Too long. Clearly LW needs a drop-down or something.

Personal question time: any practical difference between 'ask' question: "Would you go to the beach with me?" Versus 'assume' or 'command' statements: "We're going to the beach on Thursday". Would people comply more with the first statement or the second?

If other societal memes vanish/degrade/change with time, why not quotes? Why do they carry an intellectual value despite the fact they're (big number here) years old?

http://slatestarcodex.com/2013/06/09/all-debates-are-bravery-debates/ -> Also relevant. Some people might agree with one extreme and disagree with the other. Lincoln's advice is probably not going to be useful to someone who is not sure about if the thing they say is foolish. Your own idea is a slippery slope - a fool will quite rightly be told eventually to shut the hell up. Nothing to revel in, and probably best not to reveal, unless you live in HPMORverse or some 5th-level thinking universe (or whatever the right description for 'what's my opponent thinks I think he thinks.." is)

Cebcurpl nobhg Uneel raqvat gur jbeyq vf haerfbyirq, cebcurpl nobhg qrsrngvat qrngu vf haerfbyirq, rirelguvat nobhg Ngynagvf naq gur angher bs zntvp vf haerfbyirq. Vs gurfr jrera'g gur znva dhrfgvbaf va lbhe zvaq juvyr ernqvat UCZBE, vqx jung gb fnl. Nyfb, ab zntvpny erfrnepu unccraf.

Homestuck has just joined HPMOR, Ra, Pact and TNC in the pantheon of "geek epic" stories with underwhelming endings :-(

As far as I know, only Worm and Undertale have managed to beat that curse so far.

What are your thoughts about virtual courses? I can see something like PDFs being freely available to download and an IRC channel for communication between students/teachers.

Makes it harder to go to a bar and grab some beers but it saves you the whole financial trouble and various other troubles.

I think the idea is that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence is the main factor is the "less funded" charities. Appeals to emotion are seen as either manipulative or not extraordinary enough. Appeals to intellect (a million is a statistic?) are looked upon as more favorable because you can tell what actually happens.

Many people might disagree with you but I think you have the right idea here. Some people might just disagree with selectivity in the way you interact with others. Does LessWrongers believe that selective interaction is morally or ethically unjust?

What does social justice even stand for these days? It sounds like a noble cause but it's also somewhat unrefined.

Are you sure you're talking about Promoted? It has oldest entry from November. This is what I see (also, google cache). I wonder what Phil is seeing.

How does the promoted thing even work? There's only one article that was written recently (one year ago), two from 2009 and one from 2007. (all sequences)

Does that hold true now that we have magical facebook?

I don't facebook alone creates strong social connections. I'm facebook friends with a lot of the people from my school by I have little to do with them in my daily life.