Yeah. Having seperate “elite rationality club” and “casual rationality discussion” areas is probably my prefered solution.
Too bad everyone who cares doesn’t care enough to hack the code. How hard would it be for someone to create and send in a patch for something like exclusive back room discussion. It would be just adding another subreddit, no?
I’ve seen this suggested before, and while it would have positive aspects, from a PR perspective, it would be an utter nightmare. I’ve been here for slightly less than a year, after being referred to HPMOR. I am very unlikely (Prior p = 0.02, given that EY started it and I was obsessed with HPMOR, probably closer to p = 0.07) to have ever followed a forum/blog that had an “exclusive members” section. Insomuch as LW is interested in recruiting potential rationalists, this is a horrible, horrible idea.
A more realistic idea (what I think the grandparent was suggesting) it just to try to filter off discussions not strictly related to rationality (HPMOR; fiction threads; the AGI/SIAI discussions; etc) into the discussion forum, and to stick stuff strictly related to rationality (or relevant paper-sharing, or whatever) in another subreddit.
The obvious alternative is to create a tier below discussion, which would attract some of the lower-quality discussion posts and thereby improve the signal in the main discussion section.
Would you prefer that we be a bit more hardcore about subscribing sequences, and a bit more explicit that people should read them? Or maybe we should have little markers next to people’s names “this guy has read everything”? Or maybe we should do nothing because all moves are bad? Maybe a more loosely affilated site that has the strict standard instead of just a “non-noobs” section?
Would you prefer that we be a bit more hardcore about subscribing sequences, and a bit more explicit that people should read them?
In short, no. See my other comment for details. I think the barriers to entry are high enough, and raising them further filters out people we might want.
Or maybe we should have little markers next to people’s names “this guy has read everything”?
This introduces status problems, it’s impossible (or at least inefficient) to enforce well.
Or maybe we should do nothing because all moves are bad?
I won’t claim that the current design we’ve located in LessWrongspace is the most optimal, but I’m quite happy with it, and I don’t see any way to immediately improve it in the regard you want.
Actually, I’ll take that back. I would like to see the community encourage the use of tags a lot more. I think if everyone was very dedicated in trying to use the tagging system it might help the problem you’re referring to. But in some way, I think those tags also need to be incorporated into titles of discussion posts. I really like the custom of using [META] or [LINK] in the title, and I’d like to see that expand.
Maybe a more loosely affilated site that has the strict standard instead of just a “non-noobs” section?
Yeah. Having seperate “elite rationality club” and “casual rationality discussion” areas is probably my prefered solution.
If that happened, unless it was very carefully presented, I would expect a drop of quality in the discussion section because “hey cool down man we aren’t in the restricted section here”, and because many old-timers might stop spending time there altogether.
I would rather see a solution that didn’t include such a neat division; where lower standards were treated as the exception (like in HPMoR threads and open threads), not the rule.
If someone’s going to alter this forum software, how about they put a priority on giving me a list of replies to my posts, so I don’t have to re-scan long comment threads regularly in order to carry on a discussion? Also, making long threads actually load when I hit “Show all” would be nice too.
This would be an excellent improvement to the site, and would solve the problem of people (cough lukeprog cough) not reading the comments on their posts.
Edit: Though it’s seriously annoying to not have the ability to reply from there, or even link directly to it. I’m actually pining for Disqus now, and that’s a first.
I think you want it more tiered/topic’ed, not more exclusive, which I would certainly support. Unfortunately, the site design is not a priority.
Yeah. Having seperate “elite rationality club” and “casual rationality discussion” areas is probably my prefered solution.
Too bad everyone who cares doesn’t care enough to hack the code. How hard would it be for someone to create and send in a patch for something like exclusive back room discussion. It would be just adding another subreddit, no?
/r/evenlesswrong
I’ve seen this suggested before, and while it would have positive aspects, from a PR perspective, it would be an utter nightmare. I’ve been here for slightly less than a year, after being referred to HPMOR. I am very unlikely (Prior p = 0.02, given that EY started it and I was obsessed with HPMOR, probably closer to p = 0.07) to have ever followed a forum/blog that had an “exclusive members” section. Insomuch as LW is interested in recruiting potential rationalists, this is a horrible, horrible idea.
A more realistic idea (what I think the grandparent was suggesting) it just to try to filter off discussions not strictly related to rationality (HPMOR; fiction threads; the AGI/SIAI discussions; etc) into the discussion forum, and to stick stuff strictly related to rationality (or relevant paper-sharing, or whatever) in another subreddit.
The obvious alternative is to create a tier below discussion, which would attract some of the lower-quality discussion posts and thereby improve the signal in the main discussion section.
Or topical discussion boards...
good point.
Would you prefer that we be a bit more hardcore about subscribing sequences, and a bit more explicit that people should read them? Or maybe we should have little markers next to people’s names “this guy has read everything”? Or maybe we should do nothing because all moves are bad? Maybe a more loosely affilated site that has the strict standard instead of just a “non-noobs” section?
In short, no. See my other comment for details. I think the barriers to entry are high enough, and raising them further filters out people we might want.
This introduces status problems, it’s impossible (or at least inefficient) to enforce well.
I won’t claim that the current design we’ve located in LessWrongspace is the most optimal, but I’m quite happy with it, and I don’t see any way to immediately improve it in the regard you want.
Actually, I’ll take that back. I would like to see the community encourage the use of tags a lot more. I think if everyone was very dedicated in trying to use the tagging system it might help the problem you’re referring to. But in some way, I think those tags also need to be incorporated into titles of discussion posts. I really like the custom of using [META] or [LINK] in the title, and I’d like to see that expand.
Again no, really for the same reasons as above.
If that happened, unless it was very carefully presented, I would expect a drop of quality in the discussion section because “hey cool down man we aren’t in the restricted section here”, and because many old-timers might stop spending time there altogether.
I would rather see a solution that didn’t include such a neat division; where lower standards were treated as the exception (like in HPMoR threads and open threads), not the rule.
The approach of seeding another forum or few may help, c.f. the Center for Modern Rationality.
If someone’s going to alter this forum software, how about they put a priority on giving me a list of replies to my posts, so I don’t have to re-scan long comment threads regularly in order to carry on a discussion? Also, making long threads actually load when I hit “Show all” would be nice too.
I’m not sure what you mean here- how would this differ from the inbox?
Definitely.
Is there a way to get the inbox to show responses to a post, as well as to comments? That’s not the default behavior.
This would be an excellent improvement to the site, and would solve the problem of people (cough lukeprog cough) not reading the comments on their posts.
Just to be clear, I’m not requesting it, I just thought pedanterrific was indicating that it was current behavior.
It doesn’t work with LW’s inbox, but you can subscribe to threads’ RSS feeds.
Oh. (Have never made a post.)
That feature exists? Where?
Um. I was referring to the little envelope symbol underneath your karma score.
I hadn’t noticed that before. Thank you.
Edit: Though it’s seriously annoying to not have the ability to reply from there, or even link directly to it. I’m actually pining for Disqus now, and that’s a first.