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Kaj_Sotala comments on LessWrong search traffic doubles - Less Wrong Discussion

22 Post author: Louie 25 March 2011 10:01PM

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Comment author: Kaj_Sotala 26 March 2011 09:00:09AM *  26 points [-]

[joke] Change the names of the structural elements to keywords we consider important! For instance,

  • "Vote up / down" -> "rationality up / down"
  • "points" -> "paperclips"
  • "permalink" -> "timeless commenting decision"
  • "password" -> "the teacher's password"
  • "username" -> "code name in the Bayesian conspiracy"

EDIT: You know, I actually like the "points" -> "paperclips" change for real.

Comment author: David_Gerard 26 March 2011 09:36:31AM *  11 points [-]

+1 to points -> paperclips :-D

I have previously suggested "Vote up/down" to "More like this/Less like this", to generally positive reception.

parent/children -> above/below? There should be something suitable.

When I put the word "rationality" into Google, the first hit is Wikipedia, the second is "Twelve Virtues of Rationality" and the third is LessWrong. How much of LW's low traffic on the word can be attributed to people just not searching on the word much? Edit: This was an artifact of searching logged-in - not logged in, it's not even on the front page.

Bending one's site out of shape for an idiot Googlebot sorta sucks, really. But on my own sites, Google supplies 97% of the search engine traffic. So I suppose one must do what one has to if traffic is a goal.

RationalWiki doesn't give a hoot about SEO, so has an accordingly poor showing and terrible pagerank. RW's hit articles tend to be stuff that it covers well that doesn't rate a Wikipedia article, e.g. Poe's law, Project Blue Beam, European Union Times. The whole answer to succeeding as a wiki is "provide something Wikipedia can't or won't."

Comment author: Raemon 26 March 2011 01:27:35PM 12 points [-]

When I put the word "rationality" into Google, the first hit is Wikipedia, the second is "Twelve Virtues of Rationality" and the third is LessWrong. How much of LW's low traffic on the word can be attributed to people just not searching on the word much?

Are you signed into google or not? When you're signed in, it tailors the results to your search history.

Comment author: David_Gerard 26 March 2011 02:44:58PM 3 points [-]

D'oh! Well spotted - not logged in, LessWrong is not on the front page.

Comment author: Raemon 27 March 2011 04:20:57PM 5 points [-]

On the plus side, Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality is the fourth response to Rationality, even signed out.

Comment author: Zachary_Kurtz 29 March 2011 04:36:24PM 0 points [-]

And Yudkowski.net is result #6