Vertical Scaling and Horizontal Scaling

I realize this is a difficult issue to address.
But there are 2 very distinct threads which need to be addressed and now is a good time to work it out.
The user interface offers 2 very different ways of approach.
One accepts the social/political/forum interface where we use accepted design patterns and work within those constraints. They have been very successful in the new media community,but make no impact on the larger interests we call *the public*. They look, they smile, they go away.

The alternative is to attempt to break the pattterns that the average public expects from an interface and produce works which force the viewer to either engage or reject the newly mediated experience.

It's a tough call.
This is a follow up on:
http://rhizome.org/thread.rhiz?thread!464&page=1#42014
where the old school was a subject of the thread.
However it lead me to my current state of confusion.
Do user expectations drive my output or can I manipulate the media to drive them, horizontally to my expression?
The vertical approach is so enticing. It offers instant rewards and critical benefits.
The horizontal approach is tougher. It looks obfuscated and even contrived at times. This approach however offers up more creativity and seems to comply with my faith in everything open sourced and free spirited.

Critically, the history of netwroked art, and the pointers for new artists have gone the way of my first thread. Thats unfortunate.

and now, off I go, back to Goa and a beach that never existed.
Eric