Having read Quiet Power, I certainly appreciate the recommendation, as it is a fascinating book. It has helped somewhat elaborate my model of introversion/extraversion. I especially liked the chapter comparing Western and Eastern social norms and their consequences.
What it hasn't done is told me anything surprising about introverts -- all the new information fits quite well into my existing model, which I derived mainly from Dorothy Rowe's books and conversation with a particular introvert.
So, either I have failed to realize the significance of something I read, or my model is not actually misaligned in the way you thought. Could you be specific about what problem you saw?
(on reflection, I think my whole stance on this subject is orthogonal to the idea of temperament. My perception is that most of the thread starting at my original comment can be boiled down to RalfAndreasson and SaidAchmiz asserting "Don't try to expand your social horizons in this particular way, because it invokes strong negative reactions in me", and my responding "No, DO try. You may need it and there are others that need it, and trying is better than not trying in general. Individual emotional reactions, whether yours or others, shouldn't get a look in as rationales for doing or not doing things.".
No doubt I've idealized the clarity of my message there, but the point is this isn't about marginalizing introverts, it's about not committing the error of treating feelings as any kind of strong evidence, and about the general strength of choosing to try as a policy. Introverts try to arrange things so they can take time to reflect, extroverts try to meet people and do exciting things. Those are both fine and ordinary. If these intents happen to conflict, that's for the individuals involved to resolve, not social norms.
Even though that might satisfy introverts' dislike of conflict somewhat, AFAICS there is no way to implement 'don't disturb my feelings' into social norms without being oppressive -- political correctness being an excellent example of this. Feelings may seem significant or even overwhelming, but I'll stand by the statement that they don't have much worth in decisions.)
Eh, I rambled. Hopefully that clarified something in someone's mind, at least ;)
The main point I had in mind is that social receptivity is something of an exhaustible resource for introverts, something of which the book contains a number of illustrative examples. When an introvert spends time in active socialization, they're using up the mental resources to do so with other people in the future, at least without taking a toll on their psychological, and in extreme cases physical, health.
If you suggested that given the value of socialization, people should spend more time stopping strangers in the street to hold conversations with the...
r/Fitness does a weekly "Moronic Monday", a judgment-free thread where people can ask questions that they would ordinarily feel embarrassed for not knowing the answer to. I thought this seemed like a useful thing to have here - after all, the concepts discussed on LessWrong are probably at least a little harder to grasp than those of weightlifting. Plus, I have a few stupid questions of my own, so it doesn't seem unreasonable that other people might as well.