I haven’t posted in LW in over a year, because the ratio of interesting-discussion to parochial-weirdness had skewed way too far in the parochial-weirdness direction. There still isn’t a good substitute for LW out there, though. Now it seems there’s some renewed interest in using LW for its original purpose, so I thought I’d wander back, sheepishly raise my hand and see if anyone else is in a similar position.
I’m presumably not the only one to visit the site for the first time in ages because of new, interesting content, so it’s reasonable to assume a bunch of other former LW-users are reading this. What would it take for you to come back and start using the site again?
I’m not new to this internet sphere, but new to LW. One thing I suggest is users spend less time wondering what would get people back, and more time posting interesting links. Interesting links are somewhat rare, there is lots of lame blogs and annoying quasi-philosophy discussions. Lots of the philosophy posted here is very cringeworthy.
I have a very low bar for ‘interesting discussion’, since the alternative for what to do with my spare time when there’s nothing going on IRL is playing video games that I don’t particularly like. But it’s been months since I’ve seen anything that meets it.
It seems like internet people think insight demands originality. This isn’t true. If you look at popular long-form ‘insight’ writers, even Yudkowsky (especially Yudkowsky), most of what they do is find earlier books and file the serial numbers off. It could be a lot easier for us to generate interesting discussion if we read more books and wrote about them, like this.
I’ve had some luck in open threads on SSC for stuff I would previously have directed to LW, but it’s much noisier, and is a far cry from a fully-featured discussion forum.
In recent months about a half of all SSC discussions were about politics in general and US elections in particular. It was basically the same people repeating the same things over and over again and the level of discussion wasn’t nearly as good as I expected from SSC.
I haven’t posted in LW in over a year, because the ratio of interesting-discussion to parochial-weirdness had skewed way too far in the parochial-weirdness direction. There still isn’t a good substitute for LW out there, though. Now it seems there’s some renewed interest in using LW for its original purpose, so I thought I’d wander back, sheepishly raise my hand and see if anyone else is in a similar position.
I’m presumably not the only one to visit the site for the first time in ages because of new, interesting content, so it’s reasonable to assume a bunch of other former LW-users are reading this. What would it take for you to come back and start using the site again?
I’m not new to this internet sphere, but new to LW. One thing I suggest is users spend less time wondering what would get people back, and more time posting interesting links. Interesting links are somewhat rare, there is lots of lame blogs and annoying quasi-philosophy discussions. Lots of the philosophy posted here is very cringeworthy.
The links are a new feature since I was last here, and I can’t say I’m overwhelmed by them, tbh.
I have a very low bar for ‘interesting discussion’, since the alternative for what to do with my spare time when there’s nothing going on IRL is playing video games that I don’t particularly like. But it’s been months since I’ve seen anything that meets it.
It seems like internet people think insight demands originality. This isn’t true. If you look at popular long-form ‘insight’ writers, even Yudkowsky (especially Yudkowsky), most of what they do is find earlier books and file the serial numbers off. It could be a lot easier for us to generate interesting discussion if we read more books and wrote about them, like this.
More quality content (either in terms of discussions or actual posts).
P.S. I do see how that might not be especially helpful.
Have you tried Slate Star Codex?
I’ve had some luck in open threads on SSC for stuff I would previously have directed to LW, but it’s much noisier, and is a far cry from a fully-featured discussion forum.
In recent months about a half of all SSC discussions were about politics in general and US elections in particular. It was basically the same people repeating the same things over and over again and the level of discussion wasn’t nearly as good as I expected from SSC.