I've found it critical to remember this truism when trying to extrapolate from internet posts: https://www.reddit.com/r/slatestarcodex/comments/9rvroo/most_of_w

I've found it critical to remember this truism when trying to extrapolate from internet posts: https://www.reddit.com/r/slatestarcodex/comments/9rvroo/most_of_what_you_read_on_the_int https://www.reddit.com/r/slatestarcodex/comments/9rvroo/most... This rings true anecdotally too. I was a participant on the very same forum and received an admonishment from another commenter about my posting style, which made me realize that my health-problem-induced approach to commenting on the forum was laced with subtle ad hominem barbs and other unproductive habits. Being called out helped me realize how unproductive my engagement was. I suspect that this dynamic is in play for a lot of fora with less healthy discussion norms than r/ssc (which has to be 99.9% percentile for quality of discussion). Mentally ill people have more time and inclination to spend time arguing with strangers online. Deducing too much from these interactions I'd simply sampling "what do insane people think about X", which is of limited usefulness.