that’s basically all that matters for the rest of my life
Two weeks to live? I’m slightly worried. But only slightly.
[To clarify: I wrote ‘slightly’ because it appears that Sam writes a lot of things that aren’t very reliable and well thought-out. So I didn’t want to put too much stock in a particular phrasing.]
In all seriousness, I hope he is on some sort of suicide watch. If anyone in his orbit is reading this, you need to keep an eye on him or have his dad or whoever keep an eye on him.
I’m not sure why your comment has been downvoted (6 karma, 9 votes) whereas the reply to you got a lot of upvotes (62 karma, 30 votes). Some hypotheses (even though others are better suited to answer!):
Perhaps it’s a subtly with the wording?
The hypothesis that it’s just a bad comment doesn’t seem like a good hypothesis because I made essentially the same comment on a Facebook thread earlier and got positive engagement. So maybe it’s something about the wording?
I know you and had the same thought as you, which is affecting my interpretation of the comment and making it hard for me to speculate what about the wording could make some people downvote it. I’d be interested in someone sharing why they’d downvote it if any of those people are reading this.
Maybe it’s something to do with a top-level comment versus a reply? E.g. People could be voting differently on top-level comments to help sort which ones appear first on this top, and the fact that your comment is noting a speculative concern that SBF may be suicidal may seem less important for other users to see than other top-level comments.
NeoMohist is a new user; their reply to you was their first comment. Maybe that has something to do with why their comment got a lot of upvotes? But I’m not sure how it would.
Thanks for your concern about my karma! ;-) The difference between my comment and the reply is indeed surprising. I wouldn’t have noticed it if you hadn’t pointed it out. Here are other, more or less plausible, explanations:
Most likely: My comment was a quick, abstract throwaway. I even avoided the word ‘suicide’ because I didn’t feel good about bringing it up explicitly. NeoMohist’s reply is more concrete, emotional and caring. I guess people resonate with that more and want to say with their upvote: ‘Yes, me worried too. Please keep an eye on him.’
It was a quick, throwaway comment bringing up suicide. It carries bad vibes and doesn’t add much. (I guess on Facebook it’s harder/harsher to ‘downvote’ and people just decide not to react in that case, leaving you with the positive reactions.)
NeoMohist has a cool username.
EA Forum behaviour is deteriorating. (I was sometimes puzzled how things developed with my article on hiring and the comments on it. Of course, I’m biased for my article and comments.)
Without the clarification (although I added it before all the karma accrued to the reply), one could misunderstand my comment as: ‘I’m only slightly worried because losing Sam wouldn’t be a big loss, given what was happened.’ (I feel bad for even spelling out this possible misinterpretation.)
People read continuously until the end of the comment chain and vote only there, instead of going back and looking what else might deserve an upvote.
Two weeks to live? I’m slightly worried. But only slightly.
[To clarify: I wrote ‘slightly’ because it appears that Sam writes a lot of things that aren’t very reliable and well thought-out. So I didn’t want to put too much stock in a particular phrasing.]
In all seriousness, I hope he is on some sort of suicide watch. If anyone in his orbit is reading this, you need to keep an eye on him or have his dad or whoever keep an eye on him.
I had the same thought from the same two lines, as did a few other EAs when I asked on a Facebook thread.
Re: Karma (because I’ve been noticing unexpected karma things recently and this is another unexpected karma thing):
I’m not sure why your comment has been downvoted (6 karma, 9 votes) whereas the reply to you got a lot of upvotes (62 karma, 30 votes). Some hypotheses (even though others are better suited to answer!):
Perhaps it’s a subtly with the wording?
The hypothesis that it’s just a bad comment doesn’t seem like a good hypothesis because I made essentially the same comment on a Facebook thread earlier and got positive engagement. So maybe it’s something about the wording?
I know you and had the same thought as you, which is affecting my interpretation of the comment and making it hard for me to speculate what about the wording could make some people downvote it. I’d be interested in someone sharing why they’d downvote it if any of those people are reading this.
Maybe it’s something to do with a top-level comment versus a reply? E.g. People could be voting differently on top-level comments to help sort which ones appear first on this top, and the fact that your comment is noting a speculative concern that SBF may be suicidal may seem less important for other users to see than other top-level comments.
NeoMohist is a new user; their reply to you was their first comment. Maybe that has something to do with why their comment got a lot of upvotes? But I’m not sure how it would.
Thanks for your concern about my karma! ;-) The difference between my comment and the reply is indeed surprising. I wouldn’t have noticed it if you hadn’t pointed it out. Here are other, more or less plausible, explanations:
Most likely: My comment was a quick, abstract throwaway. I even avoided the word ‘suicide’ because I didn’t feel good about bringing it up explicitly. NeoMohist’s reply is more concrete, emotional and caring. I guess people resonate with that more and want to say with their upvote: ‘Yes, me worried too. Please keep an eye on him.’
It was a quick, throwaway comment bringing up suicide. It carries bad vibes and doesn’t add much. (I guess on Facebook it’s harder/harsher to ‘downvote’ and people just decide not to react in that case, leaving you with the positive reactions.)
NeoMohist has a cool username.
EA Forum behaviour is deteriorating. (I was sometimes puzzled how things developed with my article on hiring and the comments on it. Of course, I’m biased for my article and comments.)
Without the clarification (although I added it before all the karma accrued to the reply), one could misunderstand my comment as: ‘I’m only slightly worried because losing Sam wouldn’t be a big loss, given what was happened.’ (I feel bad for even spelling out this possible misinterpretation.)
People read continuously until the end of the comment chain and vote only there, instead of going back and looking what else might deserve an upvote.