= 27d567bc2d48d9f40e9ccc20ea370b15)
Pentashagon comments on Preventing discussion from being watered down by an "endless September" user influx. - Less Wrong Discussion
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
= 783df68a0f980790206b9ea87794c5b6)
Loading…= b715d02e85f7b3b4ae65ca3d3e450868)
Subscribe to RSS Feed
Powered by Reddit
= f037147d6e6c911a85753b9abdedda8d)
Comments (101)
So in essence you don't really want new users unless they didn't need the newbie forum in the first place? Maybe I'm misunderstanding you. Do you think it's beneficial to host an eternal september solely to keep it from leaking into the "important" parts of LW?
No, it's because anybody who comes that's willing to learn should have a chance to learn. If we prevent them from joining the regular discussions, they don't get a chance to learn. If they do join, everyone loses their chance to learn - the old members will leave due to tedium (because that's where THEY go to learn and they need to be around people who can give them a challenge in order for that to happen) and so there will be no one around to explain everything. Essentially the newbies will be in a forum of their own in any case. If they're in a forum of their own HERE though, then we can at least figure out a way to explain things to that many people at once, or people will explain as they have time for it, which is slower, but it's better than the old members leaving the site.
Maybe I'm too optimistic in thinking that most users could eventually migrate into the normal discussion areas. If so, then you're probably right that just containing the eternal september is the best solution.
Well, eternal September, by definition, means many won't completely acculturate. If they all acculturate and move up, then the beginner area will be a temporary place for newbies to learn, and there was no eternal September. If there is an eternal September, then it's purpose would be to contain the eternal September. Those who acculturate would move on, but not everyone would acculturate.