How To Copy Less Wrong Design

post by diegocaleiro · 2011-07-21T23:21:58.857Z · LW · GW · Legacy · 9 comments

Suppose you speak a different native tongue and you want to create a Less Wrong similar blog in your language, to produce rationalists who eventually will join Less Wrong (say when the costs of reading in english fall beneath their utility functions expected gain from switching blogs)

Can you pluck that out without being a programmer?

I want to do this but don't know how to go about doing it. Is it as easy as creating a blog in a random blog website? Are the owners OK with that? Can you send me info on how to do it, how much space is required etc...?

The features I'm most interested in are the "create your account" "comment" and "get upvoted". Those seem to be responsible for part of the unusual fidelity of readers.

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comment by JGWeissman · 2011-07-22T04:19:20.157Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

For your purpose of making a Less Wrong like rationality blog in another language, I think a subreddit of Less Wrong would be appropriate. (Can text of structural elements be localized independently on subreddits?)

Replies from: rocurley
comment by rocurley · 2011-07-22T13:13:47.505Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

I think you can do almost anything on a subreddit on normal reddit with some CSS.

comment by dbaupp · 2011-07-22T01:52:26.661Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

The code for Less Wrong is open source so you could use the exact same software as Less Wrong, and there are some instructions on how to get it running, however they might be hard to execute without programming knowledge. Also, getting that accessable on the internet requires having access to webserver, not just having a blog on another website.

That would be one way to get all the features of Less Wrong. Unfortunately, I can't think of any less technical ways off the top of my head.

comment by byrnema · 2011-07-22T01:50:15.391Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

I'm amazed by the coincidence. Just yesterday I was wondering how much it would cost to make a web thingy like Less Wrong -- to hire someone to write the code, to maintain the site and have the storage. Are those all the resources I'd need? I was thinking if someone here wanted to do it they could donate the money to SI or something. Whatever they want to do with the funds of course.

Maybe not a coincidence. It's a great idea and it's going to catch on for different applications..

comment by CharlesR · 2011-07-22T01:39:02.958Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

I am in a group of parents who need something like this. We need something (like a blog) where anyone can post that is other hosted? What is the easiest way to get this done?

I don't have any experience with blogs. In the past, I ran a linux server with phpBB2. The people who will be doing this don't know much about computers.

Replies from: Emile
comment by Emile · 2011-07-22T07:46:13.762Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Blogger could probably work fine for an ordinary blog, you probably don't need shiny stuff like nested comments and karma thresholds.

Replies from: CharlesR
comment by CharlesR · 2011-07-22T08:28:58.539Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Can multiple people create blog entries?

Replies from: satt
comment by satt · 2011-07-22T14:29:08.590Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Yes. Each person registers their own Blogger account, and then (I think) one person sets up the blog and adds everyone else's account to the blog's internal list of editors/posters.

Replies from: CharlesR
comment by CharlesR · 2011-07-22T17:15:53.634Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Thanks, to both of you. I'll try it out.