So I’ve been on LW for about a month. For the record, yes, I have read the new user’s guide because I’m a slavish rule-follower. I’ve also browsed the very extensive concepts index.
I am still not entirely clear on what exactly does one post on LessWrong?
I get that there’s a distinction between Front Page posts and Personal Blog posts. But at the same time, whether you make a FP/Personal post, my intuition is that there are certain types of posts you wouldn’t post on LW.
But sometimes that intuition is challenged when I see very non-ratty posts like this gross mac and cheese recipe. (Unless maybe the recipe is supposed to be epistemologically profound in its radical simplicity?)
Surely there must be some kinds of posts that would be taken down or at least downvoted into oblivion because they’re a bad fit. Thinkpieces about B2B sales? Educational pieces about population ecology? Personal posts about the quirks of raising a toddler? Kirby Super Star: Ultra fanfiction?
Posts that get downvoted into oblivion usually have problems like AI writing, trying too hard to make persuasive arguments, mischaracterizing things, or generally doing things stylistically that annoy people.
If people feel like your post is off-topic (with no other problems) it will usually just get ignored, not downvoted.
It’s really hard to say what on-topic actually is here though, and you could probably get away with any of those posts if they’re written in the right way.
There are no hard rules, but I see it as a sequence of filters.
First, like Brendan said, there are some mistakes that result in negative karma. If you can avoid this, feel free to post.
After you pass the first filter, there are various things that could bring positive karma. It can be research, or something personal, or fiction… You only need to succeed in one of those criteria. If you fail at all of them, karma will be close to zero.
Finally, moderators decide whether to move your post on front page, which I guess is a combination of topic and karma.
Sometimes the karma depends on what other people write, for example if we start having too much fiction, people will be annoyed even by things they would have normally liked or ignored.
My guess is that the population-ecology and parenting advice posts would score well controlling for quality and author recognition, but the B2B sales advice and Kirby fanfic would get downvoted unless there was some kind of thematic local twist. Only one way to find out!
“It’s over, Haltmann,” said Kirby. “You’ve lost. Disable the Access Ark.”
Haltmann had lost a lot of blood but could still move and speak. “No,” he croaked.
“Do it or I’ll kill you,” said Kirby.
Haltmann laughed. “A threat? You insult my knowledge of decision theory, Kirby. The Access Ark only responds to my biosignature. If you want me to do something for you, you’ll have to offer me something I want.”
Kirby shrugged and ate Haltmann. “Great, now that I have his biosignature—”
A turret on the wall shot balls of some sort of sticky substance at Kirby. It smelled like peanut butter. “What—what—” Kirby gasped, as his throat began to swell up.
“And his peanut allergy?” said a cold yet feminine metallic voice.
So I’ve been on LW for about a month. For the record, yes, I have read the new user’s guide because I’m a slavish rule-follower. I’ve also browsed the very extensive concepts index.
I am still not entirely clear on what exactly does one post on LessWrong?
I get that there’s a distinction between Front Page posts and Personal Blog posts. But at the same time, whether you make a FP/Personal post, my intuition is that there are certain types of posts you wouldn’t post on LW.
But sometimes that intuition is challenged when I see very non-ratty posts like this gross mac and cheese recipe. (Unless maybe the recipe is supposed to be epistemologically profound in its radical simplicity?)
Surely there must be some kinds of posts that would be taken down or at least downvoted into oblivion because they’re a bad fit. Thinkpieces about B2B sales? Educational pieces about population ecology? Personal posts about the quirks of raising a toddler? Kirby Super Star: Ultra fanfiction?
Posts that get downvoted into oblivion usually have problems like AI writing, trying too hard to make persuasive arguments, mischaracterizing things, or generally doing things stylistically that annoy people.
If people feel like your post is off-topic (with no other problems) it will usually just get ignored, not downvoted.
It’s really hard to say what on-topic actually is here though, and you could probably get away with any of those posts if they’re written in the right way.
There are no hard rules, but I see it as a sequence of filters.
First, like Brendan said, there are some mistakes that result in negative karma. If you can avoid this, feel free to post.
After you pass the first filter, there are various things that could bring positive karma. It can be research, or something personal, or fiction… You only need to succeed in one of those criteria. If you fail at all of them, karma will be close to zero.
Finally, moderators decide whether to move your post on front page, which I guess is a combination of topic and karma.
Sometimes the karma depends on what other people write, for example if we start having too much fiction, people will be annoyed even by things they would have normally liked or ignored.
My guess is that the population-ecology and parenting advice posts would score well controlling for quality and author recognition, but the B2B sales advice and Kirby fanfic would get downvoted unless there was some kind of thematic local twist. Only one way to find out!
I would suggest Kirby: Planet Robobot over Super Star Ultra.
“It’s over, Haltmann,” said Kirby. “You’ve lost. Disable the Access Ark.”
Haltmann had lost a lot of blood but could still move and speak. “No,” he croaked.
“Do it or I’ll kill you,” said Kirby.
Haltmann laughed. “A threat? You insult my knowledge of decision theory, Kirby. The Access Ark only responds to my biosignature. If you want me to do something for you, you’ll have to offer me something I want.”
Kirby shrugged and ate Haltmann. “Great, now that I have his biosignature—”
A turret on the wall shot balls of some sort of sticky substance at Kirby. It smelled like peanut butter. “What—what—” Kirby gasped, as his throat began to swell up.
“And his peanut allergy?” said a cold yet feminine metallic voice.