I used to think this Karma Score stuff would be helpful to filter low quality posts. But I see many people get downvoted for tribal reasons and I also see many upvotes on posts that I have trouble deciphering (sockpuppets?). So usually, when I see a post downvoted to oblivion I end up clicking on it anyways which defeats the whole purpose of using the Karma Score to help me filter out bad posts. I also waste a bunch of cycles wondering about the votes (who are these people).
TL;DR I have decided to try using firefox to view lesswrong with the anti-kibitzing option turned on (see preferences).
Depends whether you're talking intended purpose or actual function. The intended purpose of the karma system is to make low-quality comments less visible. It doesn't do a very good job of that here; it does a better job in Reddit where there's a larger userbase and threads are sorted by karma by default, since most people don't read all the way to the bottom of a thread, but collapsing threads doesn't do much.
The actual function of karma is to gently incentivize posting things interesting to the community, to somewhat less gently disincentivize content-f...
Our beliefs aren't just cargo that we carry around. They become part of our personal identity, so much so that we feel hurt if we see someone attacking our beliefs, even if the attacker isn't speaking to us individually. These "beliefs" are not necessarily grand things like moral frameworks and political doctrines, but can also be as inconsequential as an opinion about a song.
This post is for discussing times when you actually changed your mind about something, detaching from the belief that had wrapped itself around you.
Relevant reading: The Importance of Saying "Oops", Making Beliefs Pay Rent