Do people think that a discussion forum on the moderation and deletion policies would be beneficial?
I would like to see a top-level post on moderation policy. But I would like for it to be written by someone with moderation authority. If there are special rules for discussing moderation, they can be spelled out in the post and commenters can abide by them.
As a newcomer here, I am completely mystified by the dark hints of a forbidden topic. Every hypothesis I can come up with as to why a topic might be forbidden founders when I try to reconcile with the fact that the people doing the forbidding are not stupid.
Self-censorship to protect our own mental health? Stupid. Secrecy as a counter-intelligence measure, to safeguard the fact that we possess some counter-measure capability? Stupid. Secrecy simply because being a member of a secret society is cool? Stupid, but perhaps not stupid enough to be ruled out. On the other hand, I am sure that I haven't thought of every possible explanation.
It strikes me as perfectly reasonable if certain topics are forbidden because discussion of such topics has historically been unproductive, has led to flame wars, etc. I have been wandering around the internet long enough to understand and even appreciate somewhat arbitrary, publicly announced moderation policies. But arbitrary and secret policies are a prescription for resentment and for time wasted discussing moderation policies.
Edit: typo correction - insert missing words
Self-censorship to protect our own mental health? Stupid.
My gloss on it is that this is at best a minor part, though it figures in.
The topic is an idea that has horrific implications that are supposedly made more likely the more one thinks about it. Thinking about it in order to figure out what it may be is a bad idea because you may come up with something else. And if the horrific is horrific enough, even a small rise in the probability of it happening would be very bad in expectation.
More explaining why many won't think it dangerous at all. This do...
This thread is for the discussion of Less Wrong topics that have not appeared in recent posts. If a discussion gets unwieldy, celebrate by turning it into a top-level post.