Paid in status

I am a moderator on Manifold.Markets. Oooh get me. But I am not good at it.

Manifold is a platform for running play money betting markets. I am a moderator. By many metrics I am a poor moderator. I make a lot of markets often with unclear resolution criteria. I am literally the reason that the moderators tag got changed from "trustworthy-ish" to "moderator". My markets are not even "trustworthy-ish".

And this had consequences. People wrote snarky comments on my markets and gave my resolutions bad ratings.

For a while it felt unfair. I am an unpaid moderator. Why should I take criticism for doing a job which takes up a reasonable amount of time (less these days) and for which I am not remunerated.

But now I realise I am paid in status. I can resolve markets, I have a tag next to my name, I get to freely attend some manifold events. Others perceive that this comes with responsibility.

So although I didn't become a moderator to get status or even to moderate - I wanted to be able to make changes to the manifold dashboards on the frontpage - I have it anyway. I accidentally became 'high status'. And that comes with benefits (and costs) whether I want them or not.

Spotting it here has allowed me to see it in other places. When people are getting paid in status, even if they don't want to be.

Examples:

Here are some ways that people can get paid in status without wanting to and bad outcomes that can result:

Abe wants some organisations to do something and none exist so he founds them. A group of people spring up around these organisations and look to Abe for advice. When Abe says stupid things they get annoyed at him. When there are crises, Abe is considered the person who ought to speak. Abe didn't ask for this to happen and is frustrated that it does. He just wanted some organisations to exist.

Bernie is willing to say things that no one else is. Often in dramatic situations he will ask hard but pertinent questions. People assume he finds this gratifying, and while he does a bit, it is also scary and frustrating - but the questions need to be asked. As a result he receives hate mail and the perception that he desires attention. He would quite happily never ask a hard question again, as long as someone else did.

Cathy makes good content on youtube. As a result she receives lots of romantic attention. When she turns it down people say she is a prude or a tease. She didn't ask to be considered attractive and feels like if she were a man, people would judger her on her work alone.

Darren is very well dressed. People mock him for trying too hard or assume he has a high opinion of himself. He has a certain aesthetic sense and he is trying to expresse it. He didn't ask for all this attention, this style of dress used to be unfashionable and he dressed like this then too.

Ekla is the UK prime minister. She earns about $160k a year and works all the time. She has significant amounts of power. Her life is pretty expensive. She has to book leisure trips last minute, make decisions based on security and her family face huge amounts of scrutiny. If she complains about any of this everyone points out how powerful and high status she is. While this is nice, it doesn't ease the stress on her husband. She wishes they could hire a nanny.

Here are some cases that aren't part of this:

Fred is a professional athlete. He wanted to be a star since he was a child and now he is. Recently he found this a bit annoying and was able to pay to live somewhere more private.

Grace is an influencer who carefully cultivates her image and following. She sells ads and gets paid for it. While this isn't always ideal. It was roughly what she expected from her career.

Harry is a politician who ran for office seeking power and influence. The status that comes with it is a slight benefit to him - he likes public speaking and meeting people, the romantic attention is no bad thing either.

Let's recap then:

Status is part of the remuneration package for many things we do. Some people want it, some don't. If one is indifferent to status, one might feel underpaid or under appreciated if one expected to be paid in money instead. If one doesn't want it, it might feel like a cost.

Certain high status roles may therefore select against people who don't want to do it for the status, since they are remunerated “less”. This might be true of being a politician, a leader in an organisation or an outspoken community member.

Likewise those who end up in public view are often far better communicators than regular people because of a kind of symbiosis. People who like status gain more benefit from it. People who can wield public opinion more easily are more likely to get elected/respected. Bill Clinton has always had aura of charisma. My friend still talks about that time he hear Tony Blair speak.

Some roles are paid for in status, whether you want them to be or not.

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I feel bad to Manifold users for my dodgy resolution criteria, I am happy to improve them if the market has much trading.