QuarterlyGems is an attempt to reclaim what makes the Internet great and resist the trends that have led us astray. It's a very simple system to share and discover recommendations from people that you trust.
QuarterlyGems is purposefully "low engagement." We only want you here once every three months. Consider it a provocative counterpoint to platforms that optimize for addiction—combining ad-based business models with machine learning to exploit our frail human psychology. We're doing the opposite. The real world is pretty cool, and we just want to help you enjoy it.
You know the feeling: you just spent [redacted] hours scrolling through "content." Some of it was funny. Most was "mid" (as the cool kids say these days). And you don't feel great about yourself. Contrast that with finishing a good book, watching a thought-provoking movie, or eating a great meal with friends. We want more of the latter, (a lot) less of the former.
A single recommendation from someone you trust beats a giant collection of reviews from extremely-online randos and bots shilling for Big Whatever. When everything's rated 4.2 to 4.8 stars, that's just noise, right? Scarcity breeds authenticity. By limiting everyone to just one QG per category per, we're creating scarcity which we think will breed more thoughtfulness and authenticity and put actual thought into the process and share some genuine recommendations worth your time.
It's simple:
Seriously. If you're still here, we did it wrong. Go read that book under a tree. See that movie with a friend. Listen to that podcast on a walk. Or just touch some grass and listen to the birds. We'll see you in three months.
QuarterlyGems exists because Matt Sly was itching to make something and experiment with AI-assisted coding.