair to casually brush off the reputational costs especially if here if we view the overall goal is a digital identity with no “KYC”. Value is subjective as much as a reputation. You don’t think this question is worthy of pondering? At least on a short time scale.
Discussion
No, I agree that there can be reputational cost. But how much it costs your reputation is even more subjective, as it depends on what the content is that you are reposting, and whether it is in alignment with the reputation you have built up, therefore reinforcing it, or at odds with and therefore hurting it, or somewhere in-between. None of which can be easily quantified.
Someone of character may not be willing to repost content that could damage their reputation, regardless of how much they are offered to do so, while they will gladly repost content that reinforces their reputation for free.
Interesting that you took the point of view of persuasion. I feel like we are closely aligned on the view but not quite fully and it is the lens in which we are viewing.
As the receiver of either a zap (1sat) or a repost which do you prefer?
Depends on who it is, right?
Let's say it's some random npub that hardly anyone knows about and who hasn't built up a reputation. A zap is probably going to be considered more valuable than a repost in that case.
On the other hand, if it's someone who has built up a following and a reputation that is well respected, then their repost will likely be more valuable than their zap. It could also cost them more than their zap would, if the person whose content they are reposting damages their reputation.