“Downvotes provide the sting of (variable) negative reinforcement.”
“My [...friend...] was highly turned off by Less Wrong when the first comment he made was voted down.”
It seems to me that we want to cull people who repeatedly make poor comments, and who register an account just to make a single trolling remark (i.e. evading the first criteria via multiple accounts). We do not want to cull new users who have not yet adapted to the cultural standards of LessWrong, or who happen to have simply hit on one of the culture’s sore spots.
If nothing else, the idea that this community doesn’t have blind spots and biases from being a relatively closed culture is absurd. Of course we have biases, and we want new members because they’re more likely to question those biases. We don’t want a mindless rehashing of the same old arguments again and again, but that initial down vote can be a large disincentive to wield so casually.
Of course, solving this is trickier than identifying it! A few random ideas:
Mark anyone who registered less than a week ago, or with less than 5 comments, with a small “NEWBIE” icon (ideally something less offensive than actually saying “NEWBIE”). Also helps distinguish a fresh troll account from a regular poster who happens to have said something controversial.
Someone’s first few posts are “protected” and only show positive karma, unless the user goes beneath a certain threshold (say, −10 total karma across all their posts). This allows “troll accounts” to quickly be shut down, and only shields someone’s initial foray (and they’ll still be met with rebuttal comments)
There’s probably other options, but it seems that it would be beneficial to protect a user’s initial foray, while still leaving the community to defend itself from longer-term threats.
How about redirecting users to the latest Welcome thread when they register, and encouraging them to post there? Such posts are usually quickly uploaded to half-a-dozen or thereabouts.
I definitely think the “Welcome” threads could do with more prominence. That said, I’m loathe to do introductions myself; I’d far rather just jump in to discussing things and let people learn about me from my ideas. I’d expect plenty of other people here have a similar urge to respond to a specific point, before investing themselves in introductions and community-building / social activities.
“Downvotes provide the sting of (variable) negative reinforcement.”
“My [...friend...] was highly turned off by Less Wrong when the first comment he made was voted down.”
It seems to me that we want to cull people who repeatedly make poor comments, and who register an account just to make a single trolling remark (i.e. evading the first criteria via multiple accounts). We do not want to cull new users who have not yet adapted to the cultural standards of LessWrong, or who happen to have simply hit on one of the culture’s sore spots.
If nothing else, the idea that this community doesn’t have blind spots and biases from being a relatively closed culture is absurd. Of course we have biases, and we want new members because they’re more likely to question those biases. We don’t want a mindless rehashing of the same old arguments again and again, but that initial down vote can be a large disincentive to wield so casually.
Of course, solving this is trickier than identifying it! A few random ideas:
Mark anyone who registered less than a week ago, or with less than 5 comments, with a small “NEWBIE” icon (ideally something less offensive than actually saying “NEWBIE”). Also helps distinguish a fresh troll account from a regular poster who happens to have said something controversial.
Someone’s first few posts are “protected” and only show positive karma, unless the user goes beneath a certain threshold (say, −10 total karma across all their posts). This allows “troll accounts” to quickly be shut down, and only shields someone’s initial foray (and they’ll still be met with rebuttal comments)
There’s probably other options, but it seems that it would be beneficial to protect a user’s initial foray, while still leaving the community to defend itself from longer-term threats.
How about redirecting users to the latest Welcome thread when they register, and encouraging them to post there? Such posts are usually quickly uploaded to half-a-dozen or thereabouts.
I definitely think the “Welcome” threads could do with more prominence. That said, I’m loathe to do introductions myself; I’d far rather just jump in to discussing things and let people learn about me from my ideas. I’d expect plenty of other people here have a similar urge to respond to a specific point, before investing themselves in introductions and community-building / social activities.