Having Eliezer’s large corpus of posts as the foundation for LW may have been helpful back in 2009, but at this point it’s starting to become a hindrance. One problem is that the content is not being updated with the (often correct) critiques of Sequence posts that are continually being made in the comments and in the comments of the Sequence reruns. As a result, newcomers often bring up previously-mentioned arguments, which in turn get downvoted because of LW’s policy against rehashing discussions. Additionally, the fact that important posts by other authors aren’t added to the Sequences is part of what gives people the (incorrect) impression that the community revolves around Eliezer Yudkowsky. Having a static body of knowledge as introductory material also makes it look like the community consensus is tied to Eliezer’s beliefs circa 2007-2009, which also promotes “phyg”-ish misconceptions about LW.
An alternative would be for LW to expect newcomers to read a variety of LW posts that the community thinks are important rather than just the Sequences. This would show newcomers the diversity of opinion on LW and allow the community’s introductory material to be dynamic rather than static.
the fact that important posts by other authors aren’t added to the Sequences
As a matter of fact, the “Sequences” page contains the following as about 1⁄4 to 1⁄3 of its table of contents.
4 Sequences by Others
4.1 Positivism, Self Deception, and Neuroscience by Yvain 4.2 Priming and Implicit Association by Yvain 4.3 Decision Theory of Newcomblike Problems by AnnaSalamon 4.4 Living Luminously by Alicorn 4.5 The Science of Winning at Life by lukeprog 4.6 Rationality and Philosophy by lukeprog 4.7 No-Nonsense Metaethics by lukeprog 4.8 What Intelligence Tests Miss by Kaj_Sotala 4.9 Why Everyone (Else) Is a Hypocrite by Kaj_Sotala
Yes, but newcomers aren’t expected/instructed to read those. They are expected to be familiar with the Core/Major Sequences, which are all by Eliezer Yudkowsky and are not incrementally updated.
Another way of putting it: When an LWer tells a newbie to “read the Sequences,” that list is not the Sequences they are talking about.
The Sequences should be reorganized. It would be rational to admit that most new readers will not read all the articles (at least not now; later they may change opinion), so we could have a short list, a medium list, and a long list of articles. And even the short list should contain the best articles written by other authors.
Well, it’s a wiki, anyone can edit it. Also anyone can make their suggested list of “Short Sequences” and put it to discussion for comments.
This is only tangentially related, but:
Having Eliezer’s large corpus of posts as the foundation for LW may have been helpful back in 2009, but at this point it’s starting to become a hindrance. One problem is that the content is not being updated with the (often correct) critiques of Sequence posts that are continually being made in the comments and in the comments of the Sequence reruns. As a result, newcomers often bring up previously-mentioned arguments, which in turn get downvoted because of LW’s policy against rehashing discussions. Additionally, the fact that important posts by other authors aren’t added to the Sequences is part of what gives people the (incorrect) impression that the community revolves around Eliezer Yudkowsky. Having a static body of knowledge as introductory material also makes it look like the community consensus is tied to Eliezer’s beliefs circa 2007-2009, which also promotes “phyg”-ish misconceptions about LW.
An alternative would be for LW to expect newcomers to read a variety of LW posts that the community thinks are important rather than just the Sequences. This would show newcomers the diversity of opinion on LW and allow the community’s introductory material to be dynamic rather than static.
As a matter of fact, the “Sequences” page contains the following as about 1⁄4 to 1⁄3 of its table of contents.
Yes, but newcomers aren’t expected/instructed to read those. They are expected to be familiar with the Core/Major Sequences, which are all by Eliezer Yudkowsky and are not incrementally updated.
Another way of putting it: When an LWer tells a newbie to “read the Sequences,” that list is not the Sequences they are talking about.
The Sequences should be reorganized. It would be rational to admit that most new readers will not read all the articles (at least not now; later they may change opinion), so we could have a short list, a medium list, and a long list of articles. And even the short list should contain the best articles written by other authors.
Well, it’s a wiki, anyone can edit it. Also anyone can make their suggested list of “Short Sequences” and put it to discussion for comments.
There are also many useful posts by others that aren’t part of any sequence.
Yes, and adding posts to the official canon only if they’re presented as part of a sequence creates a perverse incentive to write long-windedly.