Open Thread April 4 - April 10, 2016

Elo

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If it's worth saying, but not worth its own post (even in Discussion), then it goes here.

Notes for future OT posters:

1. Please add the 'open_thread' tag.

2. Check if there is an active Open Thread before posting a new one. (Immediately before; refresh the list-of-threads page before posting.)

3. Open Threads should be posted in Discussion, and not Main.

4. Open Threads should start on Monday, and end on Sunday.

People usually go with their non-niceness far beyond what is necessary.

Who determines what is "necessary"? And, speaking of, who determines what is "nice" and what isn't (besides Santa Claus)?

Is niceness just politeness or do you want to expand it to things like steelmanning?

Jesus, this is an impolite thing to say, but believe me that when I was making the Positivity Thread, I was already thinking "Lumifer will probably be the first one to object against this, and I just hope he won't do it directly in the thread". So, thank you for not doing it directly in the thread.

You know, even in this moment I am not really sure whether you actually have no idea what "nice" means (I assume that just like some people are colorblind, others could be nice-blind), or whether this is just your style of communication. As a ... (read more)

2SquirrelInHell10y

OK, let me propose a clarification of the words we are using for this discussion: * politeness - adhering to a set of widely accepted social norms of communication * being civil - avoiding showing strongly negative emotions, or directly acting to produce such emotions in other people (in most societies, is a part of politeness) * niceness - having positive emotions directed at other people, together with the caring and pleasant behaviour that naturally result from it So, using the above: LW is not big on politeness, and I fully support this position; LW has being civil in its established norms, and I suggest we keep it; LW norms have nothing on niceness, and I suggest we work to change this.