You’re asking for flaws in the idea, but more often posts are downvoted for being confusing, boring, or just not particularly helpful for people who use this site.
If you go to “all posts” and sort by top weekly, you can see the kind of posts that get the most upvotes and the kind that get the most downvotes. It’s something you build up a sense for over time.
Also, I hope you won’t worry about it too much. People were downvoting the post, not you as a person. You can always analyze more top posts and try again.
Some feedback on this post:
People here already know about the “is vs ought” problem, so this is nothing new.
This post is about two different things, and the connection isn’t obvious enough. It’s easier to read when the post makes one clear point.
I found the submerged premise section confusing. I lost track of who was saying what and how it fit into the broader point.
“You’re asking for flaws in the idea, but more often posts are downvoted for being confusing, boring, or just not particularly helpful for people who use this site.”
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.
Thank you for your advice. I will definitely consider the short-form in future for most of such dealings... However, I still believe that there is something to this “ontological mess” thing, but the form is lacking as you point it out.
I like this community a lot because of people like you. Have a nice weekend!
You’re asking for flaws in the idea, but more often posts are downvoted for being confusing, boring, or just not particularly helpful for people who use this site.
If you go to “all posts” and sort by top weekly, you can see the kind of posts that get the most upvotes and the kind that get the most downvotes. It’s something you build up a sense for over time.
Also, I hope you won’t worry about it too much. People were downvoting the post, not you as a person. You can always analyze more top posts and try again.
Some feedback on this post:
People here already know about the “is vs ought” problem, so this is nothing new.
This post is about two different things, and the connection isn’t obvious enough. It’s easier to read when the post makes one clear point.
I found the submerged premise section confusing. I lost track of who was saying what and how it fit into the broader point.
Here’s Scott Alexander’s advice on making blog posts easy to read.
“You’re asking for flaws in the idea, but more often posts are downvoted for being confusing, boring, or just not particularly helpful for people who use this site.”
Well said.
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.
Thank you for your advice. I will definitely consider the short-form in future for most of such dealings...
However, I still believe that there is something to this “ontological mess” thing, but the form is lacking as you point it out.
I like this community a lot because of people like you. Have a nice weekend!