I agree with Viliam that there is a big difference between trying to be a narrow-domain Wikipedia (“commons of knowledge”) and trying to be a discussion site.
However I have another concern: incentives. From a regular-user point of view this looks like a system in which a cabal of superusers runs the show and the point is to collect a set of sacred texts which the newcomers are expected to study diligently if they want to hang around. So, why would I want to contribute? I might come and take a look at these sacred texts, but playing in this sandbox is a different matter. Sure, the high priesthood will labour on the commentaries and the commentaries on the commentaries, but why would I want to spend time here and write useful things?
If you don’t want a cabal of super users running the show, you won’t like anything I propose I think :) But lots of people comment on SSC, or in other forums where one person is basically in charge and will delete what they don’t like. If adding content to this site turns out to be a good way to get smart people to comment interestingly on your content, that will be a strong incentive.
But lots of people comment on SSC, or in other forums where one person is basically in charge and will delete what they don’t like.
Sure, but SSC is very clearly a discussion site and is not in the business of collecting a canonical set of texts. Moreover, there is no karma system and Scott’s dictatorship is generally hands-off except for when he’s enforcing politeness or wants to prevent a particular shift-by-evaporation (the reign of terror against NRx).
My point is rather that your proposal doesn’t consider incentives seriously enough. It basically says: we have users who make posts and comments, here’s how we should organize them. But there is a deeper problem: how do you get smart users who want to make posts and comments in the first place? In fact, the current failure mode of LW looks exactly like the guardian of the canon: there are the Sacred Sequences but… people just don’t seem to be terribly motivated to coalesce around them any more.
I agree with Viliam that there is a big difference between trying to be a narrow-domain Wikipedia (“commons of knowledge”) and trying to be a discussion site.
However I have another concern: incentives. From a regular-user point of view this looks like a system in which a cabal of superusers runs the show and the point is to collect a set of sacred texts which the newcomers are expected to study diligently if they want to hang around. So, why would I want to contribute? I might come and take a look at these sacred texts, but playing in this sandbox is a different matter. Sure, the high priesthood will labour on the commentaries and the commentaries on the commentaries, but why would I want to spend time here and write useful things?
If you don’t want a cabal of super users running the show, you won’t like anything I propose I think :) But lots of people comment on SSC, or in other forums where one person is basically in charge and will delete what they don’t like. If adding content to this site turns out to be a good way to get smart people to comment interestingly on your content, that will be a strong incentive.
Sure, but SSC is very clearly a discussion site and is not in the business of collecting a canonical set of texts. Moreover, there is no karma system and Scott’s dictatorship is generally hands-off except for when he’s enforcing politeness or wants to prevent a particular shift-by-evaporation (the reign of terror against NRx).
My point is rather that your proposal doesn’t consider incentives seriously enough. It basically says: we have users who make posts and comments, here’s how we should organize them. But there is a deeper problem: how do you get smart users who want to make posts and comments in the first place? In fact, the current failure mode of LW looks exactly like the guardian of the canon: there are the Sacred Sequences but… people just don’t seem to be terribly motivated to coalesce around them any more.