LW Karma system allows people to vote up or vote posts down based on good or usless reasons. Without it you cannot make high-level posts or vote idiotic comments or posts down.
Essentially Karma is the currency of popularity of LW. This being said I would wager that this encourages a group think attitude; because people have a strong motivation to get karma and not such a strong incentive to think for themselves and to question the group.
I would also posit that this kind of system causes a stagnation in ideas and thinking within the group. This is evident on LW with how many posts just seem to rehash old news.
I’m not sure that wholesale deletion of comments prior to banning is ideal in this case, in that it a) substantially disrupts the flow of conversations that occurred and b) makes it very difficult for an interested lurker to realize what was occurring. I don’t see a good reason to delete the existing comments (many seem to be merely wrong) although I agree with banning the individual.
I think “ban” is actually the term the Reddit/LW software uses for deleting a comment if you’re an editor rather than the original poster. It doesn’t refer to banning the user.
(I could be mistaken about what he means by it in this case, but I distinctly remember some past discussion to that effect.)
(2) Bear in mind the selection effect of who reads, votes, and replies to a thread on a given topic. Last year’s survey showed more people who had decided to forgo cryonics than signed up for preservation by a factor of sixteen.
(3) You are not yet a sufficiently impressive figure within this community to induce people to reconsider their judgments merely by expressing disapproval.
Don’t delete, ban or otherwise punish critics, would be my recommendation. Critics often bear unpopular messages. The only group I have ever participated in where critics were treated properly is the security/cryptographic community. There, if someone bothers to criticise something, if anything they are thanked for their input.
I don’t perceive a big difference between the crypto community and LW here. Do you have an example in mind of someone who speaks to the wider crypto community with the same tone that SamAdams speaks to us, but who is treated as a valued contributor?
Don’t delete, ban or otherwise punish critics, would be my recommendation. Critics often bear unpopular messages.
“Critic” is not a very useful category, moderation-wise. What matters is quality of argument, not implied conclusions, so an inane supporter of the group should be banned as readily as an inane defector, and there seems to be little value in keeping inane contributors around, whether “critics” or not.
Actually, Karma is the currency of “not being a troll” on LW. Since you are most likely a troll (not very effective though, IMO. Try being more subtle next time, you’re likely to get more genuine responses that way), you are bankrupt. Oops! :(
Karma Encourages Group Think:
LW Karma system allows people to vote up or vote posts down based on good or usless reasons. Without it you cannot make high-level posts or vote idiotic comments or posts down.
Essentially Karma is the currency of popularity of LW. This being said I would wager that this encourages a group think attitude; because people have a strong motivation to get karma and not such a strong incentive to think for themselves and to question the group.
I would also posit that this kind of system causes a stagnation in ideas and thinking within the group. This is evident on LW with how many posts just seem to rehash old news.
Pearls before swine.
As the comments by this user have been consistently voted down and he cannot seem to take the hint, comments by him will be deleted/banned.
I’m not sure that wholesale deletion of comments prior to banning is ideal in this case, in that it a) substantially disrupts the flow of conversations that occurred and b) makes it very difficult for an interested lurker to realize what was occurring. I don’t see a good reason to delete the existing comments (many seem to be merely wrong) although I agree with banning the individual.
He meant “further comments”.
I think “ban” is actually the term the Reddit/LW software uses for deleting a comment if you’re an editor rather than the original poster. It doesn’t refer to banning the user.
(I could be mistaken about what he means by it in this case, but I distinctly remember some past discussion to that effect.)
(1) We are aware. There are important reasons for keeping a moderation system anyway. Practical suggestions for rational groupthink-alleviating measures would be appreciated, although possibly not implemented.
(2) Bear in mind the selection effect of who reads, votes, and replies to a thread on a given topic. Last year’s survey showed more people who had decided to forgo cryonics than signed up for preservation by a factor of sixteen.
(3) You are not yet a sufficiently impressive figure within this community to induce people to reconsider their judgments merely by expressing disapproval.
Re: “Rational groupthink-alleviating measures”
Don’t delete, ban or otherwise punish critics, would be my recommendation. Critics often bear unpopular messages. The only group I have ever participated in where critics were treated properly is the security/cryptographic community. There, if someone bothers to criticise something, if anything they are thanked for their input.
I don’t perceive a big difference between the crypto community and LW here. Do you have an example in mind of someone who speaks to the wider crypto community with the same tone that SamAdams speaks to us, but who is treated as a valued contributor?
I haven’t looked closely at the case of SamAdams.
“Critic” is not a very useful category, moderation-wise. What matters is quality of argument, not implied conclusions, so an inane supporter of the group should be banned as readily as an inane defector, and there seems to be little value in keeping inane contributors around, whether “critics” or not.
Do you have any insights which you would like to share that advance the borders of rationality?
Actually, Karma is the currency of “not being a troll” on LW. Since you are most likely a troll (not very effective though, IMO. Try being more subtle next time, you’re likely to get more genuine responses that way), you are bankrupt. Oops! :(