That's one of my concerns, as well. I like the idea of hiding the bit donation stuff until you've filled a wheel, i.e. gradually introducing complexity. I wonder if a paragraph or two explaining how it works on the donation settings page would help, or just make it worse.The system also seems a little complex
Gradually making Hubski complex could be just as bad as introducing this right off the bat. A lot of people come and go, aren't sold at first, or are disillusioned before really getting into Hubski. I know I've left at least once thinking I wouldn't visit again. If we keep making this minimalist aggregator more and more complicated, it loses any edge or value it currently has– it gets harder for the new user to reach the community that makes Hubski great.
I agree that we need to take away as much as we add. At least it should feel like it from a user's perspective. The cognitive load is just a bit higher than it ought to be IMO. That's part of the reason why we removed auto-personal tags, the gains didn't seem worth the added complexity. That said, a bit of an intimidation factor isn't always a bad thing. It's a balancing act.