What is noteworthy about this is that the comments were mandatory.

The people who write comments on the internet are the small minority who feel strongly about something said here and competent enough to add or criticize. But that is a small fraction of the possible audience.

I can't stress on how important this is. Imagine that instead of up voting or down voting every LWer who read a popular article commented on it in a few sentences. What would that thread look like? Now imagine forcing a fraction of the people who didn't vote to write up a comment.

Now imagine you do this with a bunch of intelligent people who most definitely have not read the sequences.

Yeah, the comments are written in bullshitty language and tone because that's how one writes for authority figures you can't trust yet.

+1

I don't understand why Jack's comment hasn't been up voted more. LWers aren't being realistic in their expectations here. Also considering the odds I think we will likley be getting at least one new commenter out of this and perhaps several regular readers who liked the site and will be returning here.

Edit: When I commented it had just 3 up votes.