scrape_r_rational/data/cache2/2x018x.md

[D] A Rational Forum for Dicussing Real-Life Situations

• Author: u/gwerneck *

• URL: https://www.reddit.com/r/rational/comments/2x018x/d_a_rational_forum_for_dicussing_reallife/

• Score: 19

• Created: 2015-02-24T16:10:06

Post:

Hey there! /u/Sailor_Vulcan's post asking for a rational self-help forum a while ago made me realize how much something like that is begging to be created; so I decided to make one.

I'm considering something along the lines of lesswrong, but regarding direct, practical uses of rationality. The main idea is to make something like a gaming forum - the sort in which people post guides, discuss strategies and ask for help -, but dealing with real-life situations. In other words, a community dedicated to being Genre Savvy in real life.

I can imagine it becoming incredibly useful if the sort of people who read rationalist fiction (and love dealing with the mind stimulating problems in them) join and participate. We could list the best talks and books on every subject, develop refined and organized systems do deal with day-to-day situations, and optimize virtually all aspects of our lives.

While it was inspired by a post looking for rational self-help, I wouldn't call it a self-help forum, due to A. Its stigma and B. The fact it's mainly about people helping others, not themselves(I never quite understood the meaning of the term self-help anyway). I'm considering a name that can be associated with Genre Savvyness, or with LW's concept of Winning. For now, just winning looks good to me.

Here's a very basic example of what I want to do.

What do you guys think? Would you be willing to participate? Feel free to give your opinion/suggestions!

 

Edit:

Thanks for your feedback so far! Hopefully if this was already a thing someone would have pointed it out by now. For now, I'll think of more categories to add, and come up with a brand, some promotional material and a more detailed description in order to start an indiegogo project for it. Anyone interested should post more feedback/suggestions here or PM me.

 

Edit 2:

I have replaced the design as suggested by /u/MoralRelativity and /u/Sailor_Vulcan. I'll eventually upload a placeholder logo that fits the theme. Here's a snapshot of the original to provide people of the future with context.

(Edit 2.5: minor formatting changes)

 

Edit 3:

I like the way this is going. All of your suggestions so far have been really pertinent, and I expect the forums to work very similarly to this thread.

I'm taking the next obvious step and inviting you to continue this discussion at the forums. I believe you can register already, and everyone who does so while its still in this early phase will get an exclusive badge when the real forums are launched as a thank you for their support.

Please ignore the 'preview' forums, for now we'll use a single one as suggested by /u/eaglejarl (I'm running out of time for now and plan on removing the other subforums later). I've started a few topics describing the current ideas - but everything is up for discussion and you're encouraged to suggest changes. Check them out here.

All feedback and suggestions are still more than welcome, but if possible, register on the forums and post them there. Feel free to create topics asking for advice with anything, too, if you'd like. I'll be off for a few hours now, but I'll address your feedback more specifically later.

Comments:

u/eaglejarl [+9] (16 hours later)

I would participate.

A strong recommendation do not create subforums yet. Three reasons:

1. In the beginning there will not be enough posts to fill them. You'll have several empty subforums and the rest will have only one or two posts. It makes the sight look weak if you fragment it that much.
2. Until there's a lot of traffic there's no reason to put an extra click between people and the content they want.
3. The names of the subforums you've currently generated may not end up being the best way to divide the posts. Topics and themes will emerge organically; subforums can always be created later, once there's enough traffic on that topic to make it sensible to have a subforum.

u/MoralRelativity [+6] (4 hours later)

1. Good idea.
2. The look seems too dark and broody for my tastes. (Red on black? Urgh.)
3. Initial topic areas look promising.
4. I predict I would both read and post where there is specific relevance.

u/gwerneck [+3] (10 hours later)

Oh, come on. Red on black is cool.

I guess I should change it to something more neutral, yes.

u/MoralRelativity [+2] (15 hours later)

That's much more pleasant now.

u/None [+1] (14 hours later)

Oh, come on. Red on black is cool.

Yeah, look how eeeeeevil it makes you look! Like a vampire or something!

u/raymestalez [+2] (9 hours later)

Cool idea.

I would strongly recommend to use Discourse though. It is the most brilliant software for that sort of thing.

u/gwerneck [+3] (10 hours later)

I like it. Indeed it is, thanks for your suggestion. The forum will use Discourse unless something at least as interesting comes up, something I don't expect to happen at all.

Edit: Grammar.

u/Magnap [+1] (a day later)

If you find it to be the cheaper option, you can install Discourse on any hosted website or your own server. You don't have to buy the set-up and hosting from them. Whether or not it will be a benefit, I'm not trying to decide.

u/Sailor_Vulcan [+4] Champion of Justice and Reason (10 hours later)

This is a great idea! Also, no offense, but considering the purpose of the site, your design is downright terrible. I mean it looks cool, but it also looks ominous. It looks like it was made by a stylish super villain. You need to change the design to something else, something professional and calming and not something that will scare people away or harm yours or the website's reputation. At least that's what I'm worried could happen if you keep the design as it is. Maybe I'm being paranoid. Aside from that, it looks great! Definitely going to participate in this! Thank you for setting this up!

Also, I think you should make the name "winning at life" and have a conway's game of life motif in your design.

u/gwerneck [+3] (11 hours later)

Ha! You're right, as /u/MoralRelativity stated, it is too 'dark and broody', or in your words 'looks like it was made by a stylish super villain'.

I mindlessly picked the one I liked the most between the five or so the website presented me with (perhaps my personal style is a bit super villain-y), but don't worry, I'll change it to something less intimidating, even thought I'm not sure I'll continue using this example at all.

I like the idea of naming it Winning At Life or something of the sort. It won't be exactly it, though, since there are no domains available for the name. Right now I'm also considering an idea related to the concept of a "Player Character", as in the PC among NPCs.

I am not familiar with Conway's Game of Life, and while googling it displays an interesting... well, thing, it doesn't seem like something I could give enough thought to in the moment, so I'll learn more about later and get back to you.

u/Magnap [+1] (a day later)

You could use the glider, which is also a hacker (positive sense) icon. It would fit into a meaning of "hacking life".

u/autowikibot [+2] (a day later)

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#### Glider (Conway's Life):

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The glider is a pattern that travels across the board in Conway's Game of Life. It was first discovered by Richard K. Guy in 1970, while John Conway's group was attempting to track the evolution of the R-pentomino. Gliders are the smallest [spaceships](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaceship_(cellular_automaton)), and they travel diagonally at a speed of c/4. The glider is often produced from randomly generated starting configurations. John Conway has remarked that he wishes he hadn't called it the glider. The game was developed before computers and after seeing it animated, he feels the glider looks more like an ant walking across the plane.

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Image from article ^(i)

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^Interesting: ^Conway's ^Game ^of ^Life ^| ^Gun ^(cellular ^automaton) ^| ^Reflector ^(cellular ^automaton)

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u/MugaSofer [+2] (6 hours later)

Sounds good to me. Worth a try.

u/Cariyaga [+2] Kyubey did nothing wrong (17 hours later)

I would likely participate in this website in some regard, should it become popular enough to support assistance I could not get from elsewhere or, alternatively, should I see something that I could assist with.

u/chaosmosis [+1] and with strange aeons, even death may die (2 days later)

I've been wanting this for a while. Be sure to think up potential failure modes for the community and plan how to prevent them. Otherwise, someone would already have done this successfully, probably.

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