Hariant comments on Open Thread: February 2010, part 2 - Less Wrong
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Less Wrong, especially commenting on it, is ridiculously intimidating to outsiders. I've thought about this problem, and we need some sort of training grounds. Less Less Wrong or something. It's in my queue of top level posts to write.
So the answer to your question is the karma system.
I can actually attest to this feeling. My first reaction to reading Less Wrong was honestly "these people are way above my level of intelligence such that there's no possible way I could catch up" and I was actually abrasive to the idea of this site. I'm past that mentality, but a Less Less Wrong actually sounds like a good idea, even if it might end up being more like how high school math and science classes should be than how Less Wrong is currently. It's not so much lowering the bar as nudging people upwards slowly.
Being directed towards the sequences obviously would help. I've been bouncing through them, but after Eliezer's comment I'm going to try starting from the beginning. But I can see where people [such as myself] may need the extra help to make it all fall together.