Content about sex on LW seems fine, so long as the discussion of sex is used to make some rationality related point, or is necessary to include because of the subject—say, discussing sexual norms and their impact on society/individuals from a sociological perspective, psychological perspective, other academic perspectives, etc.—or some combination thereof. I think your post handled the discussion of sex well, because you used sex to emphasise the thesis of your post: “The rule follows: for things that are private and rarely discussed, there may be a good deal of unacknowledged diversity.” The opening example—how people shower—was good as an opener, but the discussion of sex helped make clear how important it is for people to consider how generally your thesis can be applied when they are conducting research/thinking about how the world works—especially regarding the “bubbles” issue highlighted in Scott’s Different Worlds post that you also mentioned.
There should be content warnings, because some people browse LW in public places, at work, are squeamish about various subjects, etc.
I think tags could be a good idea, though I don’t know how that would necessarily help if a NSFW post makes it on to the front page. Maybe a Tumblr-esque “Safe Mode” filter could be added to the site and people could opt-in to seeing NSFW content on the front page—including comments on NSFW content—through their profile settings, but if they didn’t opt-in, they wouldn’t see NSFW on the front page. Would that kind of filter also need to apply to people’s personal profiles? Or should people have two things to opt-in to: Front page NSFW “Safe Mode” filter plus a separate Personal page NSFW “Safe Mode” filter? I think that might be a decent option.
It is probably a good idea to have at least a little idea what “about sex” means. Do STD etymology fact posts count? Or posts about rational romantic relationships?
I think it would be difficult to have a narrow definition of what “discussing sex” means on LW without tremendously censoring what kind of posts might appear on LW. Perhaps posts with NSFW content should have to be approved by moderators…but how does the poster know to mark their post as NSFW? It would be useful to have a somewhat broad definition/rule on what “discussing sex” means for LW.
Cursing: is it off-limits entirely? Certain words only? (Which ones?) No excessive cursing?
I like cursing, I think when used well it can help emphasise points, convey emotions (especially the strength of those emotions), and generally make things more fun. However, I hate cursing when it’s not used well…nor do I really have much of a definition for when it’s used well…this is one of those “I know it when I see it” kind of things for me. Perhaps people should generally be cautious about cursing, unless it seems particularly relevant to the subject matter at hand or is needed to emphasise an important point, or convey an emotion more clearly, etc.
What norms apply to titles?
Titles should probably not be flashy or attention-grabbing, but should instead convey as much information about the subject matter—including its NSFW-ness, or lack of NSFW-ness, perhaps through tags—while not being terribly long.
Even if the content is content-warned or on people’s own blogs, the recent comments show up in the recent comments feed, which could make some people feel uncomfortable browsing LW in public.
Perhaps the site should hide all comments on NSFW tagged posts from the recent comments feed unless someone is logged in and has explicitly marked affirmative: “allow NSFW tagged posts on the recent comments feed” in their profile settings? That way, by default no NSFW related comments should show up in the recent comments feed, and people who are okay with those comments can simply opt-in to seeing them—thus making the site more “presentable” in public and still allowing users the freedom to see those sorts of comments.
Do we want content about sex on LW at all?
Content about sex on LW seems fine, so long as the discussion of sex is used to make some rationality related point, or is necessary to include because of the subject—say, discussing sexual norms and their impact on society/individuals from a sociological perspective, psychological perspective, other academic perspectives, etc.—or some combination thereof. I think your post handled the discussion of sex well, because you used sex to emphasise the thesis of your post: “The rule follows: for things that are private and rarely discussed, there may be a good deal of unacknowledged diversity.” The opening example—how people shower—was good as an opener, but the discussion of sex helped make clear how important it is for people to consider how generally your thesis can be applied when they are conducting research/thinking about how the world works—especially regarding the “bubbles” issue highlighted in Scott’s Different Worlds post that you also mentioned.
There should be content warnings, because some people browse LW in public places, at work, are squeamish about various subjects, etc.
I think tags could be a good idea, though I don’t know how that would necessarily help if a NSFW post makes it on to the front page. Maybe a Tumblr-esque “Safe Mode” filter could be added to the site and people could opt-in to seeing NSFW content on the front page—including comments on NSFW content—through their profile settings, but if they didn’t opt-in, they wouldn’t see NSFW on the front page. Would that kind of filter also need to apply to people’s personal profiles? Or should people have two things to opt-in to: Front page NSFW “Safe Mode” filter plus a separate Personal page NSFW “Safe Mode” filter? I think that might be a decent option.
It is probably a good idea to have at least a little idea what “about sex” means. Do STD etymology fact posts count? Or posts about rational romantic relationships?
I think it would be difficult to have a narrow definition of what “discussing sex” means on LW without tremendously censoring what kind of posts might appear on LW. Perhaps posts with NSFW content should have to be approved by moderators…but how does the poster know to mark their post as NSFW? It would be useful to have a somewhat broad definition/rule on what “discussing sex” means for LW.
Cursing: is it off-limits entirely? Certain words only? (Which ones?) No excessive cursing?
I like cursing, I think when used well it can help emphasise points, convey emotions (especially the strength of those emotions), and generally make things more fun. However, I hate cursing when it’s not used well…nor do I really have much of a definition for when it’s used well…this is one of those “I know it when I see it” kind of things for me. Perhaps people should generally be cautious about cursing, unless it seems particularly relevant to the subject matter at hand or is needed to emphasise an important point, or convey an emotion more clearly, etc.
What norms apply to titles?
Titles should probably not be flashy or attention-grabbing, but should instead convey as much information about the subject matter—including its NSFW-ness, or lack of NSFW-ness, perhaps through tags—while not being terribly long.
Even if the content is content-warned or on people’s own blogs, the recent comments show up in the recent comments feed, which could make some people feel uncomfortable browsing LW in public.
Perhaps the site should hide all comments on NSFW tagged posts from the recent comments feed unless someone is logged in and has explicitly marked affirmative: “allow NSFW tagged posts on the recent comments feed” in their profile settings? That way, by default no NSFW related comments should show up in the recent comments feed, and people who are okay with those comments can simply opt-in to seeing them—thus making the site more “presentable” in public and still allowing users the freedom to see those sorts of comments.