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roland comments on How to Convince Me That 2 + 2 = 3 - Less Wrong
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Are you sure Alicorn? As a former christian now atheist thanks to LW(especially EY's writings) I've learned a lot here.
I wouldn't turn away arbitrary Christians, but this one in particular at least needs to lurk more and would probably be better served by a different website with more basic material and a different mix in the audience.
Well, he just wrote one comment so I'm wondering how you arrived at that conclusion. Wouldn't it be better to give some positive reinforcement to newcomers?
Yaro's comment is entirely about theology. It's actually an on-topic response to its immediate parent, but it appears completely isolated from any other context or relevance. It makes assertions and states opinions without demonstrating the underlying comprehension of productive argument that is necessary for a theist, or anyone, to make worthwhile comments (at least within a topic which is this kind of substantive matter of fact.)
Positive reinforcement is to reward behaviors that I would like to see continue. I think the gap between yaro's level and the level I want to see on this site is big enough that it is not worth a reinforcement project.
Alicorn,
Good effort, you are almost there, if you used the explanation you gave above to Yaro he probably would be more enlightened than by "this is not the right website for you."
Quoting from The Power of Reinforcement:
In spite of his comment being not in line, why not praise the effort, especially considering that this was his first comment on LW. I'm assuming he did an honest effort to present his point of view, why not praise that and point out the way this site works?
I do not wish to reward yaro's effort, and thereby get more of it. I believe that more of yaro's effort here would result in more comments that are of comparable quality and topicality at least for a prolonged learning curve, and do not believe that the project of nudging them towards improvement is worth community time.
Please don't use an article about the use of reward to encourage good behavior as a way to say that all behavior is worth rewarding.
...
Dude. Subtlety?
You quoted this:
and previously said of the larger passage:
But when you tried it out:
this was her response:
Didn't work. Shall I praise your effort and urge you to do better next time? Would that work for you any better than it did for Alicorn?
We hardly have enough evidence after just one attempt. Additionally, subtlety is a form of deceit, and not generally encouraged in rational discussion.
Anyway, my complaint would have to be toward the out-of-hand dismissal of yaro's post, rather than offering a substantive disagreement or at least a link regarding the perceived flaws in yaro's argument. That's proper rationalist encouragement. No subtlety required.
Reinforcement is for things one wants more off. I can't say I want more posts without knowing something about the content. In this case, I think Alicorn is right that this poster is not ready to contribute things this community would find valuable.