I feel the word "toxic" is maybe a bit too pejorative for what it is? Another framing is that it is "guild knowledge". The incentives in academia are complex and it affects how open some folks are or can afford to be with such knowledge.
That said, there are certain open avenues for making such knowledge public. MathOverflow is one. Some academics document their guild knowledge in "technical papers" which they put up on their website. The ML community (which I'm not part of, but that I'm able to observe as an outsider) seems to be particularly open when it comes to publishing blog posts -- sometimes to gain reputational points?
In some journals, arguments over publications are carried out in the Letters to the Editor section. Sometimes this leads to public feuds however, and some academic communities are small enough that if you make too many enemies your publications may be visited upon with disfavor when it comes time for peer review. It's not worth getting into public tiffs unless there's a principle at stake.
> The incentives in academia are complex and it affects how open some folks are or can afford to be with such knowledge.
> Sometimes this leads to public feuds however, and some academic communities are small enough that if you make too many enemies your publications may be visited upon with disfavor when it comes time for peer review. It's not worth getting into public tiffs unless there's a principle at stake.
This is more the kind of thing I was using the word "toxic" to describe. Of course I know this is a widespread and deep-seeded problem and not one that could be fixed overnight, I was just commenting on it
That's why publishing and presenting outside the formal academic realm is important. Especially presentations that have one level of indirection from original creators often provide much better intuition and also the presenter isn't afraid sharing that he/she doesn't know certain things or they present content in a more creative funny way.
That said, there are certain open avenues for making such knowledge public. MathOverflow is one. Some academics document their guild knowledge in "technical papers" which they put up on their website. The ML community (which I'm not part of, but that I'm able to observe as an outsider) seems to be particularly open when it comes to publishing blog posts -- sometimes to gain reputational points?
In some journals, arguments over publications are carried out in the Letters to the Editor section. Sometimes this leads to public feuds however, and some academic communities are small enough that if you make too many enemies your publications may be visited upon with disfavor when it comes time for peer review. It's not worth getting into public tiffs unless there's a principle at stake.