Most of the rationality minded people I know, especially including myself, have a strong tendency to dispute the status quo, and disagree with authority just for the fun of it. So I imagine that if I came across LW in that setting, I would have criticized it in my blog comment just because it was non-conformist and required more original thinking. So the ones saying the most positive things about it are either the smartest ones, who realize how great we are, or the conformist ones, who just want the professor to like them.
Most of the rationality minded people I know, especially including myself, have a strong tendency to dispute the status quo, and disagree with authority just for the fun of it. So I imagine that if I came across LW in that setting, I would have criticized it in my blog comment just because it was non-conformist and required more original thinking.
I feel the same way. I think that intelligent people tend to do that because intelligent-sounding disagreement is more difficult than intelligent-sounding agreement, and thus a better way of signaling their intelligence to other smart people.
Link.
Given the positive reactions, I think the professor seeded them with a positive impression of the site's content.