Maybe not specifically that, but I recall a lot of new users (and regular users, and critics of users...) complaining that they don’t know e.g. what kinds of comments are appropriate to post under articles, what the pre-requisites for understanding the material and generally stuff that we might just assume they know.
It needs a “how to use the site” section. When the envelope turns red, it means you have a reply or a message. The help link at the bottom of the comment box will tell you how to do formatting, but it’s different formatting methods if you post an article.
There may be useful features on the site that haven’t crossed my path. Finding them seems to be a semi-random process.
The “Preferences” button is worth exploring. In particular, the anti-kibitzer will hide usernames so that you can vote without being biased by your overall like or dislike of various users.
Note on the anti-kibitzer: I use it by default, and find that it prevents me from getting to know the individual users and their views. Although I have gotten to the point where I can sometimes recognize certain posters from their content (Eliezer, Clippy, and Wedrifid mostly).
Although I have gotten to the point where I can sometimes recognize certain posters from their content (Eliezer, Clippy, and Wedrifid mostly).
Some anti-kibitzer users have reported mistaking me for clippy at times! :D
I don’t use anti-kibitzer so I have to allow for hindsight bias—but I’d be willing to bet that I could pick nearly every comment by HughRistik and, if reading with the context as opposed to just the recent comments feed, most of Vladimir_Nesov’s too. Oh, and a lot from Perplexed and timtyler. Picking Alicorn’s posts based on most of them these days being ‘speaking as the Word of God on Luminosity fiction’ would just seem like cheating. ;)
Maybe not specifically that, but I recall a lot of new users (and regular users, and critics of users...) complaining that they don’t know e.g. what kinds of comments are appropriate to post under articles, what the pre-requisites for understanding the material and generally stuff that we might just assume they know.
LW does have a good “about” section, though.
It needs a “how to use the site” section. When the envelope turns red, it means you have a reply or a message. The help link at the bottom of the comment box will tell you how to do formatting, but it’s different formatting methods if you post an article.
There may be useful features on the site that haven’t crossed my path. Finding them seems to be a semi-random process.
The “Preferences” button is worth exploring. In particular, the anti-kibitzer will hide usernames so that you can vote without being biased by your overall like or dislike of various users.
Note on the anti-kibitzer: I use it by default, and find that it prevents me from getting to know the individual users and their views. Although I have gotten to the point where I can sometimes recognize certain posters from their content (Eliezer, Clippy, and Wedrifid mostly).
Some anti-kibitzer users have reported mistaking me for clippy at times! :D
I don’t use anti-kibitzer so I have to allow for hindsight bias—but I’d be willing to bet that I could pick nearly every comment by HughRistik and, if reading with the context as opposed to just the recent comments feed, most of Vladimir_Nesov’s too. Oh, and a lot from Perplexed and timtyler. Picking Alicorn’s posts based on most of them these days being ‘speaking as the Word of God on Luminosity fiction’ would just seem like cheating. ;)