"Well, you need to trust the seller. When you buy a subscription to a magazine or newspaper, it's because you trust the editors not to shove crap at you once they have your money. At first, you build this trust through a track record."
According to some research I read here recently, geniuses that produce lots of great output also produce lots of not-so-great output.
So, having a streak of a couple free good ideas doesn't really tell much about the value of the next for-pay idea.
Also, because of the high subjectivity, lack of tangibility and prospect of easy money, I think such a "market" would be driven by hype and corruption in general.
That's a good point. I thought about it some more, I think we would end up with trusted idea 'editors'. Folks with no reputation would be forced to go to these high-reputation editors to resell ideas. These editors would gain reputation for their excellent judgement of ideas which they publish and sell.
I think you're right though, good ideas don't come from people with a few consistently good ideas, they come from people with thousands of ideas and the right filters in place.
According to some research I read here recently, geniuses that produce lots of great output also produce lots of not-so-great output.
So, having a streak of a couple free good ideas doesn't really tell much about the value of the next for-pay idea.
Also, because of the high subjectivity, lack of tangibility and prospect of easy money, I think such a "market" would be driven by hype and corruption in general.