Experiment: The open threads are always used a lot when they are first posted, but they are quickly forgotten, because they get hidden as the month progresses.
This month I will post two open threads. One for January 1-14, and another for January 15-31. I predict, at P=.8 that there will be significantly more open thread posts in the second half of the month using this 2-post method.
To test my hypothesis, I will average the number of open thread comment in the second half of the month in the past few open thread posts, and compare them to the amount of open thread comments on the January 15-31st post.
This test WILL be biased, as it is neither blind on my side, nor on the commenters’ side (aka people who post will read this and see the test I am doing.). This will be somewhat ameliorated by me NOT posting this experiment note in the second thread, and in two weeks’ time it will not be foremost in people’s minds.
Repeating my suggestion from the June 2010 Open Thread:
Some sites have gone to an every Friday open thread; maybe we should do it weekly instead of monthly, too.
I think it would also be good for people who have interesting links but no real comments on them. It is annoying when someone comments on link only posts complaining that the person should not have posted a link without their own commentary.
Experiment: The open threads are always used a lot when they are first posted, but they are quickly forgotten, because they get hidden as the month progresses.
This month I will post two open threads. One for January 1-14, and another for January 15-31. I predict, at P=.8 that there will be significantly more open thread posts in the second half of the month using this 2-post method.
To test my hypothesis, I will average the number of open thread comment in the second half of the month in the past few open thread posts, and compare them to the amount of open thread comments on the January 15-31st post.
This test WILL be biased, as it is neither blind on my side, nor on the commenters’ side (aka people who post will read this and see the test I am doing.). This will be somewhat ameliorated by me NOT posting this experiment note in the second thread, and in two weeks’ time it will not be foremost in people’s minds.
Repeating my suggestion from the June 2010 Open Thread:
Some sites have gone to an every Friday open thread; maybe we should do it weekly instead of monthly, too.
I think it would also be good for people who have interesting links but no real comments on them. It is annoying when someone comments on link only posts complaining that the person should not have posted a link without their own commentary.
What’s “significantly more”?
I predict:
P(twice as many subthreads started)= .4
P(50% more)= .7
P(5% more) = .9
Why would you test just the second half of the month, versus total posts in a month?
It seems that you would actually want to measure total participation in a month. I see no reason not to measure it directly, rather than indirectly.
Good idea! Thanks. It requires more counting, but I think it’s the better way. Experiment updated!
Two Open Threads will be posted in the Discussion Section of Less Wrong in the month of January 2012 and the second thread will have at least double the number of posts contained in the first thread before February 2012.