Obviously everyone is free to have their own stylistic preferences, but I think it’s bad for Forum norms to put much weight on “respectability” or “seriousness” per se. Unlike some other factors some people here have listed as things to value above engagement, these factors actively and directly discourage engaging writing, while also encouraging credentialism & elitism – it takes significant training/practice to write in a respectable style.
Less confidently, I think trying to be respectable often pushes one against thinking certain kinds of thoughts or making certain kinds of arguments, even when they are true. And I’m much more confident that respectability prejudices debate towards certain groups of people, many of which have much worse epistemic norms than the less-respectable people you mention.
The best example of this at present is probably a lot of COVID debates (e.g. lab leak), where you have very respectable people making flagrantly bad arguments, that are getting taken very seriously because they come from respectable sources and are written in a respectable style.
I think there are quite a few topics where the relevant Alexander post, or some other non-respectable source, is the best available on the topic – partly because it is the most readable, but often also because it is better prioritised, thought-through and epistemically careful than most respectable reviews of the same topic.
If being more engaging requires you to make bad arguments, then I’m against being engaging, but if it merely leads to “poorer respectability”, then I’m against being against it. If someone discounts what someone says because it doesn’t come across as respectable/serious/academic, rather than because its arguments are bad, then I significantly lower my opinion of that person, and I think it’s rational for me to do so. I don’t think we should be deciding our community norms with those people in mind.
(P.S. It’s possible I’m misunderstanding your definition of “respectability” here, or over-reacting to your specific choice of words. If so, I’d be happy to dig into this further.)
Obviously everyone is free to have their own stylistic preferences, but I think it’s bad for Forum norms to put much weight on “respectability” or “seriousness” per se. Unlike some other factors some people here have listed as things to value above engagement, these factors actively and directly discourage engaging writing, while also encouraging credentialism & elitism – it takes significant training/practice to write in a respectable style.
Less confidently, I think trying to be respectable often pushes one against thinking certain kinds of thoughts or making certain kinds of arguments, even when they are true. And I’m much more confident that respectability prejudices debate towards certain groups of people, many of which have much worse epistemic norms than the less-respectable people you mention.
The best example of this at present is probably a lot of COVID debates (e.g. lab leak), where you have very respectable people making flagrantly bad arguments, that are getting taken very seriously because they come from respectable sources and are written in a respectable style.
I think there are quite a few topics where the relevant Alexander post, or some other non-respectable source, is the best available on the topic – partly because it is the most readable, but often also because it is better prioritised, thought-through and epistemically careful than most respectable reviews of the same topic.
If being more engaging requires you to make bad arguments, then I’m against being engaging, but if it merely leads to “poorer respectability”, then I’m against being against it. If someone discounts what someone says because it doesn’t come across as respectable/serious/academic, rather than because its arguments are bad, then I significantly lower my opinion of that person, and I think it’s rational for me to do so. I don’t think we should be deciding our community norms with those people in mind.
(P.S. It’s possible I’m misunderstanding your definition of “respectability” here, or over-reacting to your specific choice of words. If so, I’d be happy to dig into this further.)