I’m going to nominate the skill-set involved in participating productively in online discussion forums. :-) This involves:
using proper etiquette
avoiding or tamping down flame wars
keeping track of people’s identities so you can avoid crackpots and pay extra attention to those who consistently have high signal/noise ratios
effective communication (writing clearly and concisely, reading comprehension, resolving confusions and misunderstandings)
having a proper amount of confidence in one’s ideas so as to not generate needless disagreements and unproductive arguments
I could also mention the skill-set for building a successful online community, but obviously far fewer people need that. (This seems like a good opportunity to say that I really admire the job that Eliezer has done building this one.)
I’m going to nominate the skill-set involved in participating productively in online discussion forums. :-) This involves:
using proper etiquette
avoiding or tamping down flame wars
keeping track of people’s identities so you can avoid crackpots and pay extra attention to those who consistently have high signal/noise ratios
effective communication (writing clearly and concisely, reading comprehension, resolving confusions and misunderstandings)
having a proper amount of confidence in one’s ideas so as to not generate needless disagreements and unproductive arguments
I could also mention the skill-set for building a successful online community, but obviously far fewer people need that. (This seems like a good opportunity to say that I really admire the job that Eliezer has done building this one.)
Yeah, well, the Nazis could have participated productively in online discussion forums!
Godwin’s Law—You mentioned Nazis, you automatically lose.
(Unless that was part of a joke. If it was part of a joke, then it was funny. Also, you have a point—Those skills are rather common.)