I think that we use “Best” (which is a complicated thing other than “absolute points”) rather than “Top” (absolute points) precisely to reduce the effectiveness of that strategy.
That’s interesting. What criterion/criteria does “Best” use, then?
And on a different but related note: does it really negate the strategy? I note that, despite using the “Best” setting, this page still tends to display higher-karma comments near the top; furthermore, most of those high-karma comments seem to have been posted pretty early in the month. That suggests to me that Gondolinian’s strategy may still have a shot.
All right, thanks. So, I gave both articles a read-through, and I think that as described, the system implemented won’t necessarily negate the strategy (though it may somewhat reduce said strategy’s effectiveness). Really, it all depends on how awesome Gondolinian’s quote is; if it’s awesome enough to get a rating that’s 100% positive, then the display order will be organized by confidence level, which in practice just means a greater number of votes most of the time (more votes → less uncertainty), which in turn means it’ll need to be posted earlier, which brings us back to the original situation, blah blah blah etc. (A single downvote, however, would be sufficient to screw up the entire affair, so there’s that.) I guess that’s why you originally said it would only reduce the strategy’s effectiveness, not eliminate it entirely.
That’s awesome. My metaphorical hat is off to Gondolinian for figuring out a way to game the system—and crucially, take the second step: countering akrasia and actually doing it. Instrumental rationality at its finest.
I think that we use “Best” (which is a complicated thing other than “absolute points”) rather than “Top” (absolute points) precisely to reduce the effectiveness of that strategy.
That’s interesting. What criterion/criteria does “Best” use, then?
And on a different but related note: does it really negate the strategy? I note that, despite using the “Best” setting, this page still tends to display higher-karma comments near the top; furthermore, most of those high-karma comments seem to have been posted pretty early in the month. That suggests to me that Gondolinian’s strategy may still have a shot.
Technical explanation
Non-technical explanation
All right, thanks. So, I gave both articles a read-through, and I think that as described, the system implemented won’t necessarily negate the strategy (though it may somewhat reduce said strategy’s effectiveness). Really, it all depends on how awesome Gondolinian’s quote is; if it’s awesome enough to get a rating that’s 100% positive, then the display order will be organized by confidence level, which in practice just means a greater number of votes most of the time (more votes → less uncertainty), which in turn means it’ll need to be posted earlier, which brings us back to the original situation, blah blah blah etc. (A single downvote, however, would be sufficient to screw up the entire affair, so there’s that.) I guess that’s why you originally said it would only reduce the strategy’s effectiveness, not eliminate it entirely.
That’s awesome. My metaphorical hat is off to Gondolinian for figuring out a way to game the system—and crucially, take the second step: countering akrasia and actually doing it. Instrumental rationality at its finest.
Don’t bet on it. :)