I actually think those posts are reasonably valuable, and while I think the current site setup is more geared towards arguments than random idea generation, I do really want to see more random idea generation and am hesitant to discourage it.
The site interface strikes me as not well-designed for one-sentence posts, because you have to click through in order to receive a very small amount of additional information, and there’s no indication before you click that you’re spending that effort for so little gain.
MrRobot’s posts also strike me as low-quality by the standards of comments (ignoring whether posts do or should have different standards), because a short effort could make it much clearer what the purpose and meaning of the post is. I have to re-read them a few times to figure out what they’re saying.
The kind of super-low-effort post I’m interested in is usually more like “here’s a snapshot of an unusual or rarely-noticed reasoning process” than “here’s a blurted-out hypothesis or assertion.”
Maybe a floor below which someone can’t be downvoted would be helpful? Like, did MrRobot’s cryopreservation post really destroy so much value that he deserves to lose 31 karma for it, just like that?
I dislike this and want to ban open threads and require that these ideas be made into posts. I don’t use lesserwrong much now because this feature is missing.
That’s surprising. I do agree that it’s not necessarily beneficial to discourage those posts, but I’m not going to bet on discouraging those posts being a bad idea.
I actually think those posts are reasonably valuable, and while I think the current site setup is more geared towards arguments than random idea generation, I do really want to see more random idea generation and am hesitant to discourage it.
The site interface strikes me as not well-designed for one-sentence posts, because you have to click through in order to receive a very small amount of additional information, and there’s no indication before you click that you’re spending that effort for so little gain.
MrRobot’s posts also strike me as low-quality by the standards of comments (ignoring whether posts do or should have different standards), because a short effort could make it much clearer what the purpose and meaning of the post is. I have to re-read them a few times to figure out what they’re saying.
The kind of super-low-effort post I’m interested in is usually more like “here’s a snapshot of an unusual or rarely-noticed reasoning process” than “here’s a blurted-out hypothesis or assertion.”
Maybe a floor below which someone can’t be downvoted would be helpful? Like, did MrRobot’s cryopreservation post really destroy so much value that he deserves to lose 31 karma for it, just like that?
The proper place for “I have an idea, and I don’t bother writing more than one sentence about it” is the Open Thread.
I dislike this and want to ban open threads and require that these ideas be made into posts. I don’t use lesserwrong much now because this feature is missing.
That’s surprising. I do agree that it’s not necessarily beneficial to discourage those posts, but I’m not going to bet on discouraging those posts being a bad idea.