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Yvain comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 8 - Less Wrong
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<whiny nitpicking complaint>
I donated, because it was a good reminder that I should be donating anyway, but the reward kind of leaves me cold. If Eliezer writes new chapters after 78 at a constant rate while publishing existing chapters, then if he publishes all his existing chapters really quickly he won't get many new chapters done in the interim and we'll have to wait a longer time after 78 for 79. If he publishes existing chapters slowly, he'll have 79 done by the time he gets to 78, and can publish those at a steady rate while working on 80+.
So instead of donating to get more total HPatMOR, donations change the pacing away from "slow and steady" and toward "quick burst of chapters now, then a longer interval", with the end date of the fic not changing at all. Personally, I would prefer the steadier pacing.
</whiny nitpicking complaint>
For human-psychological reasons I expect that "the drive to complete more chapters" will become appreciable pretty much the moment 78 is published (and not much before).
Even if I am wrong, I don't think "writes at a constant rate" is a safe assumption to make about Eliezer's fiction writing. (This is, of course, tongue in cheek.)
The obvious solution is for Eliezer to set up a second fund, donations to which slow down the release of chapters.
Perhaps a fund which actually increases the net MoR chapters written. For, you know, the MoR readers who actually picked up some hints of rationality during their reading.
If that existed, it'd be more work, and it would siphon money from the first (two) fund(s).
Err... yes. But the current fund is insulting by its very existence. A 'reward' of something that provides no value (slightly altering a release schedule?) is a discouragement to donation, relative to just 'please give money if you liked it'. More MoR for money, on the other hand, would be following that glorious principle of exchanging money for goods or services.
As his author notes in the profile page mentioned, there's at least some people who argue that Eliezer went too far by even the mere offer of an altered schedule in exchange for donations -- right now I think their argument is extremely weak, however Eliezer would probably be treading actually murky waters if he had people give him money for the fanfiction itself (instead of the minor convenience of a quicker schedule).
Oh, right. Laws. They totally slipped my mind. Yeah, he should have gone with just accepting donations.
Ever been addicted to anything?
Insert ceteris paribus into the grandparent.
<tongue partially in cheek> Ceteris is not paribus. Several readers complained of withdrawal symptoms during the hiatus. </tongue partially in cheek>
Oh Yvain, thank you for posting this so i didn't feel the urge to nitpick.