Thanks, you’re providing the feedback entirely as requested.
You are probably quite right. The end result here is plainly the result of the roundabout process by which this doc came about. It was initially a “What LessWrong is for post” which then was co-opted to be both welcome page and about page.
The logic behind this being something like:
1) It’s less effort to write a single document than write multiple (this page is a blocker on many other things I want to publish) and the result would still be better than what we currently have.
2) I do think there is something legitimately good about the the thing you say to newcomers being the same thing you show to describe what you’re about. A single message about what this site is for.
Of course, 2) can be rightly suspected of being a rationalization.
My question would be is whether you think this isn’t good enough to publish such that we really do need to better separate pages or whether we can get away with this in the short-term, and later do a more ideal version?
I definitely think it’s fine for the short term. I don’t want to push premature perfectionism here—this will not make the site worse than it is, and may make it better.
I wouldn’t want it to go up and then forget about it, and have several years of newcomers dropping off because the entry point didn’t grab them. (I’m less concerned about perfecting a page whose purpose is not entry-point.) That said, if I’m ever really unhappy about it, I can always just draft something up myself and then propose it to you guys.
I wouldn’t want it to go up and then forget about it, and have several years of newcomers dropping off because the entry point didn’t grab them.
Me neither. I’m currently trying to get through a long-ish backlog of public docs I think are necessary (About/Welcome page, Team page, User Guides [Getting Started, Posting, Commenting etc.], posts about long-term visions, posts explaining why we’re building Open Questions, etc.). Once caught up, I imagine I’ll go back to get more improvements where they’re most valuable.
That said, if I’m ever really unhappy about it, I can always just draft something up myself and then propose it to you guys.
Thanks, you’re providing the feedback entirely as requested.
You are probably quite right. The end result here is plainly the result of the roundabout process by which this doc came about. It was initially a “What LessWrong is for post” which then was co-opted to be both welcome page and about page.
The logic behind this being something like:
1) It’s less effort to write a single document than write multiple (this page is a blocker on many other things I want to publish) and the result would still be better than what we currently have.
2) I do think there is something legitimately good about the the thing you say to newcomers being the same thing you show to describe what you’re about. A single message about what this site is for.
Of course, 2) can be rightly suspected of being a rationalization.
My question would be is whether you think this isn’t good enough to publish such that we really do need to better separate pages or whether we can get away with this in the short-term, and later do a more ideal version?
I definitely think it’s fine for the short term. I don’t want to push premature perfectionism here—this will not make the site worse than it is, and may make it better.
I wouldn’t want it to go up and then forget about it, and have several years of newcomers dropping off because the entry point didn’t grab them. (I’m less concerned about perfecting a page whose purpose is not entry-point.) That said, if I’m ever really unhappy about it, I can always just draft something up myself and then propose it to you guys.
Me neither. I’m currently trying to get through a long-ish backlog of public docs I think are necessary (About/Welcome page, Team page, User Guides [Getting Started, Posting, Commenting etc.], posts about long-term visions, posts explaining why we’re building Open Questions, etc.). Once caught up, I imagine I’ll go back to get more improvements where they’re most valuable.
I would love to receive such submissions.