In the comment that got him banned, Advancedatheist said:
we need to restore a healthy patriarchy where women can’t get sexual experience until marriage
just after he implied that lack of sexually available women was a viable explanation for two cases of mass murder.
I don’t think it’s “abuse of power” to obstruct the dissemination of such abhorrent views, especially at a website that has world-improvement as one of its central goals.
I don’t think it’s “abuse of power” to obstruct the dissemination of such abhorrent views, especially at a website that has world-improvement as one of its central goals.
The truth of a view is more important than whether or not it’s abhorrent. I agree with entirelyuseless in that I endorse banning advancedatheist because he had a long string of low-quality posting but do not endorse banning him because of the content of that comment by itself.
You are explicitly prohibited from:
[...]
Posting or transmitting content through the Website that is harassing, threatens or encourages bodily harm, constitutes hate speech, or advocates for the destruction of property;
This case went beyond LW’s usual attitude toward debate; this was explicit advocacy of violence, which should always be treated as Serious Business.
I believe the intent of EY’s ban on violence was violence against identifiable individuals. Discussion and advocacy of violence against collective groups (the canonical example being supporting specific wars) is OK.
I agree with entirelyuseless in that I endorse banning advancedatheist because he had a long string of low-quality posting
Do you have any idea how many LW users that would apply to? Come to think of it, looking through polymathwannabe’s recent history the highest quality content appears to be the open threads he initiates.
Do you have any idea how many LW users that would apply to?
This illustrates the effect size of the action. It’s one of a few things that seem to me to have the potential of changing the current situation, although it’s likely useless on its own, and it’s not obvious whether the change would be for the better. A few years ago I maintained a list of users whose comments I was subscribed to (via rss), and two other lists, marked “toxic” and “clueless”. Getting rid of those users might make lesswrong a better place, if it won’t scare away the rest.
I don’t see a certainty in this. Policies have downsides. It’s not clear how significant a bit of systematic injustice and bias would be compared to the other effects.
Is it an abhorrent view to turn away people fleeing the Holocaust? To eat babies? To kill a person for their organs? To divert a trolley to kill a person in order to save someone else? To state that some populations have higher IQ than others? To suggest that divorce is harmful to children?
In the comment that got him banned, Advancedatheist said:
just after he implied that lack of sexually available women was a viable explanation for two cases of mass murder.
I don’t think it’s “abuse of power” to obstruct the dissemination of such abhorrent views, especially at a website that has world-improvement as one of its central goals.
The truth of a view is more important than whether or not it’s abhorrent. I agree with entirelyuseless in that I endorse banning advancedatheist because he had a long string of low-quality posting but do not endorse banning him because of the content of that comment by itself.
Amen. But the LW Terms of Use state:
This case went beyond LW’s usual attitude toward debate; this was explicit advocacy of violence, which should always be treated as Serious Business.
Did you mean for the “advocacy of violence” link to go to https://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/Deletion_policy#Hypothetical_violence_against_identifiable_targets instead?
It seemed that one applied to the Wiki only, so I didn’t use it.
I believe the intent of EY’s ban on violence was violence against identifiable individuals. Discussion and advocacy of violence against collective groups (the canonical example being supporting specific wars) is OK.
Do you have any idea how many LW users that would apply to? Come to think of it, looking through polymathwannabe’s recent history the highest quality content appears to be the open threads he initiates.
This illustrates the effect size of the action. It’s one of a few things that seem to me to have the potential of changing the current situation, although it’s likely useless on its own, and it’s not obvious whether the change would be for the better. A few years ago I maintained a list of users whose comments I was subscribed to (via rss), and two other lists, marked “toxic” and “clueless”. Getting rid of those users might make lesswrong a better place, if it won’t scare away the rest.
I’m much more tolerant of clueless than toxic, but even then there is a limit.
It would certainly be for the worse if the banning was selectively enforced based on whether the mod in question liked the opinion being expressed.
I don’t see a certainty in this. Policies have downsides. It’s not clear how significant a bit of systematic injustice and bias would be compared to the other effects.
Is it an abhorrent view to turn away people fleeing the Holocaust? To eat babies? To kill a person for their organs? To divert a trolley to kill a person in order to save someone else? To state that some populations have higher IQ than others? To suggest that divorce is harmful to children?