I’m torn. There are definitely differences between the way Less Wrong operates and the situation the article describes, but that’s always going to be the case. It would be nice to see more studies, of course, examining how the details of the system matter, but no such seem to be available. Absent that it kind of seems like special pleading to say “we do things slightly differently, so obviously it won’t apply to us.” On the other hand, only one study is rather weak evidence, and the differences do exist, even if we don’t have any actual evidence that they matter. I really don’t know if it makes sense to consider changing our system in light of this.
I’m torn. There are definitely differences between the way Less Wrong operates and the situation the article describes, but that’s always going to be the case. It would be nice to see more studies, of course, examining how the details of the system matter, but no such seem to be available. Absent that it kind of seems like special pleading to say “we do things slightly differently, so obviously it won’t apply to us.” On the other hand, only one study is rather weak evidence, and the differences do exist, even if we don’t have any actual evidence that they matter. I really don’t know if it makes sense to consider changing our system in light of this.