Honestly I don’t have much commentary to add to this since I agree with Razib’s argument. The comment section is usually worth reading too since he moderates it vigorously. Despite this still being the case with this particular post I found myself rolling my eyes at some of them which is also why I giggled at Gregory Cochran’s comment:
Those kids are dumb, but they’re probably not as crazy as most of the posters here.
(I’m only ~80% sure I was in the right, so I kind of regret bringing it up here: doing so reminds me too much of various malcontents online who get what they deserve but then go around eternally whining about it, making them look even more like prats than the original errors did.)
I am very saddened. (Okay, that’s a lie: I’m boiling with anger and I want to publicly beat you both up, evict you from the tribe and rule as alpha.) I expected much more civility from you both.
AFAICT the reason it started escalating is that neither of you made an effort to smooth over small status aggressions. (“Citations are otiose.”) That probably comes from hacker culture that prides itself of being concise and to the point with little regard for social implications, until someone gets told to choke on a bucket of cocks.
He got very angry and very rude over small aggressions, though, and his personal stress is not an excuse. But you were in the wrong as well to keep talking when he told you to shut up, that was provocation.
Yeah, it’s a pity, I have great respect for both Gwern and Razib, and quite appreciate Razib’s heavy-handed approach to moderation, I’m fine with him calling people fucking retards when they deserve it.
That probably comes from hacker culture that prides itself of being concise and to the point with little regard for social implications
Yeah, I’m occasionally guilty of that too. I’m quite impatient with excessive verbiage, even though I should update on the fact that it is actually appreciated in many situations, and not just in high school essays where you are judged by word count.
Quietly removing stupid comments seems to be strictly superior than using slurs. Faster, prunes useless discussions, dissuades trolls, countersignals confidence in your intelligence.
It’s possible to be both polite and concise, but it requires more thought.
Honestly I don’t have much commentary to add to this since I agree with Razib’s argument. The comment section is usually worth reading too since he moderates it vigorously. Despite this still being the case with this particular post I found myself rolling my eyes at some of them which is also why I giggled at Gregory Cochran’s comment:
Don’t ever change! (^_^)
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Well, better downvotes than the alternatives. Razib perma-banned me a few days ago.
Update: Razib emailed me saying I am unbanned. When I asked why, he said it was due to this LW thread.
Excellent, +1 to social pressure!
Why? I really like reading both of you and would like to know what caused the conflict.
See my Google+ summary.
(I’m only ~80% sure I was in the right, so I kind of regret bringing it up here: doing so reminds me too much of various malcontents online who get what they deserve but then go around eternally whining about it, making them look even more like prats than the original errors did.)
You didn’t deserve to be banned.
I am very saddened. (Okay, that’s a lie: I’m boiling with anger and I want to publicly beat you both up, evict you from the tribe and rule as alpha.) I expected much more civility from you both.
AFAICT the reason it started escalating is that neither of you made an effort to smooth over small status aggressions. (“Citations are otiose.”) That probably comes from hacker culture that prides itself of being concise and to the point with little regard for social implications, until someone gets told to choke on a bucket of cocks.
He got very angry and very rude over small aggressions, though, and his personal stress is not an excuse. But you were in the wrong as well to keep talking when he told you to shut up, that was provocation.
Yeah, it’s a pity, I have great respect for both Gwern and Razib, and quite appreciate Razib’s heavy-handed approach to moderation, I’m fine with him calling people fucking retards when they deserve it.
Yeah, I’m occasionally guilty of that too. I’m quite impatient with excessive verbiage, even though I should update on the fact that it is actually appreciated in many situations, and not just in high school essays where you are judged by word count.
Quietly removing stupid comments seems to be strictly superior than using slurs. Faster, prunes useless discussions, dissuades trolls, countersignals confidence in your intelligence.
It’s possible to be both polite and concise, but it requires more thought.
False positives happen. I think you will agree that Razib’s attitude on average keeps the comment section pretty readable.
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It is nearly always pointless to debate things with big egos who are in their own domain of power. Your comment nails it: