Lack of engagement with the established members is definitely a big barrier encountered by newcomers..
If you ask this newcomer, the problem is the arrogant obnoxiousness of the engagment.
I was informed that I needed to "learn rationality" (after 30 years of studying science, logic, philosophy etc) and that this provided a "solution to free will" (which turned out to be a mediocre piece of speculation).
If you want to promote yourselves as an Ayn Rand style cult, you are going just the right way.
Related to: How to build rationalist communities
"Tell 'em what you're going to tell 'em," as it is written:
- Holy Books Don’t Implement Themselves
o Marx needed a Lenin. Fermi, Hahn and Meitner needed a Manhattan Project. The Bible needs a Rick Warren.
o EY and the Sequences need:
§ a Distiller that generates Rationality Projects.
§ some Organizers to help people embark on these Projects.
- Getting People To Do Stuff
o It doesn’t matter what ideas were conveyed in group meeting, the subset that matters is what group members resolved to do
o It doesn’t matter what group members resolved to do, the subset that matters is what you, the Organizer, followed up with.
- Bhagwat’s Law of Commitment
o The degree to which people identify with the group is directly proportional to the amount of stuff you tell them to do that works.
- Head in the Clouds < Making It Rain
o If someone is unable to articulate how they are going to implement a principle into their day-to-day lives, they are unlikely to implement it.
- Herding Cats
o If you don’t let people do something meaningful, they will never be any help.
o Feeling needed as a part of a community is a powerful motive to keep coming to meetings.
o Know the name and face of every newcomer. Have a good conversation with each. Afterwards, send them an e-mail showing them you are glad they came.
- "The Four People Who Do Everything" organization problem
o When you focus on doing stuff, some fandom members become core members.
o Others leave or detach themselves.
o But if you don’t have competent core members who organize, the group falls apart or stagnates.
o Attrition is the organization-killer. Spending tons of time training new people, only to have your old people leave, is a recipe for frustration and stagnation.
- Living Organisms Grow Naturally
o The idea isn’t, ‘how can Less Wrong meetups expand’
o It’s, ‘how can we remove the barriers stopping them?’
What are you all most interested in?