This is something I’ve been tinkering with for a while, but I think it’s now complete enough to be generally useful. It’s an alternative frontend for LessWrong 2.0, using the GraphQL API.
Features:
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Fast, even on low-end computers and phones
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Quickly jump to new comments in a thread with the “.” and “,” keys
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Archive view makes it easy to browse the best posts of years past
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Always shows every comment in a thread, no need to “load more”
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Log in and post using your existing username and password, or create a new account
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Simple markdown editor
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Typography enhancements
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Switch between fixed-width and fluid layouts and several different themes
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Easily view a comment’s ancestors without scrolling by hovering over the left edge of a comment tree
Thanks to Said Achmiz for designing the themes and writing much of the frontend JavaScript.
Give it a try: https://www.greaterwrong.com
First thing first: it's nice.
My (probably irrelevant) issue with it is that.. it kind of nulls all the effort that went into LW2. It's fine to make something as a prototype and eventually replace it, but "alternative" suggests that it exists side-by-side. This kind of double-effort just seems pointless. Why not just make the LW2 site better, rather than make another site and have two sites that do the same thing?
Also, I don't think commenting with your existing account is okay. Did they just hand you over the database? That does violate consent/trust. Why do more people need to know this particular email-password combination? If I can't trust you to NOT hand over my email-password combo to literally everyone then I'll be sending EY an email with a good argument for quantum suicide,'cause seriously, if a damn email address can't be contained we might as well pack it up right now, no chance to win against an AI.
The two sites are based on quite different philosophies of web development, so it would be far from straightforward to do some of the things I've done within the existing LW 2.0 code. I've had fun creating GreaterWrong, and I don't mind putting effort into it as long as LW 2.0 seems like a viable community. I don't think it's necessarily bad to have two sites that do the same thing, if some people prefer one and other people prefer the other. (I agree with Error's comment.)
No, I don't have any special access to the database. If you log in to GreaterWrong, ... (read more)