This is a special post for quick takes by Raemon. Only they can create top-level comments. Comments here also appear on the Quick Takes page and All Posts page.
This is an experiment in short-form content on LW2.0. I'll be using the comment section of this post as a repository of short, sometimes-half-baked posts that either:
don't feel ready to be written up as a full post
I think the process of writing them up might make them worse (i.e. longer than they need to be)
I ask people not to create top-level comments here, but feel free to reply to comments like you would a FB post.
But... unless people are actually in agreement about a meta-frame that would actually resolve it, mostly it seems like a massive, net negative time sink.
Why does it need to be a time sink for you? You could pair off people who disagree with one another and say: "If you two are able to think up an experiment such that you both agree that experiment would allow us to discover who is right about the kind of culture that's good for LessWrong, we will consider performing that experiment." You could even make them settle on a procedure for judging the results of the experiment. Or threaten to ignore their views entirely if they can't come to any kind of agreement.
Archipelago hasn't worked, but, well "Real Archipelago hasn't even been attempted". But I'm not sure it actually helps. There's a few key unresolved questions like 'what are the default norms for users that haven't set moderation guidelines' which more or less necessitate solving the first option. There's also the issue wherein at least some ongoing debates have people who prefer different norms.
I think you're overthinking this. Why not randomize the default norms for each new user and observe which norms users tend to converge on over time?
The latter can maybe be addressed by setting a stronger meta-norm of "if you think the discussion on Post X is important but has counterproductive norms, you can create you own post about it", possibly encouraging people more to create short posts that just say "this is my discussion for topic X, with norm Y". Something about that still feels unsatisfying.
Yes, the solution you describe is unsatisfying, but I wonder if the empirical data you gather from it will get you to a perfect solution more effectively than armchair philosophizing.
This is an experiment in short-form content on LW2.0. I'll be using the comment section of this post as a repository of short, sometimes-half-baked posts that either:
I ask people not to create top-level comments here, but feel free to reply to comments like you would a FB post.