Thanks for replying. I would prefer the policy you describe to the status quo of people having different ideas what the norms are. Perhaps this would be combined with a policy statement on “Do not try to win arguments by fights of attrition”.
I don’t think it’s a weird subject to have a policy on. Thinking of the Policy on LLM Writing:
The policy states what obligations people have to LessWrong itself. These obligations are notable for having some moral and legal force, and having moderator enforcement.
Of course any random person may think I have an obligation to do more, or less. But that has no moral force.
In the absence of a policy, we get debates as on Deontic Explorations in Paying to Talk to Slaves about (in part) whether certain content is acceptable on LessWrong. After the policy, there is an objective answer to that question, and fewer debates.
I think a policy on responding to comments would be similarly helpful. For example, as I read through the section “But why ban someone, can’t people just ignore Said?” above, it only really works as a debate in the absence of a site policy. Achmiz says:
If no response is provided to… simple requests for clarification …, the author should be interpreted as ignorant.
That line of argument doesn’t work if there is a site policy that authors are not expected to respond to comments. Firstly, the attack itself is subject to moderation. Secondly, anyone, not just the author, can defuse it by linking to the site policy, which conveniently has a space where the policy can be discussed. Certainly site policy can’t stop Achmiz thinking I’m ignorant. But it can reduce the extent to which Achmiz can convince the rest of the audience that I’m ignorant.
LessWrong/Lightcone doesn’t have to weakly clarify its best guess of the prevailing norms. It can state what the norms are, in a self-fulfilling statement that sets the norms to what it states. As long as the stated norms are broadly popular, this just works.
Thanks for replying. I would prefer the policy you describe to the status quo of people having different ideas what the norms are. Perhaps this would be combined with a policy statement on “Do not try to win arguments by fights of attrition”.
I don’t think it’s a weird subject to have a policy on. Thinking of the Policy on LLM Writing:
The policy states what obligations people have to LessWrong itself. These obligations are notable for having some moral and legal force, and having moderator enforcement.
Of course any random person may think I have an obligation to do more, or less. But that has no moral force.
In the absence of a policy, we get debates as on Deontic Explorations in Paying to Talk to Slaves about (in part) whether certain content is acceptable on LessWrong. After the policy, there is an objective answer to that question, and fewer debates.
I think a policy on responding to comments would be similarly helpful. For example, as I read through the section “But why ban someone, can’t people just ignore Said?” above, it only really works as a debate in the absence of a site policy. Achmiz says:
That line of argument doesn’t work if there is a site policy that authors are not expected to respond to comments. Firstly, the attack itself is subject to moderation. Secondly, anyone, not just the author, can defuse it by linking to the site policy, which conveniently has a space where the policy can be discussed. Certainly site policy can’t stop Achmiz thinking I’m ignorant. But it can reduce the extent to which Achmiz can convince the rest of the audience that I’m ignorant.
LessWrong/Lightcone doesn’t have to weakly clarify its best guess of the prevailing norms. It can state what the norms are, in a self-fulfilling statement that sets the norms to what it states. As long as the stated norms are broadly popular, this just works.