Well, since you have asked for feedback, I may provide some, although probably not of the kind requested by this post.
Your repeated requests for feedback accompanied by links proving that you are able to correct your mistakes and like the corrections … create an impression of some heavy signalling going on. Namely, it’s one of the norms here—and probably also among the readers of your blog—to be able to accept constructive criticism, to avoid confirmation bias, to respect a lot of debate rules etc. Signalling adherence to those norms increases one’s status. But then, if the signalling part is too apparent, it naturally leads to suspicion of hypocrisy and distrust on the meta-level.
Of course this all is obvious. I write it only because I am not sure whether you realise that the way you ask for feedback may appear to fall into this category. Or actually belong to that category. Substituting the usual pride for never being wrong by pride for not being the sort of person who takes pride from never admitting wrongness is a useful mind hack, but still it’s a goal different from being right in the first place.
Not that I could find a single instance where your signalling goals prevented you from finding the truth efficiently. You are certainly not the usual open-mindedness signaller. If there is a danger, it is certainly subtle. Just you don’t need to ask for feedback this way. Valuable criticism is usually spontaneous: when people detect a mistake, they say it (unless the local norms discourage such reactions, but that’s certainly not the case on LW). On the other hand, when requested to do so, people start to hastily search for something to be criticised, and either find an unimportant detail or even construct a non-existent problem packed in a cloak of rationalisations, or they fail to find anything and produce equally useless you-are-so-awesome-so-that-I-can’t-find-a-single-problem response. (Not that it isn’t pleasant to hear the latter.)
In short, if you make a mistake, don’t be afraid we’ll keep it secret.
Well, since you have asked for feedback, I may provide some, although probably not of the kind requested by this post.
Your repeated requests for feedback accompanied by links proving that you are able to correct your mistakes and like the corrections … create an impression of some heavy signalling going on. Namely, it’s one of the norms here—and probably also among the readers of your blog—to be able to accept constructive criticism, to avoid confirmation bias, to respect a lot of debate rules etc. Signalling adherence to those norms increases one’s status. But then, if the signalling part is too apparent, it naturally leads to suspicion of hypocrisy and distrust on the meta-level.
Of course this all is obvious. I write it only because I am not sure whether you realise that the way you ask for feedback may appear to fall into this category. Or actually belong to that category. Substituting the usual pride for never being wrong by pride for not being the sort of person who takes pride from never admitting wrongness is a useful mind hack, but still it’s a goal different from being right in the first place.
Not that I could find a single instance where your signalling goals prevented you from finding the truth efficiently. You are certainly not the usual open-mindedness signaller. If there is a danger, it is certainly subtle. Just you don’t need to ask for feedback this way. Valuable criticism is usually spontaneous: when people detect a mistake, they say it (unless the local norms discourage such reactions, but that’s certainly not the case on LW). On the other hand, when requested to do so, people start to hastily search for something to be criticised, and either find an unimportant detail or even construct a non-existent problem packed in a cloak of rationalisations, or they fail to find anything and produce equally useless you-are-so-awesome-so-that-I-can’t-find-a-single-problem response. (Not that it isn’t pleasant to hear the latter.)
In short, if you make a mistake, don’t be afraid we’ll keep it secret.