Hi. I'm a frequent poster on the subreddit and DSL, and wrote a theological critique of Unsong that was well-received on the subreddit.  There is one LessWrong poster whose comment history I check when I'm otherwise overwhelmed in real life: Said Achmiz.

Imagine my shock this morning to see “Three Missing Cakes, or One Turbulent Critic?” by Benquo on LessWrong, advocating against the moderators suggesting that banning Said Achmiz would attract a better audience.  

Obviously, Said Achmiz is not going to be discouraged by being banned or expelled or getting a B or whatever. Not at all. He will  just continue whatever he was doing somewhere else.

That said, it does hurt to be banned. I have been banned, expelled, and once got a B in Biology , and remembering  these experiences still upsets me today.   I don't wish to criticize  Less Wrong either. 

But as a consequentialist, I feel it is morally obligatory for me to stand up for him. Particularly since his blog post on why he isn't  a utilitarian convinced me to become a consequentialist. (And to give up use of AI) He is a truth seeker, and I want there to be more truth seeking in the world, not less.

Said really seems like the poster -LessWrong poster would be like, on a billboard. He knows the history and politics of the community, has concrete value and skills to offer (like designing  website), is epistemically perfectly consistent, demands clarifications, and never brings in unnecessary anecdotes about a child who is vegetarian so that our pet chickens won't be scared of them eating their family, except for eating meatballs.

 Less Wrong is full of impressive thinkers saying important things correctly; they do not need my chatty,  jargon-free, stay at home mother style. They do need someone who checks for accuracy.  As Said frequently recommends, I have read most of the Sequences,  but he is an expert in  them and read them as they were coming out. Not only that, everything he writes is in full paragraphs and  makes sense to me after I look up the hard words. Personally,  I speak several languages, but I can never seem to grasp much grammar beyond nouns, verbs and adjectives and general intuitions in any language, including English.  I appreciate that his grammar in English is impeccable despite him speaking at least two languages.  

For better or worse, Said is intellectually consistent and demands clear epistemic standards. There's no rule against being generally off-putting on Less Wrong; in fact, being too friendly and small-talkative is discouraged. Truth requires an ability to chip away at falsehood.  

Said Achmiz is not my friend.  He hasn't directly responded to any of my DSL posts in months. Prior to that, many of his responses to me consisted of accusations that I was using AI to write my posts. I expect he will be annoyed at me for posting this. I look forward to reading and learning from more of his comments on LessWrong.  

Please do not ban him.