FYI, a major point of disagreement of mine is that I’d be pretty surprised if a SlatestarCodex that didn’t have the moderation log would have a dramatically different comment section. I think the comment quality is determined primarily by founder effects (i.e. what does Scott talk about, and which initial friends of his comment regularly?)
(insofar as it did have a different comment section, I suspect it’d be one that you liked slightly less and I liked slightly more. In general the comments have gotten better as Scott has been willing to ban people more arbitrarily AFAICT, and I don’t have a sense that the people who’s comments I value would leave if the mod list was gone or never implemented, but wouldn’t be surprised if you had the reverse sense)
I think SSC without the moderation log absolutely would have a dramatically different comment section, but… I hesitate to speak of the reason in public because it touches on certain issues that, as I understand, Scott prefers not to see discussed overtly in connection with the site, and I’d like to respect that preference. However, I think this is an important matter; perhaps we could discuss it privately? I can be found via webchat at chat.myfullname.net, or by email at myfirstname@myfullname.net.
In general the comments have gotten better as Scott has been willing to ban people more arbitrarily AFAICT
I think this is likely true (which is to say, it’s true that Scott has been willing to ban people more, and it’s true that the comment section has improved; correlation is of course not causation, but it does seem plausible in this case).
However, I think without the mod log, things would be different (see above).
FYI, a major point of disagreement of mine is that I’d be pretty surprised if a SlatestarCodex that didn’t have the moderation log would have a dramatically different comment section. I think the comment quality is determined primarily by founder effects (i.e. what does Scott talk about, and which initial friends of his comment regularly?)
(insofar as it did have a different comment section, I suspect it’d be one that you liked slightly less and I liked slightly more. In general the comments have gotten better as Scott has been willing to ban people more arbitrarily AFAICT, and I don’t have a sense that the people who’s comments I value would leave if the mod list was gone or never implemented, but wouldn’t be surprised if you had the reverse sense)
I think SSC without the moderation log absolutely would have a dramatically different comment section, but… I hesitate to speak of the reason in public because it touches on certain issues that, as I understand, Scott prefers not to see discussed overtly in connection with the site, and I’d like to respect that preference. However, I think this is an important matter; perhaps we could discuss it privately? I can be found via webchat at chat.myfullname.net, or by email at myfirstname@myfullname.net.
I think this is likely true (which is to say, it’s true that Scott has been willing to ban people more, and it’s true that the comment section has improved; correlation is of course not causation, but it does seem plausible in this case).
However, I think without the mod log, things would be different (see above).
Yup, happy to discuss that privately. Will probably ping you later tonight.