Nothing stops them, some people do do that. Two examples that come to mind are Aella's research on fetishes[1] and Scott Alexander's research on birth order eff

Nothing stops them, some people do do that. Two examples that come to mind are Aella's research on fetishes[1] and Scott Alexander's research on birth order effects[2]. But you don't get academic credibility by publishing online without peer review, and it's much harder to get university funding. [1] https://aella.substack.com/p/fetish-tabooness-vs-popularity https://aella.substack.com/p/fetish-tabooness-vs-popularity [2] https://slatestarcodex.com/2018/01/08/fight-me-psychologists-birth-order-effects-exist-and-are-very-strong/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2018/01/08/fight-me-psychologists...