But that's not why people are telling waitingforgodel they'd rather he left. People are telling him that because he took action he sincerely (perhaps wrongly, but sincerely) believed would reduce humanity's chances of survival. That's a lot crazier than believing in basilisks!

I am not entirely clear on the timeline- I haven't researched his precommitment and whether or not EY saw it- but at some point EY commented in his Mod Voice that undeleting comments was subject to banning, and so that is the part where most people seem to agree that wfg went crazy.

So it's not "wow, you're murdering people to make a point?" that started people saying "maybe you ought not be here," but it certainly is what made that idea catch on.

And the pity is, it's not true he couldn't effect change. The right thing to do in a scenario like this is propose reasonable compromises (like the idea of rot13'ing posts on topics people find upsetting) and if those fail then, with the moral high ground under your feet, find or create an alternative site for discussion of the banned topics. Not only would that be morally better than this nutty blackmail scheme, it would also be more effective.

I agree with the desirability of this hypothetical. I have no data on the probability of this hypothetical.