I really liked the level of subtextual snark (e.g. almost every use of the word ‘rational’). This level of skepticism and mockery is, frankly, about what should be applied, and was fun to read.
I was surprised at the density of weirdness, not because it makes bad journalism, but because it’s difficult for the audience to understand (e.g. /r/hpmor is just dropped in there and the reader is expected to deal). I like Sarunas’ explanation for this. Fairness-wise, this was better than I expected, though with occasional surrenders to temptation (The glaring one for me was Will and Divia Eden).
Michael Vassar as our face was inevitable if disappointing. The writing about him was great. I feel like the descriptions of his clothing are the author making him a little funnier—nobody else gets clothing description.
The author’s initial inability to read lesswrong makes me think we may need a big button at the top that says “First time? Click here!” and just dumps you into a beginner version of the Sequences page.
I feel like the descriptions of his clothing are the author making him a little funnier—nobody else gets clothing description.
That’s not true. At the beginning he notices Bitcoin clothing further to the end he notices a Tesla jacket. He also speaks about his own Fermats theorem T-Shirt and how Eliezer reacts to it.
Changing the about page/homepage is pretty easy. If you have a concrete suggestion it should be straightforward to implement. Currently the about page/sequences page/homepage/faq are somewhat optimized for exposing the reader to a broad cross-section of Less Wrong articles. The downside here is that we may be presenting users with an overwhelming number of choices.
I was surprised at the density of weirdness, not because it makes bad journalism, but because it’s difficult for the audience to understand (e.g. /r/hpmor is just dropped in there and the reader is expected to deal).
At least he didn’t sample the “Shit LessWrongers Say” Markov-chain bot.
I agree. The difficult thing about introducing others to Less Wrong has always been that even if the new person remembers to say “It’s my first time, be gentle”. Less Wrong has the girth of a rather large horse. You can’t make it smaller without losing much of its necessary function.
I really liked the level of subtextual snark (e.g. almost every use of the word ‘rational’). This level of skepticism and mockery is, frankly, about what should be applied, and was fun to read.
I was surprised at the density of weirdness, not because it makes bad journalism, but because it’s difficult for the audience to understand (e.g. /r/hpmor is just dropped in there and the reader is expected to deal). I like Sarunas’ explanation for this. Fairness-wise, this was better than I expected, though with occasional surrenders to temptation (The glaring one for me was Will and Divia Eden).
Michael Vassar as our face was inevitable if disappointing. The writing about him was great. I feel like the descriptions of his clothing are the author making him a little funnier—nobody else gets clothing description.
The author’s initial inability to read lesswrong makes me think we may need a big button at the top that says “First time? Click here!” and just dumps you into a beginner version of the Sequences page.
That’s not true. At the beginning he notices Bitcoin clothing further to the end he notices a Tesla jacket. He also speaks about his own Fermats theorem T-Shirt and how Eliezer reacts to it.
Changing the about page/homepage is pretty easy. If you have a concrete suggestion it should be straightforward to implement. Currently the about page/sequences page/homepage/faq are somewhat optimized for exposing the reader to a broad cross-section of Less Wrong articles. The downside here is that we may be presenting users with an overwhelming number of choices.
At least he didn’t sample the “Shit LessWrongers Say” Markov-chain bot.
I agree. The difficult thing about introducing others to Less Wrong has always been that even if the new person remembers to say “It’s my first time, be gentle”. Less Wrong has the girth of a rather large horse. You can’t make it smaller without losing much of its necessary function.