Perhaps if someone is a first rater, ze should be especially thoughtful or err on the positive side in zir ratings, given that early ratings have an undue influence and an early negative rating has the potential to prevent later people from viewing the comment/post, while a later rating is unlikely to have as big of an effect. An undeservedly positive rating is likely to be responded to (if only indirectly) through later comments and ratings since it increases the likelihood of later people viewing the post, while an undeservedly negative one will not be, since it prevents (potentially) the chances of later people seeing the post.
Additionally, I wonder if people on LW are more concerned about appearing naive or uncritical by accidentally commenting favorably on a low-quality post than appearing too critical by criticizing a high-quality post. I think there might be a bias there, but it might just be that it’s easier to add value to a low-quality post by pointing out an obvious flaw than to a high-quality post.
Perhaps if someone is a first rater, ze should be especially thoughtful or err on the positive side in zir ratings, given that early ratings have an undue influence and an early negative rating has the potential to prevent later people from viewing the comment/post, while a later rating is unlikely to have as big of an effect. An undeservedly positive rating is likely to be responded to (if only indirectly) through later comments and ratings since it increases the likelihood of later people viewing the post, while an undeservedly negative one will not be, since it prevents (potentially) the chances of later people seeing the post.
Additionally, I wonder if people on LW are more concerned about appearing naive or uncritical by accidentally commenting favorably on a low-quality post than appearing too critical by criticizing a high-quality post. I think there might be a bias there, but it might just be that it’s easier to add value to a low-quality post by pointing out an obvious flaw than to a high-quality post.