I broadly agree with this, though I perhaps think you slightly do court controversy a little for its own sake (as do I). When I think “does Austin ever court controversy” I don’t think “Gosh, no never”. (or even the title of this article seems at least slightly needlessly controversial—it could easily have been “Why we run manifest how we do”)
I think your involvement with Manifest does give me comfort—if It were run by the median manifest attendee, I feel much less excited about going.
Can you think of a line at which you would think Manifest had gone too far in this regard and what you might do? eg, can you imagine some events after which you’d think you invited far too many controversial speakers or where the community had become, in your opinion, racist. Where do you draw that line and what might you do if this happened?
I chose the article title somewhat for humor/tongue-in-cheek; it was also a response to a direct question on the other EA Forum post, of “What’s up with all the racists”? I also didn’t want to avoid confronting the topic or mince words, because I think there is a real and important question to address. I am still unsure if this was a good call on net.
I do think Manifest might already be a bit beyond the line (see also Rachel’s thoughts here); if we run Manifest again, I expect we’ll try much harder to deliberately bring in the kindest and most wholesome people we know.
I don’t dislike your style, i’m saying that when you say you don’t court controversy i don’t think that’s fully accurate, you are in like the 90th percentile, as am I.
I think some others have pointed out that adding water to an acid doesn’t make it neutral. Seems pretty plausible that bringing in more wholesome people won’t affect the situation here that much. My personal suggestion is not to have really edgy people as special guests unless they have great track records.
I broadly agree with this, though I perhaps think you slightly do court controversy a little for its own sake (as do I). When I think “does Austin ever court controversy” I don’t think “Gosh, no never”. (or even the title of this article seems at least slightly needlessly controversial—it could easily have been “Why we run manifest how we do”)
I think your involvement with Manifest does give me comfort—if It were run by the median manifest attendee, I feel much less excited about going.
Can you think of a line at which you would think Manifest had gone too far in this regard and what you might do? eg, can you imagine some events after which you’d think you invited far too many controversial speakers or where the community had become, in your opinion, racist. Where do you draw that line and what might you do if this happened?
I chose the article title somewhat for humor/tongue-in-cheek; it was also a response to a direct question on the other EA Forum post, of “What’s up with all the racists”? I also didn’t want to avoid confronting the topic or mince words, because I think there is a real and important question to address. I am still unsure if this was a good call on net.
I do think Manifest might already be a bit beyond the line (see also Rachel’s thoughts here); if we run Manifest again, I expect we’ll try much harder to deliberately bring in the kindest and most wholesome people we know.
I don’t dislike your style, i’m saying that when you say you don’t court controversy i don’t think that’s fully accurate, you are in like the 90th percentile, as am I.
I think some others have pointed out that adding water to an acid doesn’t make it neutral. Seems pretty plausible that bringing in more wholesome people won’t affect the situation here that much. My personal suggestion is not to have really edgy people as special guests unless they have great track records.