Cyan comments on LessWrong could grow a lot, but we're doing it wrong. - Less Wrong

51 Post author: Epiphany 20 August 2012 05:21AM

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Comment author: Cyan 20 August 2012 07:43:52PM 1 point [-]

I think this is really important, so I'm just going to say it again, only louder.

DON'T FORGET A/B TESTING.

Comment author: John_Maxwell_IV 20 August 2012 10:35:06PM 2 points [-]

A/B testing is useless without variations to test. If you want to create a variation, go for it.

Right now there is a lot of commentary in this thread but not much action.

Comment author: Epiphany 21 August 2012 02:54:54AM *  1 point [-]

We're starting to come up with a lot of plans here and I don't want this to step on anybody's toes.

I'm not sure whether you're the sole decision maker for the website, or if other people need to be told. Do changes like these need to be approved or is the website delegated to you?

Comment author: John_Maxwell_IV 21 August 2012 04:34:42AM *  -1 points [-]

I'm no decisionmaker. I just created that post because I thought things could be improved.

If you or anyone else has text they want to put on the about page or the home page, send me a personal message and I'll tell you how. Right now things rely on security by obscurity.

Edit: As matt points out, it's not security by obscurity so much as Wikipedia-style open collaboration.

Comment author: matt 21 August 2012 07:14:38AM 4 points [-]

Erm… that's security by obscurity in the same way that Wikipedia relies on security by obscurity, right?

Comment author: John_Maxwell_IV 21 August 2012 07:29:58AM 0 points [-]

Fair enough.

Comment author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 21 August 2012 07:12:19AM 6 points [-]

Please don't. All edits to the about page should go through an editor. Random people should not be told how to edit the about page.

Comment author: John_Maxwell_IV 21 August 2012 07:23:58AM 0 points [-]

Er, want to specify who counts as an "editor"?

Don't worry, I would have politely turned down anyone who didn't meet some threshold of credibility...

Comment author: lukeprog 21 August 2012 05:29:38PM 2 points [-]
Comment author: John_Maxwell_IV 21 August 2012 08:35:15PM *  2 points [-]

OK.

This policy doesn't make very much sense, in my opinion. Based on the log, lots of people have already edited the homepage who weren't editors, and at least some of the edits they made were valuable.

Asking an editor's permission to make changes to the homepage is an inconvenience, and it's also a little demeaning. I suspect that the (extremely small) amount of community effort that's been put forward towards actually making improvements to these pages will completely dry up if this policy is broadcasted. (I know my enthusiasm has dropped dramatically.)

I could see why this policy might sense if spam or prank edits were a problem, but as it is it seems needlessly controlling. Bleh.

Edit: Eliezer has communicated via email to Louie, Matt and me that he retracts his statement.

Comment author: lukeprog 21 August 2012 10:42:48PM 4 points [-]

The Singularity Institute has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars into LessWrong.com. I don't think it's too unreasonable that we'd like to have some quality control on a few central pages like the home page and the about page.

Comment author: Epiphany 22 August 2012 07:54:29AM *  1 point [-]

Wait if they've got so much money to invest into this, why have users been allowed to edit the home page and why is the marketing bad? Might those pages have been done like that intentionally to throttle growth and filter people using an err on the side of caution approach to preserve the culture? Maybe they have plans in mind we don't even know about, and this entire discussion is irrelevant.

Comment author: [deleted] 21 August 2012 09:47:28AM *  1 point [-]

Er, want to specify who counts as an "editor"?

People able to edit other people's LW posts. AFAIK, Eliezer and Alicorn (and possibly someone else too).

Comment author: shminux 21 August 2012 12:14:54AM 0 points [-]

Current design is the control.

Comment author: John_Maxwell_IV 21 August 2012 04:36:26AM *  -1 points [-]

Hm. Do you see any advantages to formal A/B testing over just popping something in and seeing how stats like the bounce rate change?

Comment author: Raemon 20 August 2012 09:05:47PM *  -1 points [-]

DON'T FORGET A/B TESTING!!!!!