shminux comments on Our Phyg Is Not Exclusive Enough - Less Wrong

25 [deleted] 14 April 2012 09:08PM

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Comment author: shminux 14 April 2012 09:36:32PM 4 points [-]

I think you want it more tiered/topic'ed, not more exclusive, which I would certainly support. Unfortunately, the site design is not a priority.

Comment author: [deleted] 14 April 2012 09:41:15PM 1 point [-]

Yeah. Having seperate "elite rationality club" and "casual rationality discussion" areas is probably my prefered solution.

Too bad everyone who cares doesn't care enough to hack the code. How hard would it be for someone to create and send in a patch for something like exclusive back room discussion. It would be just adding another subreddit, no?

Comment author: Mitchell_Porter 14 April 2012 10:19:14PM 9 points [-]

/r/evenlesswrong

Comment author: Emile 15 April 2012 11:15:25AM 4 points [-]

Yeah. Having seperate "elite rationality club" and "casual rationality discussion" areas is probably my prefered solution.

If that happened, unless it was very carefully presented, I would expect a drop of quality in the discussion section because "hey cool down man we aren't in the restricted section here", and because many old-timers might stop spending time there altogether.

I would rather see a solution that didn't include such a neat division; where lower standards were treated as the exception (like in HPMoR threads and open threads), not the rule.

Comment author: RobertLumley 14 April 2012 11:25:12PM 9 points [-]

I've seen this suggested before, and while it would have positive aspects, from a PR perspective, it would be an utter nightmare. I've been here for slightly less than a year, after being referred to HPMOR. I am very unlikely (Prior p = 0.02, given that EY started it and I was obsessed with HPMOR, probably closer to p = 0.07) to have ever followed a forum/blog that had an "exclusive members" section. Insomuch as LW is interested in recruiting potential rationalists, this is a horrible, horrible idea.

Comment author: Randaly 15 April 2012 12:57:29AM 2 points [-]

A more realistic idea (what I think the grandparent was suggesting) it just to try to filter off discussions not strictly related to rationality (HPMOR; fiction threads; the AGI/SIAI discussions; etc) into the discussion forum, and to stick stuff strictly related to rationality (or relevant paper-sharing, or whatever) in another subreddit.

Comment author: John_Maxwell_IV 15 April 2012 05:01:06AM *  1 point [-]

The obvious alternative is to create a tier below discussion, which would attract some of the lower-quality discussion posts and thereby improve the signal in the main discussion section.

Or topical discussion boards...

Comment author: [deleted] 14 April 2012 11:54:17PM 1 point [-]

good point.

Would you prefer that we be a bit more hardcore about subscribing sequences, and a bit more explicit that people should read them? Or maybe we should have little markers next to people's names "this guy has read everything"? Or maybe we should do nothing because all moves are bad? Maybe a more loosely affilated site that has the strict standard instead of just a "non-noobs" section?

Comment author: RobertLumley 15 April 2012 12:32:10AM 3 points [-]

Would you prefer that we be a bit more hardcore about subscribing sequences, and a bit more explicit that people should read them?

In short, no. See my other comment for details. I think the barriers to entry are high enough, and raising them further filters out people we might want.

Or maybe we should have little markers next to people's names "this guy has read everything"?

This introduces status problems, it's impossible (or at least inefficient) to enforce well.

Or maybe we should do nothing because all moves are bad?

I won't claim that the current design we've located in LessWrongspace is the most optimal, but I'm quite happy with it, and I don't see any way to immediately improve it in the regard you want.

Actually, I'll take that back. I would like to see the community encourage the use of tags a lot more. I think if everyone was very dedicated in trying to use the tagging system it might help the problem you're referring to. But in some way, I think those tags also need to be incorporated into titles of discussion posts. I really like the custom of using [META] or [LINK] in the title, and I'd like to see that expand.

Maybe a more loosely affilated site that has the strict standard instead of just a "non-noobs" section?

Again no, really for the same reasons as above.

Comment author: Alsadius 15 April 2012 03:36:12PM 1 point [-]

If someone's going to alter this forum software, how about they put a priority on giving me a list of replies to my posts, so I don't have to re-scan long comment threads regularly in order to carry on a discussion? Also, making long threads actually load when I hit "Show all" would be nice too.

Comment author: pedanterrific 15 April 2012 04:09:29PM *  2 points [-]

a list of replies to my posts, so I don't have to re-scan long comment threads regularly in order to carry on a discussion

I'm not sure what you mean here- how would this differ from the inbox?

Also, making long threads actually load when I hit "Show all" would be nice too

Definitely.

Comment author: TheOtherDave 15 April 2012 05:31:10PM 4 points [-]

Is there a way to get the inbox to show responses to a post, as well as to comments? That's not the default behavior.

Comment author: komponisto 16 April 2012 02:20:35AM 3 points [-]

This would be an excellent improvement to the site, and would solve the problem of people (cough lukeprog cough) not reading the comments on their posts.

Comment author: TheOtherDave 16 April 2012 03:08:47AM 0 points [-]

Just to be clear, I'm not requesting it, I just thought pedanterrific was indicating that it was current behavior.

Comment author: Vladimir_Nesov 15 April 2012 06:11:24PM 2 points [-]

It doesn't work with LW's inbox, but you can subscribe to threads' RSS feeds.

Comment author: pedanterrific 15 April 2012 06:09:16PM 1 point [-]

Oh. (Have never made a post.)

Comment author: Alsadius 15 April 2012 06:12:13PM 1 point [-]

That feature exists? Where?

Comment author: pedanterrific 15 April 2012 07:22:12PM 3 points [-]

Um. I was referring to the little envelope symbol underneath your karma score.

Comment author: Alsadius 15 April 2012 08:39:42PM *  0 points [-]

I hadn't noticed that before. Thank you.

Edit: Though it's seriously annoying to not have the ability to reply from there, or even link directly to it. I'm actually pining for Disqus now, and that's a first.

Comment author: David_Gerard 14 April 2012 11:06:04PM 0 points [-]

The approach of seeding another forum or few may help, c.f. the Center for Modern Rationality.