While Nathan’s suggestion is certainly framed very positively, people might object that sometimes the only way to change a system where power is highly concentrated at the top is to use anger about current news as a coordination mechanism to demand immediate change. Once attention invariably fades away, it becomes more difficult to enact bottom up changes.
Or to put it differently: often slowing down discussions really is an attempt at shutting them down (“we will form a committee to look into your complaints”). That’s why I think that even though I agreed with the decision to collect all Bostrom discussion in one post, it’s important to honestly signal to people that their complaints are read and taken seriously.
Or should it just be the EA Forum mods’ job to pin comments to such posts or making centralized threads with such reminders? Or is it everyone’s job? Will responsibility become too diffuse and nothing changes?
Acknowledge that sometimes issues are fraught and that we should discuss them more slowly (while still having our normal honesty norms)
I don’t understand this suggestion. How is this not just applause lights? What would be a sensical opposing view?
While Nathan’s suggestion is certainly framed very positively, people might object that sometimes the only way to change a system where power is highly concentrated at the top is to use anger about current news as a coordination mechanism to demand immediate change. Once attention invariably fades away, it becomes more difficult to enact bottom up changes.
Or to put it differently: often slowing down discussions really is an attempt at shutting them down (“we will form a committee to look into your complaints”). That’s why I think that even though I agreed with the decision to collect all Bostrom discussion in one post, it’s important to honestly signal to people that their complaints are read and taken seriously.
It certainly felt like the Bostrom stuff needed to be discussed now. I wish I’d felt comfortable to say “let’s wait a couple of days”.
How would we ensure this happens? Censorship, e.g. keeping related posts in Personal category rather than Community? Heavier moderation?
Or should it just be the EA Forum mods’ job to pin comments to such posts or making centralized threads with such reminders? Or is it everyone’s job? Will responsibility become too diffuse and nothing changes?
I think “ensure” is too strong. I think if several people say “let’s take a day” then that would be effective.