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tim comments on The increasing uselessness of Promoted - Less Wrong Discussion

19 Post author: PhilGoetz 19 March 2016 06:23PM

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Comment author: tim 02 April 2016 09:52:32AM *  1 point [-]

Good lord. I haven't been on LW in quite a while, but I wholeheartedly agree.

The collection of articles currently on the front page are painfully useless to someone looking to discuss "the art of human rationality" rather than be inundated with content blatantly serving the interests of a particular company/organization.

This content will (for the most part) appeal to people already in the fold. But what, in any way would a newcomer to the site gain from articles titled:

  • [ACRONYMYOUHAVENEVERHEARDOF] Is Hiring!
  • Why Is Our Company Great? Click Here To Find Out!
  • Donate Money To Us, Please!
  • Read About What Our Company Does - It's Super Important!
  • Please, Take Our Survey And Maybe WIN BIG!

Are these massively unfair oversimplifications of the actual content of the articles? Yes. Are these roughly along the lines of what a newcomer to the site will hear in their brain when they look at the front page? Almost certainly.