Just to put this another way: upvotes and downvotes aren’t for being right or wrong. They’re for making the reader less wrong. People typically upvote when they feel they’ve learned something or gained a new perspective on a topic they care about. Doing that is hard, because the average LW reader has read a lot of very good material.
If you have material you want to share without subjecting it to that high bar, the “short form” post attached to your account might be a good way to do that. People are usually much more supportive and forgiving if you’re not asking them for their time and attention by making a top-level post.
Good job asking for feedback! It can be really frustrating to put a bunch of work in to a post and then have it downvoted below zero, implying that everyone wishes you hadn’t bothered. I’ve had it happen, and it sucks. Writing well for a particular audience is really hard, but also really valuable, so good job sticking with it instead of just giving up on this community like a lot of people do when their first post is downvoted.
Just to put this another way: upvotes and downvotes aren’t for being right or wrong. They’re for making the reader less wrong. People typically upvote when they feel they’ve learned something or gained a new perspective on a topic they care about. Doing that is hard, because the average LW reader has read a lot of very good material.
If you have material you want to share without subjecting it to that high bar, the “short form” post attached to your account might be a good way to do that. People are usually much more supportive and forgiving if you’re not asking them for their time and attention by making a top-level post.
Good job asking for feedback! It can be really frustrating to put a bunch of work in to a post and then have it downvoted below zero, implying that everyone wishes you hadn’t bothered. I’ve had it happen, and it sucks. Writing well for a particular audience is really hard, but also really valuable, so good job sticking with it instead of just giving up on this community like a lot of people do when their first post is downvoted.