The reason that nothing has been done about it is that Eliezer doesn’t care.
This sounds like moralizing to me. Of the following two scenarios, which do you have in mind?
Someone had an idea for a solution to the problem and ran it by Eliezer. Eliezer vetoed it (because he was feeling spiteful?)
Eliezer is a busy person trying to do lots of things. Because Eliezer has historically been LW’s head honcho, no one feels comfortable taking decisive action without his approval. But folks are hesitant to bother him because they know he’s got lots to do, or else they do send him email but he doesn’t respond to them because he’s behind on his email, or he skips reading those emails in favor of higher-priority emails.
I think the second scenario is far more likely. If the second scenario is the case, I don’t see any reason to bother Eliezer. We just have to stop acting as though all important forum decisions must go through him. Personally I don’t see any reason why Eliezer would know best how to run LW. Expertise at blogging is not the same as expertise at online community management. And empirically, there have been lots of complaints about the way LW is moderated, which is evidence that Eliezer is bad at it (I know there are other moderators, but I’m assuming he sets the tone and has the final word). My guess is that to the extent he’s given deference, it’s due to his high status or some kind of halo effect. (Speaking of which, the halo effect seems like a bias that LWers fall prey to really often regarding high-status LW figures like Eliezer, Lukeprog, and Matt Fallshaw. But I digress.)
I don’t know if this one particular issue is worth a revolt. But if we can brainstorm enough issues that would benefit from an overhaul of the moderation/LW leadership team, perhaps it would be worthwhile to start another thread devoted to that topic.
Eliezer is a busy person trying to do lots of things. Because Eliezer has historically been LW’s head honcho, no one feels comfortable taking decisive action without his approval.
If you are a busy person wanting to get a lot of things done, delegate tasks and give someone else the authority do solve the task. To the extend that he doesn’t want to solve tasks like this himself, he should delegate the authority clearly to someone else.
Of course it’s the second scenario. My point is that this forum has dropped in priority for Eliezer and MIRI in general in the last year or so. And, as I said, probably for a good reason.
This sounds like moralizing to me. Of the following two scenarios, which do you have in mind?
Someone had an idea for a solution to the problem and ran it by Eliezer. Eliezer vetoed it (because he was feeling spiteful?)
Eliezer is a busy person trying to do lots of things. Because Eliezer has historically been LW’s head honcho, no one feels comfortable taking decisive action without his approval. But folks are hesitant to bother him because they know he’s got lots to do, or else they do send him email but he doesn’t respond to them because he’s behind on his email, or he skips reading those emails in favor of higher-priority emails.
I think the second scenario is far more likely. If the second scenario is the case, I don’t see any reason to bother Eliezer. We just have to stop acting as though all important forum decisions must go through him. Personally I don’t see any reason why Eliezer would know best how to run LW. Expertise at blogging is not the same as expertise at online community management. And empirically, there have been lots of complaints about the way LW is moderated, which is evidence that Eliezer is bad at it (I know there are other moderators, but I’m assuming he sets the tone and has the final word). My guess is that to the extent he’s given deference, it’s due to his high status or some kind of halo effect. (Speaking of which, the halo effect seems like a bias that LWers fall prey to really often regarding high-status LW figures like Eliezer, Lukeprog, and Matt Fallshaw. But I digress.)
I don’t know if this one particular issue is worth a revolt. But if we can brainstorm enough issues that would benefit from an overhaul of the moderation/LW leadership team, perhaps it would be worthwhile to start another thread devoted to that topic.
If you are a busy person wanting to get a lot of things done, delegate tasks and give someone else the authority do solve the task. To the extend that he doesn’t want to solve tasks like this himself, he should delegate the authority clearly to someone else.
Of course it’s the second scenario. My point is that this forum has dropped in priority for Eliezer and MIRI in general in the last year or so. And, as I said, probably for a good reason.