But very different things are being measured--comparing them this way is very flawed.

Not sure what you mean but my post was a sarcastic comment about how people choose an arbitrary level of significance so that the "right number" of "discoveries" can be published each year.

If there is a lot of data they would have too many "discoveries" (it would seem too easy) so they need a more stringent threshold. If the data is very expensive they would have too few "discoveries" so the threshold gets relaxed.

Pardon, I have a weak ability to detect sarcasm before finishing my first coffee. I fully agree that p-value limits are arbitrary, and what one is examining can greatly impact the interpretation of 'significance' or not. As you imply, data can be inflationary , incrementally increasing in volume and decreasing in value.