I agree, as most people here probably do. But it always seems weird to me to see that sort of things being framed as “X is disinforming people by optimizing for clicks”, or generally, “X is doing a bad thing”—which you kinda did, though not too much. Some people, and disproportionately the ones who think deeply enough to notice that sort of things, are quite aware that this is what they’re doing. But most are just not thinking enough about it? Thinking hard about what one does is pretty uncommon, after all. But then, the point I just made is obvious: it’s exactly because we can be irrational without being at all malicious that LW exists. Still, I prefer to file it in my brain as “this person is betraying the rules!” only when the person really should know better (or is actually acting maliciously).
I agree, as most people here probably do. But it always seems weird to me to see that sort of things being framed as “X is disinforming people by optimizing for clicks”, or generally, “X is doing a bad thing”—which you kinda did, though not too much. Some people, and disproportionately the ones who think deeply enough to notice that sort of things, are quite aware that this is what they’re doing. But most are just not thinking enough about it? Thinking hard about what one does is pretty uncommon, after all. But then, the point I just made is obvious: it’s exactly because we can be irrational without being at all malicious that LW exists. Still, I prefer to file it in my brain as “this person is betraying the rules!” only when the person really should know better (or is actually acting maliciously).