The importance of Eliezer and Yvain has not escaped us. My suspicion is that in fact one of the important differences between LW and Facebook is forum software; one of the reasons why Eliezer prefers Facebook is because he can moderate more easily with less pushback.
After this is done, everyone else should wander back in, more or less.
This seems unclear to me. A major factor in drawing people here before was new Eliezer content; even if Eliezer posts here instead of to Facebook, most new Eliezer content is not at the same level of general interest as R:AZ or HPMOR, and the frequency of general interest content is lower. The community is actually doing different work these days than it was five years ago.
Internet communities have lifecycles; you need fresh new blood to replace old blood for lots of reasons. (One of the things that’s interesting about LW’s history is that many of the people who were promising new blood got hired to do work which, presumably, cut into their posting; overall this seems good because the community has real-world goals, but is also the sort of thing that didn’t get worked around in time.)
I agree with you that it makes sense to shift focus, and that there are steps we can take to moderate more effectively (many of which route through forum software!). I also agree that it’s better to lock LW down than have it continue in a bad state, but think we should give revitalization a serious try first.
one of the important differences between LW and Facebook is forum software
Software is merely a tool, the issue is control, in particular over your audience, and EY clearly prefers the degree of control he gets in a walled garden over the rough-and-tumble manners of the open ’net.
People who want to get things done in real life usually do.
Unmoderated debates are typically dominated by people who spend a lot of time online, which are usually not the most productive ones. (Yes, that would also include me.)
The importance of Eliezer and Yvain has not escaped us. My suspicion is that in fact one of the important differences between LW and Facebook is forum software; one of the reasons why Eliezer prefers Facebook is because he can moderate more easily with less pushback.
This seems unclear to me. A major factor in drawing people here before was new Eliezer content; even if Eliezer posts here instead of to Facebook, most new Eliezer content is not at the same level of general interest as R:AZ or HPMOR, and the frequency of general interest content is lower. The community is actually doing different work these days than it was five years ago.
Internet communities have lifecycles; you need fresh new blood to replace old blood for lots of reasons. (One of the things that’s interesting about LW’s history is that many of the people who were promising new blood got hired to do work which, presumably, cut into their posting; overall this seems good because the community has real-world goals, but is also the sort of thing that didn’t get worked around in time.)
I agree with you that it makes sense to shift focus, and that there are steps we can take to moderate more effectively (many of which route through forum software!). I also agree that it’s better to lock LW down than have it continue in a bad state, but think we should give revitalization a serious try first.
Software is merely a tool, the issue is control, in particular over your audience, and EY clearly prefers the degree of control he gets in a walled garden over the rough-and-tumble manners of the open ’net.
You can’t have control without the necessary tools. Eliezer’s preference for gardens over the usual screaming insanity was never a secret.
The first question is whether you want control. Not all people prefer manicured gardens.
People who want to get things done in real life usually do.
Unmoderated debates are typically dominated by people who spend a lot of time online, which are usually not the most productive ones. (Yes, that would also include me.)
Sometimes. It depends.
By volume, yes. But volume is not domination.
Besides, ALL online debates are dominated by people who don’t make good use of their time :-P