Interesting.
Let's be more generous to each other. To each others' arguments and possible meanings.
I don't know that I'm for this. I like the sentiment. But I've recently noticed the aspect that I enjoy about LW (when it is at is best) is it's relatively cold, irrational indifference.
In my regular world, which is not filled with scholars or even particular rational people, everyone seems phony, flattering and patronizing. It's very Facebook-y.
I love having a place to go to find a rational take on things. I often search LW for discussion on things I'm interested in.
Maybe you are right that the style of engagement has devolved and that has caused—or at least contributed to—lower quality content.
Didn't the latest poll indicate numbers are up year-over-year? Perhaps quantity of users is diluting the quality of the content?
You extend to me quite a bit of courtesy here, and your tone is very generous although you disagree with me. I seem to see a lot of posts these days that skip the courtesy (which is necessary for productive discourse, rationality is about winning, etc.) and start with "You're wrong" and then proceed from there with middle fingers raised. I do think most of these are relative newcomers, as you say.
Any post trying to say something complex is bound to have multiple valid interpretations. This is just a fact of communication and the difficulty of ...
If it's worth saying, but not worth its own post (even in Discussion), then it goes here.