So obviously it's a bad idea to show off.
That really depends on the situation. Sometimes it's an excellent idea in order to establish dominance or to impress someone.
High status is useful.
What are the best strategies to mitigate the perceived excessiveness?
An obvious one would be to flavor your communication with some low-status signals.
I was reading reviews of HPMOR on Goodreads and I noticed that the people who didn't like the book were essentially "put off by the rationality". They thought Harry was arrogant and condescending.
Then I was thinking, a lot of people are "put off by rationality" for similar reasons. What a shame. There's a lot of value in spreading rationality, and this seems to be a big obstacle in doing so.
Any thoughts on how to make people less "put off by rationality"? I think the core issues are: