Vaniver comments on The rational rationalist's guide to rationally using "rational" in rational post titles - Less Wrong

64 Post author: Vaniver 27 May 2012 07:13PM

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Comment author: komponisto 28 May 2012 02:20:07AM 5 points [-]

I can't currently see your counterexamples (I would check the formatting of the hyperlinks- that tends to be what kills them for me)

It's now been fixed.

one of the things to consider is the time when they were posted. There was a rash of these posts within the last six months, I think, which turned community opinion against using the word like this, and so if most of those counterexamples are from before that period then they may not be effective counterexamples

I don't follow that logic at all. If recent posts using the word were bad, but previous posts were good, then the bad ones obviously aren't bad because of the word.

Comment author: Vaniver 28 May 2012 09:20:57PM 1 point [-]

I don't follow that logic at all. If recent posts using the word were bad, but previous posts were good, then the bad ones obviously aren't bad because of the word.

Word associations can change. "Rational" in a post title might have implied "strategic" before but not do so now.

"Rational Home Buying" discusses how knowing about and counteracting biases can have a huge impact on life outcomes when applied to buying a house (invest heavily in making big decisions well!). "Rational toothpaste," the fictional example, should really be "toothpaste suggestions?", which suggests another difference- it may be more appropriate to use the word "rational" when making a suggestion (especially about a process) than when asking for advice.

As well, when asking for advice, one of the big inputs you should provide is your objective, which "rational" seems like it's doing but isn't actually doing. "Tastiest toothpaste?" is very different from "cheapest toothpaste?" is very different from "highest tech toothpaste?".

Comment author: komponisto 28 May 2012 10:29:09PM 2 points [-]

Don't misunderstand. I'm not disagreeing with your judgement of recent bad uses of "rational". I'm disagreeing with your post, which is a glib one-word statement to the effect of "don't use the word 'rational' in post titles". The examples I cited show that this is inappropriate advice.

What you should have said instead was this.

Comment author: Vaniver 28 May 2012 11:31:00PM 0 points [-]

What you should have said instead was this.

A word to the wise is sufficient.

I agree that lsparrish's post is more communicative and general (I upvoted it); I disagree that I should have written it instead of this post.

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