I donât love the idea (suggested by one comment here) of having separate anonymous feedback, for these reasons:
Public feedback allows people to upvote comments if they agree (very efficient for checking on how popular a view is)
Public feedback makes it easier for the author to respond
Most importantly, public feedback generally strengthens our norm of âitâs okay to criticize and to be criticized, because no one is perfect and weâre all working together to improve our ideasâ.
Of course, these factors have to be balanced against the likelihood that anonymous feedback mechanisms will allow for more and more honest feedback, which is a considerable upside. But Iâd hope that the EA community, of all groups, can find a way to thrive under a norm of transparent feedback.
Beyond the âsilent downvote â anon feedbackâ substitution (good, even if âpublic commentâ is even better) substitution, there could also be a âpublic comment --> anon feedbackâ one (less good).
That said, Iâm in favour of an anon feedback option: I see karma mostly serving as a barometer of community sentiment (so Iâm chary of disincentivizing downvotes as this probably impairs resolution). It isnât a good way of providing feedback to the author (a vote is only a bit or two of information). Text is betterâalthough for me, the main reasons I donât âexplain my downvotesâ are mostly time, but occasionally social considerations. An anon option at least removes the latter disincentive.
What about feedback thatâs anonymous but public? This has some other downsides (e.g. misuse potential) but seems to avoid the first two problems youâve pointed out.
I agree that this doesnât run into the first two problems, though it could make giving anonymous feedback even more tempting. More practically, it seems like it would be pretty annoying to code, and provide less value than similarly tech-intensive features that are being worked on now. If I hear a lot of other calls for an âanonymous feedbackâ option, I may consider it more seriously, but in the meantime, Iâll keep pushing for open, honest criticism.
I havenât read every comment on every post, but so far, Iâve seen barely any posts or comments on the new version of the Forum where someone was criticized and reacted very negatively. Mostly, reactions were like this post (asking for more details) or showed someone updating their views/âadding detail and nuance to their arguments.
I donât love the idea (suggested by one comment here) of having separate anonymous feedback, for these reasons:
Public feedback allows people to upvote comments if they agree (very efficient for checking on how popular a view is)
Public feedback makes it easier for the author to respond
Most importantly, public feedback generally strengthens our norm of âitâs okay to criticize and to be criticized, because no one is perfect and weâre all working together to improve our ideasâ.
Of course, these factors have to be balanced against the likelihood that anonymous feedback mechanisms will allow for more and more honest feedback, which is a considerable upside. But Iâd hope that the EA community, of all groups, can find a way to thrive under a norm of transparent feedback.
Beyond the âsilent downvote â anon feedbackâ substitution (good, even if âpublic commentâ is even better) substitution, there could also be a âpublic comment --> anon feedbackâ one (less good).
That said, Iâm in favour of an anon feedback option: I see karma mostly serving as a barometer of community sentiment (so Iâm chary of disincentivizing downvotes as this probably impairs resolution). It isnât a good way of providing feedback to the author (a vote is only a bit or two of information). Text is betterâalthough for me, the main reasons I donât âexplain my downvotesâ are mostly time, but occasionally social considerations. An anon option at least removes the latter disincentive.
What about feedback thatâs anonymous but public? This has some other downsides (e.g. misuse potential) but seems to avoid the first two problems youâve pointed out.
I agree that this doesnât run into the first two problems, though it could make giving anonymous feedback even more tempting. More practically, it seems like it would be pretty annoying to code, and provide less value than similarly tech-intensive features that are being worked on now. If I hear a lot of other calls for an âanonymous feedbackâ option, I may consider it more seriously, but in the meantime, Iâll keep pushing for open, honest criticism.
I havenât read every comment on every post, but so far, Iâve seen barely any posts or comments on the new version of the Forum where someone was criticized and reacted very negatively. Mostly, reactions were like this post (asking for more details) or showed someone updating their views/âadding detail and nuance to their arguments.