I’m having trouble understanding what you mean here. Would you mind explaining this differently?
You’re right, that was convoluted :)
Having a prior that your conversation partner will reply motivates commenting. When both partners have that prior, they’ll continue their conversation, as we’re doing here. Figuring out how to generate that prior in both parties is the important part. So how do we generate that prior?
One way is trust/personal connection. If you’re having a conversation with a friend, you can usually expect they’ll respond when you bring up a new topic.
Another is professional interest in the topic. If you’re an academic and bring up a topic among colleagues at a conference, you can often expect at least some response.
However, these are just means to an end. The end being that prior expectation of receiving a response. There may be other means to that end that are cheaper and easier, like your pledge for ongoing discussion, or using Beeminder.
One way is trust/personal connection. If you’re having a conversation with a friend, you can usually expect they’ll respond when you bring up a new topic.
I actually don’t get a strong sense that this is true. The handful of people on LessWrong who I’m friends with, I expected that they’re slightly more likely to respond to my posts, but not by too much. I expect it to be mostly about whether they are interested in the post and have something to say.
Ah, what I mean is that if you specifically ask a person to discuss a topic, or bring it up clearly showing you want to discuss it with them, they’re likely to take you up on it in an organic conversation. Also, if you specifically ask a friend to give you feedback on a piece of writing, making it clear it would mean a lot to you, I wouldn’t be surprised if they do. Most people I know seem happy to help.
But yeah, just sending a friend a link to a post isn’t going to increase the response rate too much.
You’re right, that was convoluted :)
Having a prior that your conversation partner will reply motivates commenting. When both partners have that prior, they’ll continue their conversation, as we’re doing here. Figuring out how to generate that prior in both parties is the important part. So how do we generate that prior?
One way is trust/personal connection. If you’re having a conversation with a friend, you can usually expect they’ll respond when you bring up a new topic.
Another is professional interest in the topic. If you’re an academic and bring up a topic among colleagues at a conference, you can often expect at least some response.
However, these are just means to an end. The end being that prior expectation of receiving a response. There may be other means to that end that are cheaper and easier, like your pledge for ongoing discussion, or using Beeminder.
This makes perfect sense now, thanks!
I actually don’t get a strong sense that this is true. The handful of people on LessWrong who I’m friends with, I expected that they’re slightly more likely to respond to my posts, but not by too much. I expect it to be mostly about whether they are interested in the post and have something to say.
Ah, what I mean is that if you specifically ask a person to discuss a topic, or bring it up clearly showing you want to discuss it with them, they’re likely to take you up on it in an organic conversation. Also, if you specifically ask a friend to give you feedback on a piece of writing, making it clear it would mean a lot to you, I wouldn’t be surprised if they do. Most people I know seem happy to help.
But yeah, just sending a friend a link to a post isn’t going to increase the response rate too much.
Gotcha, I agree.