Would LW be improved if paid employees/consultants of those organizations were barred from membership?
No, I suspect it would die. Actionable suggestion though: some kind of “badge” / note (along the lines of the “mod” or “author” tag you get in Disqus, for example). When I worked for a company with user forums it was policy that all staff had badges on their avatars and you should not post from a non-staff account while employed by the company.
I get a kick out of this, because my social circle is largely polyamorous but would mostly consider LW a charming bunch of complete nutjobs on other grounds. Polyamory really isn’t all that uncommon in communities anchored around high-tech development/elite tech schools, IME.
That is very surprising, very different from my experiences. My social circle comes mainly from the University of Cambridge and the London tech scene; I am friends with several furries, more transsexuals, and have had dinner with the maintainer of the BDSM FAQ. Polyamory still seems fucking weird (not offensive or evil, but naive and pretentious, and correlated with what I can probably best summarize as the stoner stereotype). I’ve met a couple of openly poly people and they were perfectly friendly and had the best of intentions but I wouldn’t trust them to organize my closet, yet alone the survival of humanity.
I originally took Moss_Piglet to imply that the leadership were recruiting groupies from LW to have sex with. That I would find very disturbing and offputting. Assuming that’s not an issue, I think the weirdness of the polyamory would be amply countered by evidence of general competence / life success.
Polyamory still seems fucking weird (not offensive or evil, but naive and pretentious, and correlated with what I can probably best summarize as the stoner stereotype). I’ve met a couple of openly poly people and they were perfectly friendly and had the best of intentions but I wouldn’t trust them to organize my closet, yet alone the survival of humanity.
Wth? You seem very prejudiced. What makes people who have multiple relationships this much less trustworthy than ‘normal’ people to you (that you wouldn’t even trust them to organize your closet)?
This whole subject is about prejudice; we judge organizations for their cultlike characteristics without investigating them in detail.
What makes people who have multiple relationships this much less trustworthy than ‘normal’ people to you (that you wouldn’t even trust them to organize your closet)?
I think I was unclear: the implication runs in the opposite direction. All the specific poly individuals I’ve met are people I wouldn’t trust to organize my closet, in terms of general life competence (e.g. ability to hold down a job, finish projects they start, keep promises to friends). As a result, when I find out that someone is poly, I consider this evidence (in the Bayesian sense) that they’re incompetent, the same way I would adjust my estimate of someone’s competence if I discovered that they had particular academic qualifications or used a particular drug. (Obviously all these factors are screened off if I have direct evidence about their actual competence level).
Well, I would certainly agree with this. The poly folk I know in their 40s are as a class more successful in their relationships than the poly folk I know in their 20s.
Of course, this is true of the mono folk I know, also.
Which is what I would expect if experience having relationships increased one’s ability to do so successfully.
That is very surprising, very different from my experiences.
It also agrees with the experience from my real-life social circles, which are dominated by university people from the Helsinki region. Poly seems to be treated as roughly the same as homosexuality: unusual but not particularly noteworthy one way or the other. Treatments in the popular press (articles about some particular poly triad who’s agreed to be interviewed, etc.) are also generally positive.
(nods) Fair enough. My experience is limited to the U.S. in this context. I agree that “recruiting groupies to have sex with,” if I understand what you mean by the phrase, would be disturbing and offputting. Moss_Piglet appears to believe that polyamory is in and of itself a bad sign, independent of whether any groupies are being recruited. Beyond that, I decline to speculate.
No, I suspect it would die. Actionable suggestion though: some kind of “badge” / note (along the lines of the “mod” or “author” tag you get in Disqus, for example). When I worked for a company with user forums it was policy that all staff had badges on their avatars and you should not post from a non-staff account while employed by the company.
That is very surprising, very different from my experiences. My social circle comes mainly from the University of Cambridge and the London tech scene; I am friends with several furries, more transsexuals, and have had dinner with the maintainer of the BDSM FAQ. Polyamory still seems fucking weird (not offensive or evil, but naive and pretentious, and correlated with what I can probably best summarize as the stoner stereotype). I’ve met a couple of openly poly people and they were perfectly friendly and had the best of intentions but I wouldn’t trust them to organize my closet, yet alone the survival of humanity.
I originally took Moss_Piglet to imply that the leadership were recruiting groupies from LW to have sex with. That I would find very disturbing and offputting. Assuming that’s not an issue, I think the weirdness of the polyamory would be amply countered by evidence of general competence / life success.
Wth? You seem very prejudiced. What makes people who have multiple relationships this much less trustworthy than ‘normal’ people to you (that you wouldn’t even trust them to organize your closet)?
This whole subject is about prejudice; we judge organizations for their cultlike characteristics without investigating them in detail.
I think I was unclear: the implication runs in the opposite direction. All the specific poly individuals I’ve met are people I wouldn’t trust to organize my closet, in terms of general life competence (e.g. ability to hold down a job, finish projects they start, keep promises to friends). As a result, when I find out that someone is poly, I consider this evidence (in the Bayesian sense) that they’re incompetent, the same way I would adjust my estimate of someone’s competence if I discovered that they had particular academic qualifications or used a particular drug. (Obviously all these factors are screened off if I have direct evidence about their actual competence level).
To throw in a possibly-relevant factor: age.
It seems to me that polyamory in early twenties is quite different from polyamory in late forties.
Well, I would certainly agree with this. The poly folk I know in their 40s are as a class more successful in their relationships than the poly folk I know in their 20s.
Of course, this is true of the mono folk I know, also.
Which is what I would expect if experience having relationships increased one’s ability to do so successfully.
It also agrees with the experience from my real-life social circles, which are dominated by university people from the Helsinki region. Poly seems to be treated as roughly the same as homosexuality: unusual but not particularly noteworthy one way or the other. Treatments in the popular press (articles about some particular poly triad who’s agreed to be interviewed, etc.) are also generally positive.
(nods) Fair enough. My experience is limited to the U.S. in this context.
I agree that “recruiting groupies to have sex with,” if I understand what you mean by the phrase, would be disturbing and offputting.
Moss_Piglet appears to believe that polyamory is in and of itself a bad sign, independent of whether any groupies are being recruited. Beyond that, I decline to speculate.