The real difference that seems to have arisen between main-section posts and Discussion posts is actually length and completeness. Drafts, short summaries of links, and questions go in discussion; finished full-length articles go in the main section. A summary would be front-page material if it was longer than about 500 words.
Policy-wise, publishing a sequence isn’t any different than publishing each of the pieces. What’s considered on-topic is somewhat ambiguous, but posts on any topic will be upvoted if they are sufficiently interesting, well written, and utility-affecting. Self-help stuff is well received because of that last one: reading about it here on Less Wrong has strongly positive utility (but reading about it in most other places doesn’t, because it’s too difficult to sort through the noise).
The real difference that seems to have arisen between main-section posts and Discussion posts is actually length and completeness. Drafts, short summaries of links, and questions go in discussion; finished full-length articles go in the main section. A summary would be front-page material if it was longer than about 500 words.
Policy-wise, publishing a sequence isn’t any different than publishing each of the pieces. What’s considered on-topic is somewhat ambiguous, but posts on any topic will be upvoted if they are sufficiently interesting, well written, and utility-affecting. Self-help stuff is well received because of that last one: reading about it here on Less Wrong has strongly positive utility (but reading about it in most other places doesn’t, because it’s too difficult to sort through the noise).