That’s lovely and all. But how is it that my question got voted down and this nothing response got voted up?
Is it because I refer to people in cryostasis as corpse popsicles?
Well, the “nothing response” had links, and included actual facts.
As a general rule of thumb, in any online forum that uses a karma system, remarks which are polite and well written are more likely to be voted up. Remarks which are insulting or seem to be quickly typed up with little thought are more likely to be downvoted. Now, there’s also a general trend that comments which agree with the general attitude in a forum are more likely to be voted up than comments which do not. All these details apply to LW. Although LW prides itself on trying to be rational, and one could argue that comments which agree with the consensus here are simply more likely to be rational, I suspect that some amount of simply agreeing with what someone is saying does lead to upvoting. However, this seems to be less of a problem at LW than elsewhere (especially compare say Slashdot and Reddit). Now, there’s one other aspect that’s very important, the two factors (agreement with status quo, and quality of post) don’t combine in a nicely linear fashion. In particular, comments which do not seem well thought out or indicate a lack of knowledge about a topic and which go against the status quo consensus are likely to be voted down a lot.
In that regard, your repeated use of the phrase “corpse popsicles” was apparently an indication of an attempt at emotionalism, something which really doesn’t go over well at LW. Moreover, it also demonstrates a lack of detailed familiarity with cryonics since one would otherwise know that the standard derogatory pourmanteau is “corpsicle” rather than the long phrase “corpse popsicle.” (I’m under the tentative impression that this is actually a pourmanteau of corpse and icicle)
The last link you posted was especially unhelpful since I am inclined to discredit the source for reasons that I have already commented on.
This is the sort of thing that is probably getting you voted down. It wasn’t at all clear (and after rereading what you’ve wrote still isn’t at all clear) why you discredit that source. It might help for you to state what exactly in that link you object to.
Note that comments that discuss potential problems with cryonics are not in general downvoted. For example, my comment here was not downvoted (granted a single upvote isn’t much but the point is clear).
In general when posting a comment in an environment which does not by and large support your view it is extremely important to make a comment as polite and well-reasoned as you can. Directly insulting the people one is addressing may make one feel good, but it is unlikely to actually change anyone’s opinion. Moreover, it is the sort of thing which generally causes bystanders and audiences to not favor your opinion. This will likely still be true for otherwise pretty rational individuals. And judging from your remarks here and in previous posts on LW you seem to have a low opinion of the general level of rationality here. If you are correct in that assessment then it is even more important that you don’t trigger hostile emotions in the people you are trying to convince.
Well, the “nothing response” had links, and included actual facts.
As a general rule of thumb, in any online forum that uses a karma system, remarks which are polite and well written are more likely to be voted up. Remarks which are insulting or seem to be quickly typed up with little thought are more likely to be downvoted. Now, there’s also a general trend that comments which agree with the general attitude in a forum are more likely to be voted up than comments which do not. All these details apply to LW. Although LW prides itself on trying to be rational, and one could argue that comments which agree with the consensus here are simply more likely to be rational, I suspect that some amount of simply agreeing with what someone is saying does lead to upvoting. However, this seems to be less of a problem at LW than elsewhere (especially compare say Slashdot and Reddit). Now, there’s one other aspect that’s very important, the two factors (agreement with status quo, and quality of post) don’t combine in a nicely linear fashion. In particular, comments which do not seem well thought out or indicate a lack of knowledge about a topic and which go against the status quo consensus are likely to be voted down a lot.
In that regard, your repeated use of the phrase “corpse popsicles” was apparently an indication of an attempt at emotionalism, something which really doesn’t go over well at LW. Moreover, it also demonstrates a lack of detailed familiarity with cryonics since one would otherwise know that the standard derogatory pourmanteau is “corpsicle” rather than the long phrase “corpse popsicle.” (I’m under the tentative impression that this is actually a pourmanteau of corpse and icicle)
This is the sort of thing that is probably getting you voted down. It wasn’t at all clear (and after rereading what you’ve wrote still isn’t at all clear) why you discredit that source. It might help for you to state what exactly in that link you object to.
Note that comments that discuss potential problems with cryonics are not in general downvoted. For example, my comment here was not downvoted (granted a single upvote isn’t much but the point is clear).
In general when posting a comment in an environment which does not by and large support your view it is extremely important to make a comment as polite and well-reasoned as you can. Directly insulting the people one is addressing may make one feel good, but it is unlikely to actually change anyone’s opinion. Moreover, it is the sort of thing which generally causes bystanders and audiences to not favor your opinion. This will likely still be true for otherwise pretty rational individuals. And judging from your remarks here and in previous posts on LW you seem to have a low opinion of the general level of rationality here. If you are correct in that assessment then it is even more important that you don’t trigger hostile emotions in the people you are trying to convince.