jimrandomh comments on How to always have interesting conversations - Less Wrong

45 Post author: Kaj_Sotala 14 June 2010 12:35AM

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Comment author: jimrandomh 17 June 2010 07:03:52PM 1 point [-]

200k is one order of magnitude larger than what I was thinking when you said "small town". The relevant criteria is how far you can narrow down the set of activities and demographics you interact with and still have an effectively unlimited supply of strangers. My experiences are all plus or minus an order of magnitude from that, so I don't really know if 200k is sufficient.

As for rumors about being threatening - if you're referring to the conversation here on LW where I posted a nasty ill-considered reply to a deleted comment and ended up deleting it, then I apologize for that. If you're referring to something that happened in person, then I think you'll find people have surprisingly short memories for that sort of thing.

Comment author: wedrifid 17 June 2010 07:33:26PM *  1 point [-]

200k is one order of magnitude larger than what I was thinking when you said "small town".

Wow. It was two orders of magnitude off what I was thinking! I grew up 20 minutes from the nearest town, which was ~4k so I had a different expectations of what would be limiting.

Comment author: SilasBarta 17 June 2010 07:07:59PM *  0 points [-]

As for rumors about being threatening - if you're referring to the conversation here on LW where I posted a nasty ill-considered reply to a deleted comment and ended up deleting it,

No, I wasn't. As I should have said at the time, you're not the first person to publicly accuse me of a serious crime I didn't commit, due to conflict with me. You're just the most remorseful.

If you're referring to something that happened in person, then I think you'll find people have surprisingly short memories for that sort of thing.

In the case I have in mind, it was at least two years.

Comment author: khafra 17 June 2010 07:18:06PM 2 points [-]

I, for one, would really really like to see a videotape of several of your conversational attempts, if such videotape would be legal to take in your state. In fact, after reading the social awkwardness saga here, it's almost worth a ticket to Texas to walk along and observe in person.

Comment author: SilasBarta 17 June 2010 07:22:09PM 2 points [-]

PM me to schedule a time, I'll pay for the trip just so I can have a witness.

Comment author: jimrandomh 17 June 2010 07:38:39PM 0 points [-]

I'll second the request for video. Maybe a web videoconference? That's not as good as an in-person conversation (in particular, it screws up eye contact and eliminates location/distance-based signalling), but it gets around the need to travel and it's easier to film.

Comment author: SilasBarta 17 June 2010 07:46:06PM 1 point [-]

I'd love to vidchat with people. I wanted to do it a lot when I got my MacBook back in '07, but no one I knew wanted to do it and there weren't good random-stranger vidchat sites at the time.

I'll post my skype name when I get home.

But I hope you meant this as a separate measure of me than someone's "in the field" observations.

Comment author: AdeleneDawner 17 June 2010 07:54:56PM 0 points [-]

I'll post my skype name when I get home.

There appears to be only one account with the name Silas Barta on skype. Is that you?

Comment author: SilasBarta 18 June 2010 01:42:47AM 0 points [-]

Skype screenname: silasxdx, and yes, I'm that Silas Barta

I'm on right now if anyone wants to vidchat. PM me if you want to set a time.

Comment author: SilasBarta 17 June 2010 07:59:20PM 0 points [-]

Sad as it may sound, I'm not sure. I haven't used it in a while.

In any case, hold your horses! Anyone who wants will be able to chat with me soon enough! ;-)