Summary

This proposal aims to remove the current 0.01 RSC reward distributed per upvote on ResearchHub posts and comments. The goal is to improve the quality of engagement and reduce farming behaviors that pollute the user experience.

Motivation

While rewarding upvotes was originally intended to encourage participation and reward high quality content, in practice it has created an easy opportunity for spam users and bots to extract value from the ResearchHub community.

By reducing the reward to 0 RSC per upvote, ResearchHub can:

• Prioritize meaningful contributions over volume
• Distribute RSC to higher quality content
• Shift incentives toward peer review and funding

Proposal

Reduce the current upvote reward from 0.01 RSC per upvote to 0 RSC per upvote (upvotes still influence visibility and reputation).

This does not impact:

• Peer review rewards
• Bounty earnings
• Project funding mechanisms
• Reputation score mechanics (unless voted on separately)

Expected Impact

• Disincentivizes bots and low-effort content
• Makes reward allocation more focused and intentional
• Aligns incentives with ResearchHub’s long-term mission of quality scientific discourse and transparent funding