Don’t trade a secret for a seat at the table. The seat won’t last, and the secret won’t stay put.

Handing over information to be let in makes the information your membership fee, and fees get charged again. You have also shown the group exactly what you will do under pressure, which is the opposite of what makes someone worth keeping around. Meanwhile the secret is in several hands now, none of them careful.

When you feel the pull to say something interesting about somebody else, notice what you are buying with it. If you want to be in a group, be useful or be good company instead. Those are slower routes and they do not run out when you are out of material.