If you are serious, I'm not quite sure how to infer what your definition of cringe is. I have no shame... I even checked urban dictionary.
Re: LW: yeah, you nailed the stereotype. I've probably said something similar myself (this is not a compliment). I'll bet many people on HN could find many interesting & useful discussions there. Here are some more takes with my commentary.
1. "LW has such a insider set of lingo and ideas and tenets". True imo, but these aren't hidden: they are easy to find.
2. The LessWrong "canon" is often weird and/or useless. I can confirm the feeling. Each new weird idea takes time to weigh. Take Newcomb's Paradox. Why the obsession with it? Until it clicks, it feels like you've walked into some kind of die-hard tabletop gaming session. So most normal people find ways to leave. Don't. Stay. What better do you have to? I'm seriously asking. If it matters, go do that instead. But if you have free time, you could do worse. How often do you really get your brain challenged?
3. The articles are too long. Yep, sometimes they are. One needs to like reading. A lot. So people with short attention spans might have trouble. This is my top criticism.
4. Intellectual depth and openness is off the charts. I put LW at the "best I've seen anywhere online, ever" level. Not the kind of permanent openness to anything. Openness to new ideas is a great starting posture. But the goal is to be able to get somewhere with them. As a particular idea loses plausibility, don't expect it to get much airtime. Bad ideas don't deserve as much consideration until/unless something changes to prompt a reconsideration.
alt Hacker News
If you are serious, I'm not quite sure how to infer what your definition of cringe is. I have no shame... I even checked urban dictionary.
Re: LW: yeah, you nailed the stereotype. I've probably said something similar myself (this is not a compliment). I'll bet many people on HN could find many interesting & useful discussions there. Here are some more takes with my commentary.
1. "LW has such a insider set of lingo and ideas and tenets". True imo, but these aren't hidden: they are easy to find.
2. The LessWrong "canon" is often weird and/or useless. I can confirm the feeling. Each new weird idea takes time to weigh. Take Newcomb's Paradox. Why the obsession with it? Until it clicks, it feels like you've walked into some kind of die-hard tabletop gaming session. So most normal people find ways to leave. Don't. Stay. What better do you have to? I'm seriously asking. If it matters, go do that instead. But if you have free time, you could do worse. How often do you really get your brain challenged?
3. The articles are too long. Yep, sometimes they are. One needs to like reading. A lot. So people with short attention spans might have trouble. This is my top criticism.
4. Intellectual depth and openness is off the charts. I put LW at the "best I've seen anywhere online, ever" level. Not the kind of permanent openness to anything. Openness to new ideas is a great starting posture. But the goal is to be able to get somewhere with them. As a particular idea loses plausibility, don't expect it to get much airtime. Bad ideas don't deserve as much consideration until/unless something changes to prompt a reconsideration.