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komponisto comments on The rational rationalist's guide to rationally using "rational" in rational post titles - Less Wrong Discussion
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(Update: link display problem fixed.)
Counterexamples (promoted/high-karma/high-status author):
(I began with the first one and ended with the last one for a reason. I am entirely in favor of applause lights and positive-affect words as long as they serve their purpose -- community-building, making humans feel good -- and don't substitute for argument where the latter is appropriate.)
The fact that the post itself is high-quality doesn't imply that it has the optimal title.
Why "Feeling Rational" has to have r-word in title; "Rational Romantic Relationships" would not lose much by changing to "Designing Better Romantic Relationships".
It would lose a perfectly good alliteration.
You mean an absolutely awesome alliteration?
Of that list the following the following make the kind of usage that the OP would target if it was not being flippantly general.
The remainder use the word where it needs to be used, or at least provides information about the subject. With these examples the title need only convey the subject that is being analyzed or strategized about. We can assume (or hope) that the analysis and strategies provided are rational because they are on flipping lesswrong. The inclusion of "Rational" in the title is not necessarily a problem in all these cases but the general class of posts following this format does start to look ridiculous when used excessively or taken to extremes.
I notice that one of the examples is mine. I would use a different title were I to make that post today. I don't want to be associated with "Rational Toothpaste" vibes!
“Rational Reading” is particularly bad, as I would expect a post with that title to be about reading about rationality.
Right. "Rational" is perfectly fine to use when it refers to the set of behaviors and strategies for making choices that best advance goals and forming beliefs that are true-- typically characterized by fields like heuristics and biases literature, Bayesian epistemology, akrasia and executive functioning etc. It is also acceptable as one of the less unfortunate ways of referring to Less Wrong projects and individuals/ people inspired by the above concept of rationality, in general, at a meta-level. What it is not suitable for is as a substitute for words like "optimal", "best", "ideal", "true", "good" or "moral" on object-level, narrow-domain questions. While "rational" might be denotationally synonymous with these words it carries an additional connotation which suggests the post would have something to do with the aforementioned conception of rationality as understood by Less Wrong. A post about the best way to cook a chicken should not be called "Rational Poultry Cooking". I'd add to your target list "Exterminating life is rational" as I think that post should simply be called "...is moral" or "...maximizes utility".
I can't currently see your counterexamples (I would check the formatting of the hyperlinks- that tends to be what kills them for me), but one of the things to consider is the time when they were posted. There was a rash of these posts within the last six months, I think, which turned community opinion against using the word like this, and so if most of those counterexamples are from before that period then they may not be effective counterexamples. (It's difficult to create a list of posts which are examples of this, because many of them edited their titles in response to comments.)
It's now been fixed.
I don't follow that logic at all. If recent posts using the word were bad, but previous posts were good, then the bad ones obviously aren't bad because of the word.
Word associations can change. "Rational" in a post title might have implied "strategic" before but not do so now.
"Rational Home Buying" discusses how knowing about and counteracting biases can have a huge impact on life outcomes when applied to buying a house (invest heavily in making big decisions well!). "Rational toothpaste," the fictional example, should really be "toothpaste suggestions?", which suggests another difference- it may be more appropriate to use the word "rational" when making a suggestion (especially about a process) than when asking for advice.
As well, when asking for advice, one of the big inputs you should provide is your objective, which "rational" seems like it's doing but isn't actually doing. "Tastiest toothpaste?" is very different from "cheapest toothpaste?" is very different from "highest tech toothpaste?".
Don't misunderstand. I'm not disagreeing with your judgement of recent bad uses of "rational". I'm disagreeing with your post, which is a glib one-word statement to the effect of "don't use the word 'rational' in post titles". The examples I cited show that this is inappropriate advice.
What you should have said instead was this.
A word to the wise is sufficient.
I agree that lsparrish's post is more communicative and general (I upvoted it); I disagree that I should have written it instead of this post.
The OP's joke works better when your examples don't show up.
(Edited for phrasing)
I hope you'll clarify what you mean by this; it currently sounds somewhat like a snarky insult.
(Cf: Me: "I can't get my comment to display." You: "Good.")
Sorry, that isn't at all what I meant!
What I meant was that, in the context of the original post, suggesting that you will present counterexamples and then failing to present any was in keeping with the joke of the thread.
I'll try to rephrase my comment.
OK, a more accurate guide would be “Don't, unless you're discussing rationality itself (as opposed to an application thereof) or in other unusual circumstances.” But still.