Be careful when making assumptions about people’s motivations. Try to argue about ideas rather than people.
Easy to engage/argue with. If you disagree, try to state your reasoning and what would change your mind. Make concrete predictions.
Understand the context of the parent post. Many posts are assuming some background knowledge, and most post authors don’t want to rehash a lot of 101 debates every time they’re building off an existing argument. If your comment seems to be ignoring background context (or simply ignoring/misunderstanding the text of the original post), moderators may ask you to post it elsewhere.
You can read more advice about how to make a good first comment in the new user’s guide.
Moderators will evaluate your comment before it appears publicly, for criteria including:
Understand rationality fundamentals. Try to reason probabilistically, get curious about where you might be wrong, avoid arguing over definitions, etc. Moderators may reject content that seems to be making reasoning mistakes covered in The Sequences.
Be careful when making assumptions about people’s motivations. Try to argue about ideas rather than people.
Easy to engage/argue with. If you disagree, try to state your reasoning and what would change your mind. Make concrete predictions.
Understand the context of the parent post. Many posts are assuming some background knowledge, and most post authors don’t want to rehash a lot of 101 debates every time they’re building off an existing argument. If your comment seems to be ignoring background context (or simply ignoring/misunderstanding the text of the original post), moderators may ask you to post it elsewhere.
You can read more advice about how to make a good first comment in the new user’s guide.
I reckon this one isn’t an issue often enough to be in this list.