I know that at least one administrator (Ben Pace) was aware of my intent to run the census if there were no objections from the LessWrong team prior to me putting up the Request For Comments. Ben sent me a Google Doc of brainstormed census questions in response. I made a request for comments post. I agree most people probably didn’t see it, but don’t know how to fix that without asking for more visibility, which I did. I didn’t get told not to do it or that there was a decision not to give this more visibility, that part didn’t get addressed. If anyone from the LessWrong team asks me to retract the census then I’ll retract this census.
I am unaware of any rule, official or unofficial, that the census should be done by someone with more than 1000 karma. I don’t actually think karma score is the right metric here, but if that rule officially exists then I’ll retract this census.
In November of 2022, SurfingOrca offered to run the census. This also stayed as a Personal Blog, so likely not many people saw it, but by my count eight different people (including Ben and yourself) commented on it and everyone seemed positive. As far as I know, this effort has not been published. If your objection is based on karma score I have about ten times as much as SurfingOrca, but I don’t actually think karma score is the right metric here. Still, if SurfingOrca has a census ready to go, I’m willing to defer to the person who started working on this in November 2022 instead of starting in January of 2023. If SurfingOrca announces one that’s up and ready in the next ~48 hours, I’ll retract this census and offer to merge any data this one has as best as I can.
The 2020 General Census was the last census done, run by B Jacobs, who also has less than a thousand karma. B Jacobs was aware of my plans to run the census this year and made no objection, advising me to make the privacy options clear and that it would be helpful if I could get the administration’s assistance. Still, they had the torch last, and if B Jacobs objects and would prefer to run it then I’ll retract this census.
I disagree that my request is an awful move. The status quo is no census. I don’t think anyone has argued that the census should not be run. I don’t think that anyone in particular is currently responsible for the census; there exists no person whose job title is “Less Wrong Census Administrator.” It’s not quite “Somebody Has To And No One Else Will” mode, because nobody actually has to and several people have offered. Nobody else did though, and since I did this at the end of January after talking to an admin and giving a week of RFC it’s not like I’m blocking anyone else who was visibly about to do it.
You didn’t make a request that’s comparable to the request that SurfingOrca made. SurfingOrca’s request got community approval if you look at it’s karma response while yours didn’t.
I think ignoring the fact that your post got single digit karma and ending your “RFC” after only five days and a single person commenting when there’s no reason to rush it, is a bad sign when it comes to the question to whether you are likely trustworthy when it comes to handling sensitive private data.
Ben Pace was the person who was previously planning a census for this year before cancelling it, so if he sent you the brainstorm doc to help, presumably you have the official LessWrong stamp of approval.
I think the post is slightly misleading in that it represents it as “The LessWrong census” (i.e. something done by the less wrong team), instead of a survey by a less wrong user.
This is an important distinction. For example, I trust the less wrong team with my personal information much more than a random user.
I’m open to suggestions on titles and phrasing! I am not claiming to be a member of the site administration. I am claiming the lineage of the LessWrong Demographics Census, which I do not believe was ever actually run by the official LessWrong team.
For the moment, I’ve put up a sentence in the opening of the census stating that I’m a user, not an administrator.
I know that at least one administrator (Ben Pace) was aware of my intent to run the census if there were no objections from the LessWrong team prior to me putting up the Request For Comments. Ben sent me a Google Doc of brainstormed census questions in response. I made a request for comments post. I agree most people probably didn’t see it, but don’t know how to fix that without asking for more visibility, which I did. I didn’t get told not to do it or that there was a decision not to give this more visibility, that part didn’t get addressed. If anyone from the LessWrong team asks me to retract the census then I’ll retract this census.
I am unaware of any rule, official or unofficial, that the census should be done by someone with more than 1000 karma. I don’t actually think karma score is the right metric here, but if that rule officially exists then I’ll retract this census.
In November of 2022, SurfingOrca offered to run the census. This also stayed as a Personal Blog, so likely not many people saw it, but by my count eight different people (including Ben and yourself) commented on it and everyone seemed positive. As far as I know, this effort has not been published. If your objection is based on karma score I have about ten times as much as SurfingOrca, but I don’t actually think karma score is the right metric here. Still, if SurfingOrca has a census ready to go, I’m willing to defer to the person who started working on this in November 2022 instead of starting in January of 2023. If SurfingOrca announces one that’s up and ready in the next ~48 hours, I’ll retract this census and offer to merge any data this one has as best as I can.
The 2020 General Census was the last census done, run by B Jacobs, who also has less than a thousand karma. B Jacobs was aware of my plans to run the census this year and made no objection, advising me to make the privacy options clear and that it would be helpful if I could get the administration’s assistance. Still, they had the torch last, and if B Jacobs objects and would prefer to run it then I’ll retract this census.
I disagree that my request is an awful move. The status quo is no census. I don’t think anyone has argued that the census should not be run. I don’t think that anyone in particular is currently responsible for the census; there exists no person whose job title is “Less Wrong Census Administrator.” It’s not quite “Somebody Has To And No One Else Will” mode, because nobody actually has to and several people have offered. Nobody else did though, and since I did this at the end of January after talking to an admin and giving a week of RFC it’s not like I’m blocking anyone else who was visibly about to do it.
You didn’t make a request that’s comparable to the request that SurfingOrca made. SurfingOrca’s request got community approval if you look at it’s karma response while yours didn’t.
I think ignoring the fact that your post got single digit karma and ending your “RFC” after only five days and a single person commenting when there’s no reason to rush it, is a bad sign when it comes to the question to whether you are likely trustworthy when it comes to handling sensitive private data.
Ben Pace was the person who was previously planning a census for this year before cancelling it, so if he sent you the brainstorm doc to help, presumably you have the official LessWrong stamp of approval.
I think the post is slightly misleading in that it represents it as “The LessWrong census” (i.e. something done by the less wrong team), instead of a survey by a less wrong user.
This is an important distinction. For example, I trust the less wrong team with my personal information much more than a random user.
I’m open to suggestions on titles and phrasing! I am not claiming to be a member of the site administration. I am claiming the lineage of the LessWrong Demographics Census, which I do not believe was ever actually run by the official LessWrong team.
For the moment, I’ve put up a sentence in the opening of the census stating that I’m a user, not an administrator.
Scott Alexander isn’t the official LessWrong team but he was someone who actually earned had more authority. He was someone with community trust.