For example, as far as the “normatively correct general principles” thing goes—alright, so you think I’m factually incorrect about this particular thing I said once.[1] Let’s take for granted that I disagree. Well, and is that… a moderation-worthy offense? To disagree (with the mods? with the consensus—established how?—of Less Wrong? with anyone?) about what is essentially a philosophical claim? Are you suggesting that your correctness on this is so obvious that disagreeing can only constitute either some sort of bad faith, or blameworthy ignorance? That hardly seems true!
The philosophical disagreement is related-to but not itself the thing I believe Ray is saying is bad. The claim I understand Ray to be making is that he believes you gave a false account of the site-wide norms about what users are obligated to do, and that this is reflective of you otherwise implicitly enforcing such a norm many times that you comment on posts. Enforcing norms on behalf of a space that you don’t have buy-in for and that the space would reject tricks people into wasting their time and energy trying to be good citizens of the space in a way that isn’t helping and isn’t being asked of them.
If you did so, I think that behavior ought to be clearly punished in some way. I think this regardless of whether you earnestly believed that an obligation-to-reply-to-comments was a site-wide norm, and also regardless of whether you were fully aware that you were doing so. I think it’s often correct to issue a blanket punishment of a costly behavior even on the occasions that it is done unknowingly, to ensure that there is a consistent incentive against the behavior — similar to how it is typically illegal to commit a crime even if you aren’t aware what you did was a crime.
The claim I understand Ray to be making is that he believes you gave a false account of the site-wide norms about what users are obligated to do
Is that really the claim? I must object to it, if that’s so. I don’t think I’ve ever made any false claims about what social norms obtain on Less Wrong (and to the extent that some of my comments were interpreted that way, I was quick to clearly correct that misinterpretation).
Certainly the “normatively correct general principles” comment didn’t contain any such false claims. (And Raemon does not seem to be claiming otherwise.) So, the question remains: what exactly is the relevance of the philosophical disagreement? How is it connected to any purported violations of site rules or norms or anything?
… and that this is reflective of you otherwise implicitly enforcing such a norm many times that you comment on posts
I am not sure what this means. I am not a moderator, so it’s not clear to me how I can enforce any norm. (I can exemplify conformance to a norm, of course, but that, in this case, would be me replying to comments on my posts, which is not what we’re talking about here. And I can encourage or even demand conformance to some falsely-claimed norm. But for me to enforce anything seems impossible as a purely technical matter.)
If you did so, I think that behavior ought to be clearly punished in some way.
Indeed, if I had done this, then some censure would be warranted. (Now, personally, I would expect that such censure would start with a comment from a moderator, saying something like: “<name of my interlocutor>, to be clear, Said is wrong about what the site’s rules and norms are; there is no obligation to respond to commenters. Said, please refrain from misleading other users about this.” Then subsequent occurrences of comments which were similarly misleading might receive some more substantive punishment, etc. That’s just my own, though I think a fairly reasonable, view of how this sort of moderation challenge should be approached.)
But I think that, taking the totality of my comments in the linked thread, it is difficult to support the claim that I somehow made false claims about site rules or norms. It seems to me that I was fairly clearly talking about general principles—about epistemology, not community organization.
Now, perhaps you think that I did not, in fact, make my meaning clear enough? Well, as I’ve said, these things do happen. Certainly it seems to me like step one to rectify the problem, such as it is, would be just to make a clear ex cathedra statement about what the rules and norms actually are. That mitigates any supposed damage. (Was this done? I don’t recall that it was. But perhaps I missed it.) Then there can be talk of punishment.[1]
But, of course, there already was a moderation warning issued for the incident in question. Which brings us back to the question of what it has to do with the current situation (and to my “arrest for a speeding ticket issued three years ago” analogy).
P.S.:
I think this regardless of whether you earnestly believed that an obligation-to-reply-to-comments was a site-wide norm
To be maximally clear: I neither believed nor (as far as I can recall) claimed this.
Although it seems to me that to speak in terms of “punishment”, when the offense (even taking as given that the offense took place at all) is something so essentially innocent as accidentally mis-characterizing an informal community norm, is, quite frankly, bizarrely harsh. I don’t think that I’ve ever participated in any other forum with such a stringent approach to moderation.
The philosophical disagreement is related-to but not itself the thing I believe Ray is saying is bad. The claim I understand Ray to be making is that he believes you gave a false account of the site-wide norms about what users are obligated to do, and that this is reflective of you otherwise implicitly enforcing such a norm many times that you comment on posts. Enforcing norms on behalf of a space that you don’t have buy-in for and that the space would reject tricks people into wasting their time and energy trying to be good citizens of the space in a way that isn’t helping and isn’t being asked of them.
If you did so, I think that behavior ought to be clearly punished in some way. I think this regardless of whether you earnestly believed that an obligation-to-reply-to-comments was a site-wide norm, and also regardless of whether you were fully aware that you were doing so. I think it’s often correct to issue a blanket punishment of a costly behavior even on the occasions that it is done unknowingly, to ensure that there is a consistent incentive against the behavior — similar to how it is typically illegal to commit a crime even if you aren’t aware what you did was a crime.
Is that really the claim? I must object to it, if that’s so. I don’t think I’ve ever made any false claims about what social norms obtain on Less Wrong (and to the extent that some of my comments were interpreted that way, I was quick to clearly correct that misinterpretation).
Certainly the “normatively correct general principles” comment didn’t contain any such false claims. (And Raemon does not seem to be claiming otherwise.) So, the question remains: what exactly is the relevance of the philosophical disagreement? How is it connected to any purported violations of site rules or norms or anything?
I am not sure what this means. I am not a moderator, so it’s not clear to me how I can enforce any norm. (I can exemplify conformance to a norm, of course, but that, in this case, would be me replying to comments on my posts, which is not what we’re talking about here. And I can encourage or even demand conformance to some falsely-claimed norm. But for me to enforce anything seems impossible as a purely technical matter.)
Indeed, if I had done this, then some censure would be warranted. (Now, personally, I would expect that such censure would start with a comment from a moderator, saying something like: “<name of my interlocutor>, to be clear, Said is wrong about what the site’s rules and norms are; there is no obligation to respond to commenters. Said, please refrain from misleading other users about this.” Then subsequent occurrences of comments which were similarly misleading might receive some more substantive punishment, etc. That’s just my own, though I think a fairly reasonable, view of how this sort of moderation challenge should be approached.)
But I think that, taking the totality of my comments in the linked thread, it is difficult to support the claim that I somehow made false claims about site rules or norms. It seems to me that I was fairly clearly talking about general principles—about epistemology, not community organization.
Now, perhaps you think that I did not, in fact, make my meaning clear enough? Well, as I’ve said, these things do happen. Certainly it seems to me like step one to rectify the problem, such as it is, would be just to make a clear ex cathedra statement about what the rules and norms actually are. That mitigates any supposed damage. (Was this done? I don’t recall that it was. But perhaps I missed it.) Then there can be talk of punishment.[1]
But, of course, there already was a moderation warning issued for the incident in question. Which brings us back to the question of what it has to do with the current situation (and to my “arrest for a speeding ticket issued three years ago” analogy).
P.S.:
To be maximally clear: I neither believed nor (as far as I can recall) claimed this.
Although it seems to me that to speak in terms of “punishment”, when the offense (even taking as given that the offense took place at all) is something so essentially innocent as accidentally mis-characterizing an informal community norm, is, quite frankly, bizarrely harsh. I don’t think that I’ve ever participated in any other forum with such a stringent approach to moderation.