Dealing with meta-discussion and the signal to noise ratio

bs5Y7uLLjSiynwxWE

title

authors

metatroll

date_published

2012-09-01T00:50

score

−28

omega_karma

votes

Comment

id

DDkdpDuY8EKPbXMAh
authors

atorm
score

−5
omega_karma
votes

10
date_published

2012-09-02T03:08

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/bs5Y7uLLjSiynwxWE/dealing-with-meta-discussion-and-the-signal-to-noise-ratio?commentId=DDkdpDuY8EKPbXMAh

Will Newsome, stop being so funny and charming while I’m trying to disagree with you.

Comment

id

c9ahMp4JFoncjSZnp
authors

Will_Newsome
score

3
omega_karma
votes

18
date_published

2012-09-02T03:10

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/bs5Y7uLLjSiynwxWE/dealing-with-meta-discussion-and-the-signal-to-noise-ratio?commentId=c9ahMp4JFoncjSZnp

Sorry but I have a girlfriend.

Comment

id

CWabhpwwR3KpBMSxD
authors

atorm
score

−2
omega_karma
votes

4
date_published

2012-09-02T03:22

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/bs5Y7uLLjSiynwxWE/dealing-with-meta-discussion-and-the-signal-to-noise-ratio?commentId=CWabhpwwR3KpBMSxD

Out of curiosity, was it you downvoting me, or someone annoyed at me encouraging all the noise you make in our signal? Or someone who just doesn’t find you funny?

Comment

id

AmNLHjm9wqgMGJvxM
authors

Will_Newsome
score

−3
omega_karma
votes

21
date_published

2012-09-02T03:26

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/bs5Y7uLLjSiynwxWE/dealing-with-meta-discussion-and-the-signal-to-noise-ratio?commentId=AmNLHjm9wqgMGJvxM

I never downvote.

Love your enemies, upvote them that downvote you, reply in good faith to them that reply with stupid retorts to you, and ironically pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

That ye may be the children of your trollish Father which is meta: for he maketh his sun to rise on the gay and on the meta and sendeth trolling on the just and on the unjust.

Comment

id

hLzD9pbt9WLLAtN6B
authors

atorm
score

2
omega_karma
votes

10
date_published

2012-09-02T03:32

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/bs5Y7uLLjSiynwxWE/dealing-with-meta-discussion-and-the-signal-to-noise-ratio?commentId=hLzD9pbt9WLLAtN6B

What is this I don’t even.

id

6DNmjwNrSYS8LB9QT
authors

Will_Newsome
score

−8
omega_karma
votes

16
date_published

2012-09-02T03:12

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/bs5Y7uLLjSiynwxWE/dealing-with-meta-discussion-and-the-signal-to-noise-ratio?commentId=6DNmjwNrSYS8LB9QT

My girlfriend was partially responsible for that comment.

Comment

id

PCjvQeJJQnzj763xh
authors

atorm
score

0
omega_karma
votes

6
date_published

2012-09-02T03:16

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/bs5Y7uLLjSiynwxWE/dealing-with-meta-discussion-and-the-signal-to-noise-ratio?commentId=PCjvQeJJQnzj763xh

She’s not into all the polyamory going on around here?

Comment

id

Z4uW8cTJ3icKWTS2t
authors

Will_Newsome
score

3
omega_karma
votes

17
date_published

2012-09-02T03:23

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/bs5Y7uLLjSiynwxWE/dealing-with-meta-discussion-and-the-signal-to-noise-ratio?commentId=Z4uW8cTJ3icKWTS2t

Honestly, she thinks polyamory among nerds who don’t know the subtleties of more complex relationships and the possibilities thereof is somewhat contemptible; honestly, I agree with her. This is a nontrivial part of what disgusts me about LessWrong and its terrible excuse for a culture.

I like to make things explicit sometimes.

Comment

id

Bby2z465zYRyjY75r
authors

common_law
score

4
omega_karma
votes

12
date_published

2012-09-02T03:47

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/bs5Y7uLLjSiynwxWE/dealing-with-meta-discussion-and-the-signal-to-noise-ratio?commentId=Bby2z465zYRyjY75r

I like to make things explicit sometimes.

Although rarely.

For example, I wish you’d be more explicit about your disillusionment with LW culture. A few months ago, you were a loyal oppositionist, advising LW on how it can get bigger, while cheering Yudkowsky when he autocratically manipulated the placement of discussion items.

Remember? You advocated for contrarianism; I (or an alter) advocated for dissent. And now, you’ve become the dissent I advocated if not in content at least in form.

Comment

id

3sce2QseFnybSEe8t
authors

Will_Newsome
score

−5
omega_karma
votes

6
date_published

2012-09-02T20:37

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/bs5Y7uLLjSiynwxWE/dealing-with-meta-discussion-and-the-signal-to-noise-ratio?commentId=3sce2QseFnybSEe8t

It might be better to contribute to the fall οf that which is already wavering and belongs to yesterday’s world than to try to prop it up and prolong its existence artificially.

[...]

