this post was submitted on 21 Feb 2026
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Perverse incentives is a concept I'm going to think about a lot today.
What is the most effective way to counter bad-faith exploitation of a system that is intended to fix a problem?
I feel like this kind of issue is very prevalent today, opportunistic grifting that hurts communities when the original intent is discarded for greed?
It's a very delicate balance. If your prevention is too robust, you can end up with a system that causes more damage than the problem it 'solves'. If your prevention isn't robust enough... cobras. Everywhere.
Luckily, as it is a recognized concept that is widely taught nowadays, we can rest easy knowing that any new systems implemented will not be ignorant of the concept of perverse incentives, just consciously disregarding all the boring eggheads who ring the alarm on the system's first drafts.
See AXS
See Ticketmaster
See US politics
Yeah, the actual solution is to create some entity responsible for reducing the threat, rather than attempting to avoid the administrative work by creating a lazy-ass bounty program.
Same issue with capitalism. Attempting to reduce the administration of dealing with a societal issue by foisting the work off onto people by promising them profits just makes everything worse.
Bounty programs can be cost-effective sometimes, but they are a very blunt weapon effective on only the broadest and most indelicate of problems.