Revisiting HPMOR

post by DragonGod · 2017-11-19T08:55:31.552Z · LW · GW · 0 comments

This is a reply to https://www.lesserwrong.com/posts/zCrKz6rWeG79DRQM2/double-crux-example-should-hpmor-be-on-the-front-page

I wasn't sure it was best replying to that comment, due to it being one month later, and the comment seeming to be more for the purposes of illustrating double crux than actually discussing HPMOR. Thus, I decided to post here.

I joined lesswrong through HPMOR (I joined earlier this year), but I didn't find HPMOR through Lesswrong. I think HPMOR brings people to Lesswrong, but I don't think a substantial portion of the people HPMOR would bring to Lesswrong would discover HPMOR through Lesswrong. HPMOR appeals to a broad spectrum of people, and can reach a much larger audience than Lesswrong does. I came through HPMOR, and I'm sure a substantial amount of our newcomers (post 2010 I guess) came through HPMOR as well. However, I don't think many of them discovered HPMOR through Lesswrong—I think very few of them actually will. The way I see it, once they are already at Lesswrong, done. Mission accomplished.

HPMOR is the bait, and the sequences are the hook. Majority of the people who benefit from HPMOR don't actually benefit from HPMOR on the front page. They didn't discover HPMOR through Lesswrong, and they wouldn't have. Majority of the people who discover Lesswrong through Lesswrong don't benefit (extensively) from HPMOR. Some of the people who discover Lesswrong through lesserwrong.com/lesswrong.com would be off put by HPMOR. Basically, I think http://www.lesserwrong.com and HPMOR market Lesswrong to different sets of people, with little overlap.

To summarise my points:

  1. HPMOR is very valuable.
  2. Due to its nature (fanfiction, Harry Potter, etc) majority of the people who benefit from HPMOR don't find HPMOR through Lesswrong. More generally, if they benefit from HPMOR, then it's not Lesswrong that is going to introduce them to it. (This is a "crux" for me. If this is false, it would change my opinion on prominently featuring HPMOR on the front page).
  3. HPMOR is off putting to people who discover Lesswrong through Lesswrong. The negative impact of HPMOR on such people outweighs the positive impact of HPMOR on the (few) people who discover HPMOR through Lesswrong.
  4. HPMOR on the front page is a net negative.

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