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Update on My Situation

slatestarcodex.com

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Re: Update on My Situation

#21

Post by unityByFreedom »

brundolf wrote: post #6

> And now that I’ve publicly admitted privacy is important to me – something I tried to avoid coming on too strong about before, for exactly this reason – some people have taken it upon themselves to post my real name all over Twitter in order to harass and threaten me. Has anybody applied the Dark Forest metaphor to internet publicity? It's fascinating (horrifying) how simply catching the attention of too big a piec…

> You don't even have to have done anything controversial. Attention itself appears to be caustic, at the extreme.

I haven't read it but I assumed the blog was controversial based on all the concern about anonymity. Is that not the case?

Re: Update on My Situation

#22

Post by ggreer »

bearbin wrote: post #5
zepto wrote: post #3

So the New York Times cost him his job?

Yes and no. The recent issue with the NYT is certainly the immediate trigger of Scott Alexander's decision to change jobs; but it seems to me at least that this course of action was inevitable (once the blog became popular). If (you feel that) your job is incompatible with a personal association to a popular 'rationalist' blog, and you write a rationalist blog under your own partial name, and it then becomes popular…

> If (you feel that) your job is incompatible with a personal association to a popular 'rationalist' blog, and you write a rationalist blog under your own partial name, and it then becomes popular - well you will have to take that decision at some point - resign, or shut down the blog.

Scott did shut down the blog and it still cost him his job.

Re: Update on My Situation

#23

Post by unityByFreedom »

canjobear wrote: post #19
sillysaurusx wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But that doesn't mesh with "start my own private practice." Either those concerns apply to his original job and his new practice, or neither. Something doesn't seem to add up...

His new practice will be medication management, not psychotherapy.

When people go this route, do they still see or talk to another therapist?

I always figured people's chemical imbalances were influenced by behavior. If you just treat the chemical imbalance without addressing the behavior, isn't that rather risky?

Re: Update on My Situation

#24

Post by motohagiography »

Sad that Alexander has had to leave his job because some petulant reporter thought he was a sufficiently public figure for a takedown, but good for him and Substack for making sure he landed on his feet. A personal hit job by one of the most powerful institutions on the planet (or rather, their mouthpiece) is no small life event.

Re: Update on My Situation

#25

Post by wmf »

brundolf wrote: post #6

> And now that I’ve publicly admitted privacy is important to me – something I tried to avoid coming on too strong about before, for exactly this reason – some people have taken it upon themselves to post my real name all over Twitter in order to harass and threaten me. Has anybody applied the Dark Forest metaphor to internet publicity? It's fascinating (horrifying) how simply catching the attention of too big a piec…

These days it might be possible to "cancel" someone for something that they didn't even say/do, although I'd hope that the victim could bounce back once the mob moved on. Of course, you could also get killed crossing the street.

Re: Update on My Situation

#26

Post by _1qd4 »

unityByFreedom wrote: post #21
brundolf wrote: post #6

> And now that I’ve publicly admitted privacy is important to me – something I tried to avoid coming on too strong about before, for exactly this reason – some people have taken it upon themselves to post my real name all over Twitter in order to harass and threaten me. Has anybody applied the Dark Forest metaphor to internet publicity? It's fascinating (horrifying) how simply catching the attention of too big a piec…

> You don't even have to have done anything controversial. Attention itself appears to be caustic, at the extreme. I haven't read it but I assumed the blog was controversial based on all the concern about anonymity. Is that not the case?

He’s not controversial if you believe in reality. A good example of something that may get him attacked is his anti-creationist post, https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/05/28/creationism-unchalleng... .

Any time you criticize the crazies you get attacked.

Re: Update on My Situation

#27

Post by peteretep »

maxander wrote: post #11

Interesting to speculate on the “extremely generous” offer from Substack. They’re obviously willing to devote a decent amount of dev time to making Scott comfortable, and I’m sure they have a good idea of how having SSC on board would promote their platform on its take-over-the-blog-market mission, so it could be generous indeed.

It’ll probably get me to sign up for a Substack account and enter my cc details, at which point they can work out how to get me to pay for more shit. If they’re smart, there have to be some other “loss leader” authors who they can basically salary at $200,000 a year and it’s worth it

Re: Update on My Situation

#28

Post by peteretep »

I would like someone with the funds to do so to simply become his patron, and give him a salary to do what the hell he likes, ala medieval Europe. He’s got to have enough very wealthy fans that this is realistic?

Re: Update on My Situation

#29

Post by dragonwriter »

wmf wrote: post #25
brundolf wrote: post #6

> And now that I’ve publicly admitted privacy is important to me – something I tried to avoid coming on too strong about before, for exactly this reason – some people have taken it upon themselves to post my real name all over Twitter in order to harass and threaten me. Has anybody applied the Dark Forest metaphor to internet publicity? It's fascinating (horrifying) how simply catching the attention of too big a piec…

These days it might be possible to "cancel" someone for something that they didn't even say/do, although I'd hope that the victim could bounce back once the mob moved on. Of course, you could also get killed crossing the street.

> These days it might be possible to "cancel" someone for something that they didn't even say/do

It always has been. And, often the “cancelling” has been total and irreversible, not, as it often is with the “cancel culture” of recent complaints, just a reduction in current popularity with a particular segment of society (frequently accompanied by profitable celebrity status with an opposing and at least roughly equivalent power social group.)

In fact, those complaining about modern “cancel culture” often make hyperbolic analogies to these historical, more total cancellings, such as lynchings.

Re: Update on My Situation

#30

Post by Barrin92 »

sillysaurusx wrote: post #14
s3cur3 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Background: https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/06/22/nyt-is-threatening-my-... > First, I’m a psychiatrist, and psychiatrists are kind of obsessive about preventing their patients from knowing anything about who they are outside of work. You can read more about this in this Scientific American article – and remember that the last psychiatrist blogger to get doxxed abandoned his blog too. I am not one of the big stickler…

But that doesn't mesh with "start my own private practice." Either those concerns apply to his original job and his new practice, or neither. Something doesn't seem to add up...

my original thesis was, and I got quite a lot of flack for it at the time, that it's going to mightily piss his patients off if they ever figure out that he's blogging about them, if only in anonymized form.

I think this really is the issue here with his employer, and I honestly always found it extremely weird, maybe unethical that he wants to avoid his patients figuring out that their stories may appear on a public blog.

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