This is a special post for quick takes by Niki Dupuis. Only they can create top-level comments. Comments here also appear on the Quick Takes page and All Posts page.
I've noticed that a lot of LW comments these days will start by thanking the author, or expressing enthusiasm or support before getting into the substance. I have the feeling that this didn't use to be the case as much. Is that just me?
First I'd like to thank you for raising this important issue for discussion...
For real though, I don't think I've seen this effect you're talking about, but I've been avoiding the latest feed on LW lately. I looked at roughly 8 articles written in the past week or so and one article had a lot of enthusiastic, thankful comments. Another article had one such comment. Then I looked at like 5-6 posts from 3-8 years ago and saw some a couple of comments which were appreciative of the post but they felt a bit less so. IDK if my perception is biased because of your comment though. This seems like a shift but IDK if it is a huge shift.
Not sure if I do that, but if I did, it probably would be if the author has the green symbol after their name and my response is going to be some kind of disagreement or criticism, and I want to reduce the "Less Wrong can feel very threatening for newcomers" effect.
Long ago, we didn't have those green symbols.