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Yvain comments on Open thread for December 24-31, 2013 - Less Wrong Discussion

4 Post author: NancyLebovitz 24 December 2013 08:58AM

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Comment author: HatCloak 24 December 2013 02:43:24PM *  20 points [-]

Edit: Yvain, the great guy that he is, is handling this amazingly. In my eyes, consider this resolved.

(This is an anonymous nick for the moment, but this issue needs to be raised and I'm not comfortable at this point doing it publicly under my own name.)

tl;dr as provided by Daniel_Burfoot: "Yvain is awesome, it's a shame he locked up his old stuff, let's lobby him to open it back up". I heartily endorse this summery, and it pretty much sums up what I have been saying.

[Due to some remarks, have redacted the links to Yvain's blogs, old and new. This is absurd, in my opinion. Yvain's new blog is a Rationality Blog in the Recent on Rationality Blogs part of the sidebar, and his old livejournal blog is linked to in many of his old posts. So I do not think that it is even meaningful to redact them. However, in the interest of not inciting argument, I have redacted them regardless.]

All of us here know of Yvain. He has posted much great stuff both here on Less Wrong, and on his blog. Insightful, brilliant stuff. If you go and look at the list of top rated Main posts, Yvain's stuff top's the lot.

A year ago, he switched blogs, from [old blog] to [new blog]. Well and fine. He had good reasons for doing so, including a desire for relative anonymity.

This, I do not object to.

However, as of a couple of weeks age, he locked his old blog, locking away many brilliant essays on a wide variety of topics. I view this as bad, to say the least. So much beautiful and brilliant stuff, of great interest to anyone interested in Less Wrong type stuff, never to see the light of day again.

What solutions are there? There are a few. My favorite so far is for Scott to restrict access by LW karma, which would allow him to maintain his privacy against the web, while still not denying those brilliant, humorous, and insightful posts to those who would truly appreciate them.

Or maybe you have another, better, idea? Please, suggest it. And whether or not you do, please, if you value the amazing contents of [old blog], help petition Scott to consider finding a solution. We have to be able to reach some sort of compromise, right?

There has been discussion in the comments section here [link removed; but it is currently the top post in the "Recent on Rationality Blogs" section] about this. Please, weigh in your support.

Comment author: Yvain 25 December 2013 05:49:15AM *  74 points [-]

All right, I'll look through my old stuff later this week, find a very few embarrassing or controversial things I want to hide, and unlock the rest.

Comment author: Yvain 28 December 2013 07:07:52PM 17 points [-]

I've unlocked my old blog minus five or ten private articles. You should be able to read the rest. If you can't, let me know.

Comment author: jaibot 25 December 2013 09:08:31AM 17 points [-]

Is there a means by which one might buy you a virtual beer as thanks for all the writing?

Comment author: bogus 26 December 2013 09:34:25PM *  14 points [-]

All right, I'll look through my old stuff later this week, find a very few embarrassing or controversial things I want to hide, and unlock the rest.

Obvious question: will the Meditations on assorted social subjects (notably including 'privilege' and 'conceptual superweapons') make the cut? (I could see this going either way, hence I'm asking.)

For the record, Bryan Caplan, of Myth of the Rational Voter fame, recommends one of these posts as "possibly the most reasonable piece I've ever read" on the relevant controversy. I tend to ascribe higher relevance to such reactions than the trollish commentary that may be found in some blog comment sections.

Comment author: Benito 25 December 2013 10:01:07AM 14 points [-]

This is the best Christmas present I've had all day.

Comment author: Dorikka 25 December 2013 05:47:55PM 5 points [-]

Thanks!

Comment author: NancyLebovitz 25 December 2013 03:39:59PM 5 points [-]

Thank you very much.

Comment author: blacktrance 25 December 2013 03:32:01PM 5 points [-]

Thank you. Merry Christmas!

Comment author: IlyaShpitser 27 December 2013 02:36:00AM 4 points [-]

Thanks Yvain!