even low-effort criticism is valuable in terms of truth-seeking
True, but from the perspective of conditioning, it is still a punishment. On a System-2 level this kind of criticism provides valuable information, but on a System-1 level it discourages further writing. So we get a few mistakes corrected… and then the author stops writing.
I think the problem here is with the asymmetry: among nerds, cheap praise is considered low-status, but cheap criticism is high-status, or at least socially acceptable. Therefore the cheap responses are overwhelmingly negative, even if the article is mostly good.
(By the way, I suspect that the prevalence of akrasia among nerds is a similar process, only people are doing it to themselves. Giving yourself negative feelings when you notice a mistake, but no positive feelings when things go right, does not result only in making fewer mistakes, but generally in doing less.)
True, but from the perspective of conditioning, it is still a punishment. On a System-2 level this kind of criticism provides valuable information, but on a System-1 level it discourages further writing. So we get a few mistakes corrected… and then the author stops writing.
I think the problem here is with the asymmetry: among nerds, cheap praise is considered low-status, but cheap criticism is high-status, or at least socially acceptable. Therefore the cheap responses are overwhelmingly negative, even if the article is mostly good.
(By the way, I suspect that the prevalence of akrasia among nerds is a similar process, only people are doing it to themselves. Giving yourself negative feelings when you notice a mistake, but no positive feelings when things go right, does not result only in making fewer mistakes, but generally in doing less.)