In other groups with I’m familiar, you would kick out people you think are actually a danger (e.g. you discover the guy is a convicted child molester, and have some intelligence to the effect that they are not a reformed character) or you think they might do something that brings your group into disrepute. (I can think of one example where the counterintelligence investigation of a group member suggested that they were setting up a financial scam and were planning to abscond with people’s money).
But otherwise, I think it’s a sign of being a cult If you kick people for not going along with the group dogma.
I mean… really? I am sure that you have been part of companies, or have gone through some kind of higher education with admission processes, where the standards for admission was definitely not “the other person is a danger”.
I agree you should choose your standards to whatever is appropriate for a specific group, but clearly many groups should have standards that greatly exceed “are they a danger”. LessWrong is definitely one such place!
In other groups with I’m familiar, you would kick out people you think are actually a danger (e.g. you discover the guy is a convicted child molester, and have some intelligence to the effect that they are not a reformed character) or you think they might do something that brings your group into disrepute. (I can think of one example where the counterintelligence investigation of a group member suggested that they were setting up a financial scam and were planning to abscond with people’s money).
But otherwise, I think it’s a sign of being a cult If you kick people for not going along with the group dogma.
I mean… really? I am sure that you have been part of companies, or have gone through some kind of higher education with admission processes, where the standards for admission was definitely not “the other person is a danger”.
I agree you should choose your standards to whatever is appropriate for a specific group, but clearly many groups should have standards that greatly exceed “are they a danger”. LessWrong is definitely one such place!