Yesterday I posted a poll asking people which option they would choose as a decentralized storage solution: one that would cost $100 and another that would cost $2000, without any further details. I mentioned that they could ask any questions to help them make their choice. I shared my tweet in 3 groups: one Arweave community group, one Sui data group, and Cosmos France. Here are the results: 21 people voted in total (I know it's not a lot, but it at least gives a small overview), and only 4 people asked questions, meaning that 14 people chose the cheapest option simply because it was the cheapest. 7 people chose the most expensive option, but considering the questions asked, I would say that only 4 people made this choice knowing why they selected this option. "You can see in the screenshot the questions asked by @David_Crosnest to make his decision. Being a @KYVENetwork validator and a huge @ArweaveEco uploader, he took an approach that we have been explaining for years to the KYVE community and validators, what matters is not only the price, which is one component, but also other parameters such as: - How long the data is stored with each option, meaning are you paying $100 every day or once for 10 years?" @ryan_soury, who has used @KYVENetwork to build in the past, came with some more builder questions that would impact his decisions on which solution he would use, "no matter" the price. @SentinelP2P also asked more questions about what they would get with each option, which is a fair and smart approach. The major takeaway from this was that people will always choose the cheapest option by default. Very few are willing to understand why one option might be cheaper in the short term but could be more expensive in the long term, depending on their final needs. In that case, the $100 option was a monthly payment fee with limited data access, while the $2000 option was a 10-year payment fee with unlimited data access. This means that if you needed your data stored for more than one year and nine months and required regular data access, you should have chosen the $2000 option. The initial payment would indeed be more expensive, but over time, you would save money. Of course, this poll isn't a business conversation, but it highlights something I've heard many times: "Yeah, but I pay less per month." This is where we see a gap between centralized and decentralized storage solutions. People and foundations don't understand why decentralized options are cheaper over time, and they're often afraid of the initial cost. We definitely need to rethink how we communicate or approach the cost of decentralized storage solutions. Tagging a few key players to have an open conversation about this: @samecwilliams @JonnyRingo711 @TateBerenbaum @0xinternetchild @JonnieSparkles @ApestinPowers @0xTomo @VentureWeb3 @kempsterrrr @afmedia_ @vilenarios @zimm3rmann. If you're not tagged, feel free to participate, of course! :)