> Some proportion of people are likely to be convinced by an argument that they should do something because it would make things better if they did "it would m

> Some proportion of people are likely to be convinced by an argument that they should do something because it would make things better if they did "it would make things better if they did" is an incentive. As incentives go, it's a fairly weak one that doesn't tend to convince people The problem with this sort of incentive in internet comment sections is that a lot of the nasty people don't tend to stick around long. They may just be doing a drive by nasty post. They may have even made a new burner account just to make one post. If people are transient, then they will never see the outcome of "it would make things better", so they never reap any benefit from it Anyways, my point was that argument is still trying to convince people of an incentive Edit: I suppose what this is highlighting is that the "people will not just X" is really more "people will not just (spontaneously) X". You need to give them reasons to X, if you want them to X.