Vladimir_Nesov comments on LW's first job ad - Less Wrong

3 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 16 September 2010 10:04AM

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Comment author: Vladimir_Nesov 16 September 2010 12:34:02PM *  26 points [-]

I think this post should at least not be promoted.

On a related note, it might be a good idea to create a "community" top-level section, beside "promoted" and "new", that will keep the community posts away from the front page, so that the "promoted" page will only contain good content that won't be noise for an outside visitor.

Edit: Created feature request issue 228 in the bug tracker.

Comment author: erratio 17 September 2010 12:37:01AM 8 points [-]

The area meetups are another type of post which are often promoted, and which I think would be better in some kind of community section.

Comment author: [deleted] 16 September 2010 05:35:12PM 9 points [-]

Actually I find promoting this a good move. It may not be intended as such but it actually seems a step in this direction.

Comment author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 16 September 2010 07:37:09PM 5 points [-]

Oh, it's intended.

Comment author: thomblake 16 September 2010 02:45:27PM 5 points [-]

Indeed, promoting this post seems completely arbitrary.

Comment author: Relsqui 16 September 2010 08:31:31PM 2 points [-]

I agree with this. The post is not about the blog's theme. It's a tangential subject which might be of interest to some of the people who read the blog (those who are unemployed, seeking work, fit the qualifications, and live in the area). To anyone not in that small subset, it's completely useless.

Comment author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 16 September 2010 09:34:04PM 5 points [-]

If you want to be more practical and useful, then anything of or relating to real-world jobs is a large step forward.

Comment author: thomblake 16 September 2010 10:36:38PM 9 points [-]

If you want to be more practical and useful, then anything of or relating to real-world jobs is a large step forward.

I don't think that's what you meant to say.

If it is, I may start cross-posting want ads from Craig's List at random and expect them to be promoted.

Comment author: [deleted] 17 September 2010 10:15:06AM 3 points [-]

I'm pretty certain this particular kind of job isn't on Craig's List.

Comment author: Relsqui 16 September 2010 10:40:44PM 2 points [-]

Ha, you said this much better than I was going to.

Comment author: Liron 17 September 2010 03:09:36AM *  1 point [-]

And your logical fallacy is...

slippery slope
Comment author: Relsqui 17 September 2010 03:16:54AM *  5 points [-]

I disagree. He's not saying "if we allow relevant job ads, clearly we must allow irrelevant job ads." He's demonstrating that "anything of or relating to real-world jobs [is relevant to LW]" is false. It's possible that Eliezer intended "anything relating to real-world jobs whose field overlaps with the topics of LW," but I'd still disagree with him for the reasons mentioned above. Everyone here is presumably interested in the topics of LW; only a subset

are unemployed, seeking work, fit the qualifications, and live in the area

and those are the only ones to whom this post is relevant. I don't object to it being posted at all, but the promotion doesn't seem appropriate, given the above.

Comment author: purpleposeidon 17 September 2010 05:01:17AM 2 points [-]

It's a threat, not a fallacy. And if I understand LW correctly, few would notice random want-ads because they wouldn't gain enough votes to make it to the front page.

I'm pretty sure the problem is EY. He could post pictures of his cat, and they'd go all the way up. (And if he doesn't have a cat, then he should know that there are several in my neighborhood who might be happy to be adopted. And kittens! Omygosh!)

Comment author: thomblake 17 September 2010 02:04:44PM *  2 points [-]

I'm pretty sure the problem is EY. He could post pictures of his cat, and they'd go all the way up.

That's part of the problem, but the other half is that if he wanted to post pictures of his cat, he'd promote them.

ETA: And in this case, at least, the post is hovering around 0.

Comment author: Kevin 17 September 2010 12:53:03PM 0 points [-]

Maybe if it was a really good want ad.