Quiz: what kind of organizations solicit hard work from their members offering only an immaterial reward as compensation?
Lots. Scientific publications solicit hours of work from reviewers, for every paper published, without compensation or even much in the way of professional credit to the anonymous reviewers.
Hrm? As a scientific reviewer, you get the reward of being able to list “reviewer for XYZ” on your CV. Which is an “immaterial reward”, probably about on a par with LW karma. Both are a mild point of prestige, but not really enough to boast about in isolation.
So, if reviewers are allowed to mention the fact on their CV, and this provides a significant, even if small, professional advantage, then that’s a real reward in the sense that it leads to material benefits.
I doubt that LW karma is of much help in that direction.
Lots. Scientific publications solicit hours of work from reviewers, for every paper published, without compensation or even much in the way of professional credit to the anonymous reviewers.
so they don’t offer any reward. My point.
Hrm? As a scientific reviewer, you get the reward of being able to list “reviewer for XYZ” on your CV. Which is an “immaterial reward”, probably about on a par with LW karma. Both are a mild point of prestige, but not really enough to boast about in isolation.
No one cares about that. The real point of reviewing papers is keeping up w/ your field.
No one ever lists that in any field I know.
So, if reviewers are allowed to mention the fact on their CV, and this provides a significant, even if small, professional advantage, then that’s a real reward in the sense that it leads to material benefits.
I doubt that LW karma is of much help in that direction.