To my knowledge LessWrong hasn't received a great deal of media coverage. So, I was surprised when I came across an article via a Facebook friend which also appeared on the cover of the New York Observer today. However, I was disappointed upon reading it, as I don't think it is an accurate reflection of the community. It certainly doesn't reflect my experience with the LW communities in Toronto and Waterloo.
I thought it would be interesting to see what the broader LessWrong community thought about this article. I think it would make for a good discussion.
Possible conversation topics:
This article will likely reach many people that have never heard of LessWrong before. Is this a good introduction to LessWrong for those people?
Does this article give an accurate characterization of the LessWrong community?
Edit 1: Added some clarification about my view on the article.
We consider this tabloid reporting. I've removed the link from the OP because our policy is not to reward trolling (by reporters or anyone else) with publicity or Google rank. OP can add the link back in if they wish and I won't remove it again, but please keep in mind that we would like to ask politely that you don't. You should also feel free to delete this post entirely, which you can do by setting the status back to "Draft".
Someone who works for SingInst choosing to overwrite Eliezer's decision strikes me as unlikely. Not that Eliezer is likely to be aware that Malo works for them, via Luke. (I am fairly sure this is the same Malo.)
Eliezer: Even without considering the extra influence you have over Malo it may have been more practical for you to request via comment and by personal message that the OP remove the link. Very few people would refuse---many may even be more inclined to take the offer to add it back than to refuse to rem... (read more)
Hmm, weird how people here go all libertarian just because EY does not want to contribute to some half-assed article's Google rank.
17[anonymous]
First, before having read this post, I found a reference in the welcome thread about someone who joined Less Wrong because they read the article and found it interesting. They didn't reference the article link in their welcome post, which naturally made me curious, and wanted to read it in a "Article? What Article, I don't see a link to an Article." way. I then found a link to the article online, and posted it to my comment here:
http://lesswrong.com/lw/90l/welcome_to_less_wrong_2012/739j
You can delete it if you feel necessary, although given the other heavily upvoted objections to doing so from removing it from the original post, you may feel that would not be necessary.
Secondly, is the policy linked somewhere that I just can't find? If it isn't, should it be somewhere like http://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/FAQ ? The only link I can find about you and hatchet/tabloid reporting is your article on http://lesswrong.com/lw/uu/why_does_power_corrupt/ where you mention such points as:
[...]
Faith, Hope, and Singularity: Entering the Matrix with New York’s Futurist Set
To my knowledge LessWrong hasn't received a great deal of media coverage. So, I was surprised when I came across an article via a Facebook friend which also appeared on the cover of the New York Observer today. However, I was disappointed upon reading it, as I don't think it is an accurate reflection of the community. It certainly doesn't reflect my experience with the LW communities in Toronto and Waterloo.
I thought it would be interesting to see what the broader LessWrong community thought about this article. I think it would make for a good discussion.
Possible conversation topics:
Edit 1: Added some clarification about my view on the article.
Edit 2: Re-added link using “nofollow” attribute.