Concerning Less Wrong's tagline, consider this plausible reaction of someone looking at LW for the first time:
Cut the crap, nobody cares about rationality in the abstract. Just tell me what view you're trying to push under the guise of presenting it as the only "rational" one.
[concerning the ban on SIAI discussion during the first weeks of LW] I think it was so that newcomers wouldn't think that LW are a bunch of fringe technophiles that just want to have their cause associated with rationality.
And in reply:
But that's pretty much what LW is, no? I've long suspected that "rationality," as discussed here, was a bit of a ruse designed to insinuate a (misleading) necessary connection between being rational and supporting transhumanist ideals.
The quoted text speaks for itself really. So therefore I think LW's admins/web designers should seriously consider replacing the rationality tagline with something more savory.
Except the agenda of the fraction I'm speaking about is not "technology will not destroy the world". It's "friendly AI and uploads will lead us to a bright perfect techno-utopia". And as I said multiple times before, I don't buy it.
Besides what MixedNuts said: your description does not get at our most LW-specific beliefs. It doesn't even get at all the claims you've said you disagreed with.
17MixedNuts
There are several things you've said you disliked; most vocally, predictions of a (positive?) Singularity and HPMOR. However, you haven't argued against them much, just said you disliked them.
If what you're trying to do is just putting up signs reading "Not everyone on LW likes this", this probably works. But I (and presumbably most people who either like or dislike those things) would like to hear your arguments for it in more detail, preferably with some back-and-forth if you're willing to engage. What's in it for you is that it can actually improve the consensus, as opposed to sticking a little [disputed] banner on it.
Concerning Less Wrong's tagline, consider this plausible reaction of someone looking at LW for the first time:
And here are two real quotes from 2009:
And in reply:
The quoted text speaks for itself really. So therefore I think LW's admins/web designers should seriously consider replacing the rationality tagline with something more savory.