If you praise one who is praised by many others, you might be doing it only to get with the “in” crowd, and that is worthless; it costs you nothing and it therefore signals nothing. But if you help to destroy one who is targeted by many others, it does not matter if others are also destroying him, then you incur the dual cost of ensuring the destruction of one of the enemy faction, and of marking yourself as being a foe of that enemy faction; these are costs, and thus make for a strong signal (that you are not one of Them).
OK, if praise-gangs don’t actually do anything, while destruction gangs actually destroy, then praise-gangs are cheap talk. But that sounds to me like it’s just pushing it back another level. Benquo claimed that there was an asymmetry in joining putatively effective gangs. If destruction is 10x as effective as creation, then maybe a pebble promoting creation should get 1⁄10 as much credit as a pebble promoting destruction.
and that is worthless; it costs you nothing and it therefore signals nothing.
signaling conformity, counter to beliefs, is not costless. Praise that is popular is evidence AT LEAST that conformity on this topic is more important to the judgment-expresser than unpopular blame. so some mix of “actual praise” and “complaint less important than conformity”.
If you praise one who is praised by many others, you might be doing it only to get with the “in” crowd, and that is worthless; it costs you nothing and it therefore signals nothing. But if you help to destroy one who is targeted by many others, it does not matter if others are also destroying him, then you incur the dual cost of ensuring the destruction of one of the enemy faction, and of marking yourself as being a foe of that enemy faction; these are costs, and thus make for a strong signal (that you are not one of Them).
OK, if praise-gangs don’t actually do anything, while destruction gangs actually destroy, then praise-gangs are cheap talk. But that sounds to me like it’s just pushing it back another level. Benquo claimed that there was an asymmetry in joining putatively effective gangs. If destruction is 10x as effective as creation, then maybe a pebble promoting creation should get 1⁄10 as much credit as a pebble promoting destruction.
signaling conformity, counter to beliefs, is not costless. Praise that is popular is evidence AT LEAST that conformity on this topic is more important to the judgment-expresser than unpopular blame. so some mix of “actual praise” and “complaint less important than conformity”.