There may be no reasonable max loss. Some things want too much.
A clean example is free to play mobile games. If allowed, they charge tens of thousands of dollars. Players called whales are so addicted they pay. The games destroy them.
The motivating example was Facebook. Facebook wants your entire life. Users not consciously limiting engagement lose hours a day. Every spare moment is spent scrolling, checking for updates, likes and comments. This reliably makes users miserable. Other social networks share this problem.
An important example is politics. Political causes want every spare minute and dollar. They want to choose your friends, words and thoughts. If given power, they seize the resources of state and nation for their purposes. Then they take those purposes further. One cannot simply give any political movement what it wants. That way lies ruin and madness.
Yes, that means your cause, too.
This generalizes into most sufficiently intense signaling and status competition. One must always signal harder or seek higher status. This takes over everything you are and eats your entire life. Part of sending sufficiently intense signals is showing that you have allowed this! Maya Millennial has fallen victim. Those keeping up with the Joneses fall victim. Many a child looking fitting in or applying to college falls victim.
Obsession with safety does this.
Television eats people’s lives. So do video games. So do drugs and alcohol. One must be careful and know your tenancies and limits.
Ethical arguments do this, ensnaring vulnerable people.
This property is a way to distinguish cults from religions. Cults want it all. Religion wants its cut.
You can only pay off those who charge a bounded price and stay bought. Before you pay the ransom, be sure it will free the hostages.
Would going along result in cooperation? Or put blood in the water?
https://thezvi.wordpress.com/2017/09/23/out-to-get-you/
Via https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/yLLkWMDbC9ZNKbjDG/slack
Via https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/01/31/book-review-zero-to-one/