Thanks, I think I had missed or forgotten that. That thread you linked seems awesome.
It's hard for me to believe the difference was just that he didn't post in the open thread. He seems monomaniacal with his cause, and planned to post more of the same. He hasn't discussed any other topic here, even introduced himself as a pedophile in the introduction thread.
Can you think of any other ways he could have been better received?
It's hard for me to believe the difference was just that he didn't post in the open thread.
Well, it is a huge difference. An article has a name, it can be linked independently, and it appears on a new web page with the logo of LessWrong above it. The only context it has is "this is the article published on LessWrong".
A comment is just a comment. Yeah, in LW software it can also be linked separately, but at least the web page starts with saying that this is just one article and you can click here to see the whole context. And that specific arti...
If it's worth saying, but not worth its own post (even in Discussion), then it goes here.