the almost complete lack of any positive social interaction on LW, combined with the continual arguing
Funny, I see that as the defining feature of LW, and as its principal advantage over other places. You get to see the distilled essence of concrete things that people have to say on a given topic, unobscured with distractions that would otherwise inevitably follow. (Don’t get me wrong, in real life I’m much more personable and merry than I choose to be here, but outside of strictly technical discussions, this has an inevitable large cost when it comes to the precision and rigor of discourse.)
had left me feeling sort of annoyed and uncomfortable toward the average LWer
Are you sure it wouldn’t be much worse with people trying to be “friends”? As they say, familiarity breeds contempt.
Hypothesis: People who IRL are relatively well-connected socially (but feel obliged to conceal many of their views from their meatspace associates) and people who actually feel socially isolated or alienated IRL will have divergent views about the optimal level of familiarity in this online community.
For what its worth, I think abrasiveness breeds more contempt than does familiarity.
Hypothesis: People who IRL are relatively well-connected socially (but feel obliged to conceal many of their views from their meatspace associates) and people who actually feel socially isolated or alienated IRL will have divergent views about the optimal level of familiarity in this online community.
Probably true, but if one suffers from social isolation and alienation in meatspace, trying to remedy that situation by seeking internet friends in a place like this one would likely be a highly suboptimal (to put it charitably) way of addressing that problem.
For what its worth, I think abrasiveness breeds more contempt than does familiarity.
It might conceivably breed more ill feelings in general, but not contempt in particular.
I agree that abrasiveness is better avoided too, though.
Agreed, though I also think “abrasive” and “familiar” are terms that only make sense relative to some specific notion of what the unmarked baseline is. Personally I find very most of the discussion on LW neither of these things.
Funny, I see that as the defining feature of LW, and as its principal advantage over other places. You get to see the distilled essence of concrete things that people have to say on a given topic, unobscured with distractions that would otherwise inevitably follow. (Don’t get me wrong, in real life I’m much more personable and merry than I choose to be here, but outside of strictly technical discussions, this has an inevitable large cost when it comes to the precision and rigor of discourse.)
Are you sure it wouldn’t be much worse with people trying to be “friends”? As they say, familiarity breeds contempt.
Hypothesis: People who IRL are relatively well-connected socially (but feel obliged to conceal many of their views from their meatspace associates) and people who actually feel socially isolated or alienated IRL will have divergent views about the optimal level of familiarity in this online community.
For what its worth, I think abrasiveness breeds more contempt than does familiarity.
Probably true, but if one suffers from social isolation and alienation in meatspace, trying to remedy that situation by seeking internet friends in a place like this one would likely be a highly suboptimal (to put it charitably) way of addressing that problem.
It might conceivably breed more ill feelings in general, but not contempt in particular.
I agree that abrasiveness is better avoided too, though.
Agreed, though I also think “abrasive” and “familiar” are terms that only make sense relative to some specific notion of what the unmarked baseline is. Personally I find very most of the discussion on LW neither of these things.