My name is Bryan Faucher. I'm a 27 year old from Edmonton (Canada) in the middle of the slow process of immigrating to Limerick (Ireland) where my wife has taken a contract with the University. I've been working in education for the past five years but I'm looking to pursue a masters in mathematical modeling next year, rather than attempting to fight for the right to work in a crowded industry as a non-citizen.
I've been aware of LW for something like six years, having been introduced by an old roommate's SO by way of HPMOR. In that time I've read through the sequences and a great deal of what I suppose could be called the "supplementary content" available on the site, but never found a reason to dive in to the discussion. I don't remember exactly when I created this account, but it was nice to have it waiting for me when I needed it!
I'm joining in now because I was very much grabbed by Sarah Constantin's "A Return to Discussion". I've been a member of a mid-sized discussion forum for over a decade, where I now volunteer my time as an administrator. We've done OK - better than most - in terms of maintaining activity in the face of the web's movement away from forums and bulletin boards, but the tone of our conversations has certainly changed: in may ways sliding through the grooves which Sarah seems to be describing. My purview as admin includes the "serious" discussion section of the form, and I feel I'm fighting a losing battle year over year to maintain "nerd space" in the face of cynical irony and the widespread fear of engagement.
I'm hoping to be inspired by the changes the LW community has set to out to make. To learn from what goes right here, and, in some small way, to contribute to the effort which I think is an important one. Intellectually, I don't have a hope in hell of keeping up with the local heavy hitters, but I can bring a lot of, ya know... grit.
Anyway, thanks for reading. I hope this was a fair place to post this. A new newbie thread seems to be wanting, unless I missed something, and I suppose if nothing else I can wrack up enough karma in the next few days to create one. See you around!
Hello Less Wrong!
My name is Bryan Faucher. I'm a 27 year old from Edmonton (Canada) in the middle of the slow process of immigrating to Limerick (Ireland) where my wife has taken a contract with the University. I've been working in education for the past five years but I'm looking to pursue a masters in mathematical modeling next year, rather than attempting to fight for the right to work in a crowded industry as a non-citizen.
I've been aware of LW for something like six years, having been introduced by an old roommate's SO by way of HPMOR. In that time I've read through the sequences and a great deal of what I suppose could be called the "supplementary content" available on the site, but never found a reason to dive in to the discussion. I don't remember exactly when I created this account, but it was nice to have it waiting for me when I needed it!
I'm joining in now because I was very much grabbed by Sarah Constantin's "A Return to Discussion". I've been a member of a mid-sized discussion forum for over a decade, where I now volunteer my time as an administrator. We've done OK - better than most - in terms of maintaining activity in the face of the web's movement away from forums and bulletin boards, but the tone of our conversations has certainly changed: in may ways sliding through the grooves which Sarah seems to be describing. My purview as admin includes the "serious" discussion section of the form, and I feel I'm fighting a losing battle year over year to maintain "nerd space" in the face of cynical irony and the widespread fear of engagement.
I'm hoping to be inspired by the changes the LW community has set to out to make. To learn from what goes right here, and, in some small way, to contribute to the effort which I think is an important one. Intellectually, I don't have a hope in hell of keeping up with the local heavy hitters, but I can bring a lot of, ya know... grit.
Anyway, thanks for reading. I hope this was a fair place to post this. A new newbie thread seems to be wanting, unless I missed something, and I suppose if nothing else I can wrack up enough karma in the next few days to create one. See you around!