I found SlateStarCodex in 2015. immediately afterwards, I got involved in some of the little splinter communities online, that had developed after LessWrong started to disperse.

I don't think it's exaggerating to say it saved my life

I may have found my way on my own eventually, but the path was eased immensely by LW/SSC

in 2015 I was coming out of my only serious suicidal episode

I was in an unhappy marriage, in a town where I knew hardly anyone

I had failed out of my engineering program six months prior

I had been peripherally aware of LW through a few fanfic pieces, and was directed to SSC via the LessWrong comments section

it was the most intimidating community of people I had ever encountered -- I didn't think I could keep up

but eventually, I realized that not only was this the first group of people who made me feel like I had come *home,* but that it was also one of the most welcoming places I'd ever been (IRL or virtual)

I joined a slack, "rationalist" tumblr, made a few comments on LW and SSC

within a few months, I had *friends*

some of whom I would eventually count among those I love the most

this is a community that takes ideas seriously (even when it would be better for their sanity to disengage)

this is a community that thinks everyone who can engage with them in sincere good faith might have something useful to say

this is a community that saw someone writing long, in-depth critiques on the material produced on or adjacent to LW/SSC...and decided that meant he was a friend.

I have no prestigious credentials to speak of. I had no connections, was a college dropout, no high-paying job

I had no particular expertise, a lower-class background than many of the people I met, a Red-Tribe-Evangelical upbringing

and all I had to do, to make these new friends, was show up and join the conversation

as a woman, I have experienced far less sexism in the SSC/LW community than I have in other groups I've been a part of, including the fandom/con scene I was raised in (though that was not particularly sexist either -- a few scattered assholes)

is the community surrounding SSC mostly male? yes

was I ever taken less seriously because of this? no. did I ever feel accepted less because of my sex? no.

my friends have always been male, and this community is the first place I met *other women* who understood my experiences here

it's the first place I found other women who understood the feeling of being alienated from one's own sex/gender

this community is likely the reason I was able to become comfortable with and eventually embrace my sex

because I met the kinds of women I had just never been exposed to before

I am *less biased against women* now, compared to 2015

it is, in part, because of this community

the "weakness" of the LessWrong/SSC community is also its strength: putting up with people they disagree with far longer than they have to

of course terrible people slip through. they do in every group -- ours our just significantly more verbose

but this is a community full of people who mostly just want to get things *right,* become *better people,* and turn over every single rock they see in the process of finding ways to be more correct

not every person and not all the time, but more than I've seen everywhere else

the transhumanist background that runs through the history of LW/SSC also means that trans people are more accepted here than anywhere else I've seen

because part of that ideological influence is the belief that everyone should be able to have the body they want

it is not by accident that this loosely-associated cluster of bloggers, weird nerds, and twitter shitposters were ahead of the game on coronavirus

it's because they were watching, and thinking, and paying attention

and listening to things that sound crazy...just in case

there is a 2-part lesson this community held to, even while the rest of the world is forgetting it:

-you can't prohibit dissent
-it's sometimes worth it to engage someone when they have icky-sounding ideas

it was unpopular six months ago to think COVID might be a big deal

the SSC/LW diaspora paid attention anyways.

you can refuse to hang out with someone at a party

you can tell your friends they suck

but you can't prohibit them from speaking *merely because their ideas make you uncomfortable*

and there is value in engaging with dissent, with ideas that are taboo in Current Year

anonymity norms are critical to maintaining the ability to find new ideas, new ways of being better, new ways that you've been wrong

it does mean some people will use the anonymity to say terrible things

but sometimes it just means sensibly separating a few areas of your life

I don't use my real name here for some personal reasons

there are things I discuss here that I don't want certain people finding, because they are malicious

there are certain things I say here that I want the opportunity to say to *different people* in *different ways*

but I'm getting off track -- I have more to say on anonymity, but the point of this thread was to say that this is not a community of hate

it is a set of loosely associated clusters of people who share some overlap in the way they approach the world

many, perhaps most, are trying very hard to be right, be good, and keep the world in some stable, intact configuration so that we can take advantage of all of the positives the future might have to offer

without destroying ourselves in the process

Scott has never been racist, sexist, or otherwise bigoted

I have encountered fewer racists and sexists here than anywhere else in my life

I was accepted because people enjoyed talking to me -- no credentials, no prestige, no connections, no money. just me and my words.

through this community I met my best friends, and later, my husband

through this community I met other women who didn't terrify me

SSC did not create a community of hate

we have our assholes. but mostly, we have friends.

note: if you have sincere, good-faith disagreements with me about whether the presence of bad actors among the SSC readership justifies releasing scott's name in the NYT, I have limited bandwidth this week

but I may be happy to talk one on one over DM next week