Wei Dai’s wording makes it sound like identity formation is something LW is placing special emphasis on, which doesn’t appear to me to be the case.
I don’t think we’re intentionally placing emphasis on identity formation, but it does seem like we may be doing certain things that unintentionally cause people to think of LW more in terms of identity, and which we may be able to avoid or counteract.
I suspect that those may contribute to the identity-forming tendencies of LW participation, but I think a great deal of the work is already done by the fact that LW as a community deviates so significantly from mainstream cultural norms. I suspect that qualities which set people apart from the majority are more likely to become incorporated into their identities (for instance, a homeschooled person is more likely to think of themselves as a homeschooled person than a person who went to public school is to think of themselves as a public schooled person.)
I don’t think we’re intentionally placing emphasis on identity formation, but it does seem like we may be doing certain things that unintentionally cause people to think of LW more in terms of identity, and which we may be able to avoid or counteract.
I suspect that those may contribute to the identity-forming tendencies of LW participation, but I think a great deal of the work is already done by the fact that LW as a community deviates so significantly from mainstream cultural norms. I suspect that qualities which set people apart from the majority are more likely to become incorporated into their identities (for instance, a homeschooled person is more likely to think of themselves as a homeschooled person than a person who went to public school is to think of themselves as a public schooled person.)