Z_M_Davis comments on The Absent-Minded Driver - Less Wrong

27 Post author: Wei_Dai 16 September 2009 12:51AM

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Comment author: Z_M_Davis 23 September 2009 03:38:48AM 4 points [-]

Okay, so far that's 3-4 people willing to mod me down, zero people willing to point out the errors in a clearly articulated post.

This seems like a non-sequitur to me. It's your comment of 22 September 2009 09:56:05PM that's sitting at -4; none of your clear and articulate responses to Dai have negative scores anymore.

Comment author: SilasBarta comment score below threshold [+] (10 children)

Comment author: Douglas_Knight 23 September 2009 04:41:17AM 6 points [-]

1 or 2 people downmod you and you devote 6 posts to whining about it? This is a broadcast medium. Of course the 5 people who voted you down for wasting their time aren't going to explain why the first 1 or 2 people didn't like the first post.

a post that resolves all the issues of the AMD problem

It didn't say that to me. So much for articulate.

If it's oh so important, don't leave it buried at the bottom a thread of context. Write something new. Why should we care about your parameter, rather than Wei Dai's? Why should we care about any parameter?

Comment author: SilasBarta 23 September 2009 12:07:49PM * 0 points [-]

If it's oh so important, don't leave it buried at the bottom a thread of context.

It may surprise you to note that I linked to the comment from a very visible place in the discussion.

Why should we care about your parameter, rather than Wei Dai's? Why should we care about any parameter?

Because Wei Dai asked for how to generate a solution that makes epistemic sense, and mine was the only one that accurately incorporated the concept of "probability of being at a given intersection".

And of course, Wei_Dai saw fit to use the p q r parameters just the same.

Comment author: Douglas_Knight 23 September 2009 10:57:36PM 1 point [-]

If it's oh so important, don't leave it buried at the bottom a thread of context.

It may surprise you to note that I linked to the comment from a very visible place in the discussion.

Exhuming it and putting it on display doesn't solve the problem of context. People who clicked through (I speak from experience) didn't see how it did what the link said it did. It was plausible that if I reread the thread it would mean something, but my vague memory of the thread was that it went off in a boring direction.

My questions were not intended for you to answer here, yet further removed from the context where one might care about their answers. If you write something self-contained that explains why I should care about it, I'll read it.

Comment author: SilasBarta comment score below threshold [+] (0 children)

Comment author: wedrifid 23 September 2009 06:33:28AM * 2 points [-]

No 'justification' necessary. 'Deserved' is irrelevant and there is no such thing as 'fair'.

If I didn't accept that then LessWrong (and most of the universe) would be downright depressing. People are (often) stupid and votes here represent a very different thing than reward for insight.

Just hold the unknown down-voters in silent contempt briefly then go along with your life. Plenty more upvotes will come. And you know, the votes that my comments receive don't seem to be all that correlated with the quality of the contributed insight. One reason for this is that the more elusive an insight is the less likely it is to agree with what people already think. This phenomenon more or less drives status assignment in academia. The significance of votes I get here rather pales in comparison.

Douglas makes a good suggestion. Want people to appreciate (or even just comprehend) what you are saying? Put in some effort to make a top level post. Express the problem, provide illustrations (verbal or otherwise) and explain your solution. You'll get all sorts of status.

Comment author: SilasBarta 23 September 2009 12:17:09PM -1 points [-]

In the past, I took a comment seriously from you that was satire. Is this one of those, too? Sometimes it's hard to tell.

If it's serious, then my answer is that whatever "clutter" my comment here gave, it would give even more as a top level post, which probably can't give more explanation than my post already did.

By the way, just a "heads-up": I count 6+ comments from others on meta-talk, 8+ down-mods, and 0 explanations for the errors in my solution. Nice work, guys.

Comment author: Z_M_Davis 23 September 2009 04:14:17PM * 10 points [-]

I count 6+ comments from others on meta-talk, 8+ down-mods, and 0 [sic] explanations for the errors in my solution. Nice work, guys.

If it is in fact the case that your complaints are legitimately judged a negative contribution, then you should expect to be downvoted and criticized on those particular comments, regardless of whether or not your solution is correct. There's nothing contradictory about simultaneously believing both that your proposed solution is correct, and that your subsequent complaints are a negative contribution.

I don't feel like taking the time to look over your solution. Maybe it's perfect. Wonderful! Spectacular! This world becomes a little brighter every time someone solves a math problem. But could you please, please consider toning down the hostility just a bit? These swipes at other commenters' competence and integrity are really unpleasant to read.

ADDENDUM: Re tone, consider the difference between "I wonder why this was downvoted, could someone please explain?" (which is polite) and "What a crock," followed by shaming a counterfactual Wei Dai (which is rude).

Comment author: SilasBarta 23 September 2009 05:05:06PM -1 points [-]

If it is in fact the case that your complaints are legitimately judged a negative contribution, then you should expect to be downvoted and criticized on those particular comments, regardless of whether or not your solution is correct. There's nothing contradictory about simultaneously believing both that your proposed solution is correct, and that your subsequent complaints are a negative contribution.

Actually, there is something contradictory when those whiny comments were necessary for the previous, relevant comments to get their deserved karma. Your position here is basically: "Yeah, we were wrong to accuse you of those crimes, but you were still a jerk for pulling all that crap about 'I plead not guilty!' and 'I didn't do it!', wah, wah, wah..."

At the very least, it should buy me more leeway than get for such a tone in isolation.

But could you please, please consider toning down the hostility just a bit?

Sure thing.

I trust that other posters will be more judicious with their voting and responses as well.

Comment author: wedrifid 23 September 2009 01:14:39PM 2 points [-]

No satire. I just don't find expecting the universe to 'behave itself' according to my ideals to be particularly pleasant so I don't wast my emotional energy on it.

I have upvoted your comment because it appears to be a useful (albeit somewhat information dense) contribution. I personally chose not to downvote your complaints because I do empathise with your frustration even if I don't think your complaints are a useful way to get you what you want.

Z_M_Davis comments on The Absent-Minded Driver - Less Wrong

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