That's not what Yvain said. He called for:
less about the application of rationality to various different everyday life skills (which usually end up being bad self-help)
Which is an objection to all of the posts about akrasia, social skills, and so forth, not to applying rationality to figure out whether particular scientific claims are likely to be true.
I agree the comment seems somewhat off-topic, but I'm glad it was posted here anyway only because I'm new and was considering posting things similar to what you say is discouraged. But I would like to ask, is the consensus that the topic itself is discouraged, or that if you are to post on that topic, the bar should be set much higher? If anyone has advice on what you guys want to see, or not see, here, it would be appreciated.
http://journalofcosmology.com/Life100.html
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/03/aliens-riding-meteorites-arsenic-redux-or-something-new/
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2293643