Eugine expressed that he found certain people MoreWrong. As far as I know, that's it. Isn't something of the point of this place, to distinguish LessWrong from MoreWrong? But not if some people feel uncomfortable thereby?

Instead of social shunning

But I was incorrect.

Eugine engaged in a very weak and cowardly shunning - anonymous karma bombing.

But he hasn't really been shunned in turn, because people don't seem to have the stomach for it. He's been banished through technical means, and had his "anonymous" karma votes similarly exposed through technical means. Instead of shunning, power was used against him because people said they felt bad from being downvoted.

Is that the kind of list you'd like, people complain about their hurt feelings from someone else's evaluation of them, and he's banished?

Think you never "make" people feel bad?

If people wanted to shun him, and ignore with a public plonk, that would have been fine with me. Good, in fact. Call him out for being an ass, if you think he was one. Great. But instead, let's not actually deal with the person, let's just excommunicate him if we have the ear and sympathy of he who wields the kill switch.

Seems to me that there are some very different cultures here on the list.

We can cut each other some slack, or we can fight for control of that kill switch.

Imagine if Ander, instead of complaining publicly, just walked away.

The world is full of people who were never here in the first place. I don't lose sleep over it.

And if some guy leaves because he can't handle the thought of someone thinking him incorrect, I can live with that too, as I doubt that he has the right stuff to benefit much from this place, or benefit others here much in turn.

But note that I, softy that I am, wasn't thereby telling him or anyone to get lost, I was trying to encourage him and others to get over their dismay at being thought wrong by others, which, IMO, would be good for them personally, and good for the function of the list generally.

But apparently that suggestion makes me a horrible person in the eyes of many. Fine. People have different values. Their values aren't mine either.

Eugine was allowed to single-handedly send away new users he personally didn't like

He had no power to send people away. People who left, chose to leave. The continued formulations of this episode which portray his targets as helpless victims lacking agency are dysfunctional. They act and chose too.

New users don't have a clue; they may believe they are disliked by the whole community.

New users should have some clue on what to expect on the internet, including encountering jerks. And they should have some expectation at LessWrong that someone may express that they are MoreWrong.

But again, I'm a softy, and generally cut extra slack for newbies. I've already expressed that I disapprove of karma bombing. I disapprove of plenty in this thread as well. But I haven't seen anything that would have me reaching for the kill switch.