Hegel rightly wrote that the epochs οf material well-being are blank pages in the history book, and Toynbee has shown that the challenge to mankind οf environmentally and spiritually harsh and problematic conditions is often the incentive that awakens the creative energies οf civilization. In some cases, it is not paradoxical to say that the man οf good will should try to make life difficult for his neighbor! It is a commonplace that all the higher virtues attenuate and atrophy under easy conditions, when man is not forced to prove himself in some way; and in the final analysis it does not matter in such situations if a good number fall away and are lost through natural selection.

— Julius Evola, Ride the Tiger

Comment

id

Qa8YTMAivvNvv5afq
authors

common_law
score

−4
omega_karma
votes

5
date_published

2012-09-04T23:03

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/bs5Y7uLLjSiynwxWE/dealing-with-meta-discussion-and-the-signal-to-noise-ratio?commentId=Qa8YTMAivvNvv5afq

If I can try to get you to be more specific—was it perhaps something you recently learned about LW "culture"? Such as was contained in a recently published expose?

I was turned off too.

Comment

id

QRKuMLtsos5uSEdNY
authors

Will_Newsome
score

−4
omega_karma
votes

7
date_published

2012-09-05T00:20

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/bs5Y7uLLjSiynwxWE/dealing-with-meta-discussion-and-the-signal-to-noise-ratio?commentId=QRKuMLtsos5uSEdNY

I was a Visiting Fellow at SingInst for about two years—I know way more about it than can be found in that article. The reason for the change in my strategies is simply that I learned that I can have most of my comments downvoted while still reaching a good fraction of the more interesting people on LessWrong. It’s been a long time since I’ve cared about LessWrong as a community, I’m only here to interact with the interesting folk. LessWrong is still a hub for them. Even Nick Szabo’s been stopping by recently.

id

uefMW6tiJZPnC3nK8
authors

atorm
score

0
omega_karma
votes

7
date_published

2012-09-02T03:54

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/bs5Y7uLLjSiynwxWE/dealing-with-meta-discussion-and-the-signal-to-noise-ratio?commentId=uefMW6tiJZPnC3nK8

Is there someone just going along downvoting you and every reply to you, or is everything I’m saying horrible?

Comment

id

DMYkDXEnoXJhkf6cA
authors

Randaly
score

3
omega_karma
votes

4
date_published

2012-09-02T04:30

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/bs5Y7uLLjSiynwxWE/dealing-with-meta-discussion-and-the-signal-to-noise-ratio?commentId=DMYkDXEnoXJhkf6cA

I strongly suspect that it is the former; there is increasingly a community norm against replying to trolls.

Comment

id

X3c7nAJ64Sfs6vkHQ
authors

atorm
score

0
omega_karma
votes

3
date_published

2012-09-05T02:15

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/bs5Y7uLLjSiynwxWE/dealing-with-meta-discussion-and-the-signal-to-noise-ratio?commentId=X3c7nAJ64Sfs6vkHQ

I appreciate the info. When did Will_Newsome go from being the cheeky contrarian to a full-on troll in this community? I’m not saying he is or isn’t, but his karma indicates that at least at some point he was saying things people found useful.

Comment

id

dqTM9uBKD6FzQZKGA
authors

saturn
score

3
omega_karma
votes

2
date_published

2012-09-05T08:27

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/bs5Y7uLLjSiynwxWE/dealing-with-meta-discussion-and-the-signal-to-noise-ratio?commentId=dqTM9uBKD6FzQZKGA

Around June-July 2011.

(This comment was made possible by Wei Dai)

id

vCkngxtTiR8nvYZu4
authors

atorm
score

−2
omega_karma
votes

6
date_published

2012-09-02T03:34

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/bs5Y7uLLjSiynwxWE/dealing-with-meta-discussion-and-the-signal-to-noise-ratio?commentId=vCkngxtTiR8nvYZu4

I think that the polyamorists might be setting themselves up for some unfortunate social or psychological effects in the long run, but I don’t think there’s anything contemptible about trying to make love work in whatever way makes the most sense to you.

id

eEEs3MW6pxxH3Rboz
authors

[deleted]
score

−7
omega_karma
votes

7
date_published

2012-09-02T21:28

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/bs5Y7uLLjSiynwxWE/dealing-with-meta-discussion-and-the-signal-to-noise-ratio?commentId=eEEs3MW6pxxH3Rboz

Having a gf totally seems like a good way to go to Hell. Going to Hell is a bad idea dude.

Comment

id

Xs9xBJ86X5pvdHgC4
authors

Will_Newsome
score

−4
omega_karma
votes

10
date_published

2012-09-02T21:43

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/bs5Y7uLLjSiynwxWE/dealing-with-meta-discussion-and-the-signal-to-noise-ratio?commentId=Xs9xBJ86X5pvdHgC4

I agree on both counts, but the alternative also seemed like a good way to go to Hell, so. It’s a tricky situation.

Comment

id

LWXXrc8Bt6Pg8zEhR
authors

[deleted]
score

5
omega_karma
votes

6
date_published

2012-09-03T06:08

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/bs5Y7uLLjSiynwxWE/dealing-with-meta-discussion-and-the-signal-to-noise-ratio?commentId=LWXXrc8Bt6Pg8zEhR

"But I say to the unmarried and to widows that it is good for them if they remain even as I. But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn."