Deleted comments archive

Top-level comment on post Impact Shares For Speculative Projects [LW · GW], deleted on 2022-09-06 by user:Elizabeth [LW · GW] (post author):

What does one do with “impact shares”? What are they good for? (If I missed the part of the post that explains this, apologies; just point me to the explanation, in that case.)

Reply to comment [LW(p) · GW(p)] on post Creating a truly formidable Art [LW · GW], deleted on 2021-10-23 by user:Valentine [LW · GW] (post author):

In short: status.

Valentine perceived, in the top-level comment, a threat to the “status revenue” that was to accrue to him on account of his post. He responded by posting a very crude attempt at lowering the status of the offending commenter (and elevating his own status in the process).

The sense of condescension we perceive in Valentine’s comment comes from the very crudeness of the attempt—which crudeness, ironically, is what makes us perceive it as a low-status action (and thus the juxtaposition of attempted strong status grab done in a low-status way generates the perception of a condescending manner).

(One doesn’t normally say such things explicitly, of course. But I think that in this case it makes a good illustrative example for several useful concepts.)