It seems to me like you never really tried to seriously invite people to participate and write content. The fact that people had to follow Arbitals process through “whispers, rumors, and clairvoyant divination” gave the impression that it was more in a closed state than that it was inviting people to participate.
That’s a very good point. When we were doing math explanations, we did reach out to a lot of people (just not via LW). When we were doing debates, we reached out to a few people, because we didn’t quite know what shape we wanted to the debate to take. So we didn’t need that many people. (It would be a bit silly to move a community from one platform to another that’s basically the same.)
So, yes, there were multiple times where we thought that we should invite more people / throw open the doors. Some of those times we postponed it because we weren’t ready; one of the other times we probably should have done it.
You can think of this post as an invitation to use the platform.
How about writing a “top 10 posts on Arbital” post for LW discussion? That way it’s easier for people to see discussions to which they might want to contribute.
When we were doing debates, we reached out to a few people, because we didn’t quite know what shape we wanted to the debate to take. So we didn’t need that many people.
That’s a valid strategy but if that’s what you did, why do you think your experience proves that it’s hard to get people to contribute to the discussion?
How about writing a “top 10 posts on Arbital” post for LW discussion? That way it’s easier for people to see discussions to which they might want to contribute.
I think that’s better done by people who are actively writing and want to invite commenters.
That’s a valid strategy but if that’s what you did, why do you think your experience proves that it’s hard to get people to contribute to the discussion?
Because we reached out to people who were pretty excited about the platform and who were already spending a lot of their time blogging / doing discussions. I imagine if we reached out to people who are less excited / who write less, we would have gotten even less of a response.
I think that’s better done by people who are actively writing and want to invite commenters.
Given that you’ve been so involved, I don’t think anyone would think it out of place for you to make a post. I, for one, would be happy to have a general “Introduction to the top 10 Arbital posts”.
Aside from the haziness and uncertainty, I also often felt off-put because of a lack of a prominent wiki / introduction to the vast space of things Arbital offers.
I rather forgot about this due to being accidentally logged out of this account and not realizing so until later. If I were to try my hand at this, what would be the best place to see what’s already been done (without having to click through arbital) and submit my contributions?
It seems to me like you never really tried to seriously invite people to participate and write content. The fact that people had to follow Arbitals process through “whispers, rumors, and clairvoyant divination” gave the impression that it was more in a closed state than that it was inviting people to participate.
That’s a very good point. When we were doing math explanations, we did reach out to a lot of people (just not via LW). When we were doing debates, we reached out to a few people, because we didn’t quite know what shape we wanted to the debate to take. So we didn’t need that many people. (It would be a bit silly to move a community from one platform to another that’s basically the same.)
So, yes, there were multiple times where we thought that we should invite more people / throw open the doors. Some of those times we postponed it because we weren’t ready; one of the other times we probably should have done it.
You can think of this post as an invitation to use the platform.
How about writing a “top 10 posts on Arbital” post for LW discussion? That way it’s easier for people to see discussions to which they might want to contribute.
That’s a valid strategy but if that’s what you did, why do you think your experience proves that it’s hard to get people to contribute to the discussion?
I think that’s better done by people who are actively writing and want to invite commenters.
Because we reached out to people who were pretty excited about the platform and who were already spending a lot of their time blogging / doing discussions. I imagine if we reached out to people who are less excited / who write less, we would have gotten even less of a response.
Given that you’ve been so involved, I don’t think anyone would think it out of place for you to make a post. I, for one, would be happy to have a general “Introduction to the top 10 Arbital posts”.
Aside from the haziness and uncertainty, I also often felt off-put because of a lack of a prominent wiki / introduction to the vast space of things Arbital offers.
If you’re still looking for content, I could be persuaded to start (slowly) working on some set theory/analysis concepts.
I’m not into persuading people. :) If you want to write, go for it. I still think Arbital is a really good platform for writing up math explanations.
I rather forgot about this due to being accidentally logged out of this account and not realizing so until later. If I were to try my hand at this, what would be the best place to see what’s already been done (without having to click through arbital) and submit my contributions?
This will take a long time to load, but it’s comprehensive: https://arbital.com/explore/math/
I’ll take a look, thanks!