While I am not technically a “New User” in the context of the age of my account, I comment very infrequently, and I’ve never made a forum-level post.
I would rate my own rationality skills and knowledge at slightly above the average person but below the average active LessWrong member. While I am aware that I possess many habits and biases that reduce the quality of my written content, I have the sincere goal of becoming a better rationalist.
There are times when I am unsure whether an argument or claim that seems incorrect is flawed or if it is my reasoning that is flawed. In such cases, it seems intuitive to write a critical comment which explicitly states what I perceive to be faulty about that claim or argument and what thought processes have led to this perception. In the case that these criticisms are valid, then the discussion of the subject is improved and those who read the comment will benefit. If the criticisms are not valid, then I may be corrected by a response that points out where my reasoning went wrong, helping me avoid making such errors in the future.
Amateur rationalists like myself are probably going to make mistakes when it comes to criticism of other people’s written content, even when we strive to follow community guidelines. My concern with your suggestions is that these changes may discourage users like me from creating flawed posts and comments that help us grow as rationalists.
I think there’s a real danger of that, in practice.
But I’ve had lots of experience with “my style of moderation/my standards” being actively good for people taking their first steps toward this brand of rationalism; lots of people have explicitly reached out to me to say that e.g. my FB wall allowed them to do just those sorts of first, flawed steps.
A big part of this is “if the standards are more generally held, then there’s more room for each individual bend-of-the-rules.” I personally can spend more spoons responding positively and cooperatively to [a well-intentioned newcomer who’s still figuring out the norms of the garden] if I’m not also feeling like it’s pretty important for me to go put out fires elsewhere.
Or in other words, that’s part of what I was clumsily gesturing at with “Cooperate past the first ‘defect’ from your interlocutor.” I should’ve written “first apparent defect.”
While I am not technically a “New User” in the context of the age of my account, I comment very infrequently, and I’ve never made a forum-level post.
I would rate my own rationality skills and knowledge at slightly above the average person but below the average active LessWrong member. While I am aware that I possess many habits and biases that reduce the quality of my written content, I have the sincere goal of becoming a better rationalist.
There are times when I am unsure whether an argument or claim that seems incorrect is flawed or if it is my reasoning that is flawed. In such cases, it seems intuitive to write a critical comment which explicitly states what I perceive to be faulty about that claim or argument and what thought processes have led to this perception. In the case that these criticisms are valid, then the discussion of the subject is improved and those who read the comment will benefit. If the criticisms are not valid, then I may be corrected by a response that points out where my reasoning went wrong, helping me avoid making such errors in the future.
Amateur rationalists like myself are probably going to make mistakes when it comes to criticism of other people’s written content, even when we strive to follow community guidelines. My concern with your suggestions is that these changes may discourage users like me from creating flawed posts and comments that help us grow as rationalists.
I think there’s a real danger of that, in practice.
But I’ve had lots of experience with “my style of moderation/my standards” being actively good for people taking their first steps toward this brand of rationalism; lots of people have explicitly reached out to me to say that e.g. my FB wall allowed them to do just those sorts of first, flawed steps.
A big part of this is “if the standards are more generally held, then there’s more room for each individual bend-of-the-rules.” I personally can spend more spoons responding positively and cooperatively to [a well-intentioned newcomer who’s still figuring out the norms of the garden] if I’m not also feeling like it’s pretty important for me to go put out fires elsewhere.
Or in other words, that’s part of what I was clumsily gesturing at with “Cooperate past the first ‘defect’ from your interlocutor.” I should’ve written “first apparent defect.”