If someone thinks that the better comments have higher votes, then certainly for him the points system would be helpful, especially for long threads. I don’t find that’s usually the case, which is one reason why I’m not fond of it. I find that people “like” (whether that means clicking a button on your computer, or agreeing to someone in person) things that validate their pre-existing feelings, rather than open them up to new ideas they hadn’t considered before (most respond with fear to the latter). I heard on the radio a few months ago that studies show that problem solving meetings are more productive when the people there have opposing perspectives, come from different fields, etc. IOW, the perspective you don’t want to hear is probably the one you need to.
Having said that, even if the points system doesn’t correlate with the most helpful comments it could still be net positive for other reasons: encouraging more participation than it discourages, providing support/validation for those interested in EA, being normal (since most sites have voting now, people might think it was weird if CEA didn’t).
Another thing, that just occurred to me yesterday, is that the posts on the forum seem mostly geared to people who are already involved in EA, when it could be more productive to write posts that are geared to new people learning about EA (both in terms of content and writing style). TLYCS/GWWC blogs are more like that, although they are only for poverty.
yeah, I agree that we’ve talked about effective altruism using the assumption that people already know roughly what that is and why we would care about it. It’s a good idea to post more material that is of interest to a wider audience. Although having started off with stuff that affirms the purpose of the forum and our shared identity is not a bad thing, it’s just that it’d be good to balance it out now with some materials that a wider range of people can enjoy.
If someone thinks that the better comments have higher votes, then certainly for him the points system would be helpful, especially for long threads. I don’t find that’s usually the case, which is one reason why I’m not fond of it. I find that people “like” (whether that means clicking a button on your computer, or agreeing to someone in person) things that validate their pre-existing feelings, rather than open them up to new ideas they hadn’t considered before (most respond with fear to the latter). I heard on the radio a few months ago that studies show that problem solving meetings are more productive when the people there have opposing perspectives, come from different fields, etc. IOW, the perspective you don’t want to hear is probably the one you need to.
Having said that, even if the points system doesn’t correlate with the most helpful comments it could still be net positive for other reasons: encouraging more participation than it discourages, providing support/validation for those interested in EA, being normal (since most sites have voting now, people might think it was weird if CEA didn’t).
Another thing, that just occurred to me yesterday, is that the posts on the forum seem mostly geared to people who are already involved in EA, when it could be more productive to write posts that are geared to new people learning about EA (both in terms of content and writing style). TLYCS/GWWC blogs are more like that, although they are only for poverty.
yeah, I agree that we’ve talked about effective altruism using the assumption that people already know roughly what that is and why we would care about it. It’s a good idea to post more material that is of interest to a wider audience. Although having started off with stuff that affirms the purpose of the forum and our shared identity is not a bad thing, it’s just that it’d be good to balance it out now with some materials that a wider range of people can enjoy.