15 ms·

Nate Silver doing AMA on reddit, Tue 2:00pm Eastern

29 points by redthrowaway 14y ago

Posibyte 14y ago
If you guys like a bit of humor, I regularly check this for any updated info on the whether Nate Silver is a witch: http://isnatesilverawitch.com/ http://isnatesilverawitch.com/
- nicholassmith 14y ago
  As it's reddit I imagine the top question will probably be, "Nate Silver, are you actually a witch?".
  - Posibyte 14y ago
    Followed by "One horse sized witch, or five witch sized horses?" and "How do you feel about witch mustaches?"
    - altcognito 14y ago
      As a horse with a witch mustache, I approve of this question.
      - clicks 14y ago
        You know what's infinitely sadder than Reddit having fun with stupid memes is Hacker News never missing a chance to look down upon them and deriding them as inferiors. It's getting to be pretty pathetic and cliche. So let's just tone down the Reddit-hate, alright guys?
        redthrowaway 14y ago
        But how can we maintain our air of smug superiority if we can't snidely look down on others?
kmfrk 14y ago
I think it's become a bit of a problem that people make jokes about his wizardlike ability to "predict" and "calculate" everything. I hope he takes some time to clear up what it is he actually does, and what statistics are and aren't capable of. As much as he's done to draw attention to statistics, a lot of misconceptions seem to go with the popularity.
- natrius 14y ago
  "I hope he takes some time to clear up what it is he actually does, and what statistics are and aren't capable of." He wrote a whole book about it. http://www.amazon.com/dp/159420411X http://www.amazon.com/dp/159420411X
  - kmfrk 14y ago
    I hope he clears it up without requiring people to read his book. :)
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
untog 14y ago
I love the concept of Reddit AMAs, but have been consistently disappointed by the results. It's not the meme-y questions (I actually find the idea of asking everyone the same inane question oddly interesting) but it seems like interesting questions/content never get surfaced- the interviewee gets absolutely overwhelmed with questions and only answers a few. I'd prefer a system where a notice goes up that Nate Silver is holding an AMA in 24 hours- people post questions then, and get upvotes/downvotes according to community interest. Then the AMA-er answers them in order until they stop.
- ZachPruckowski 14y ago
  Yeah, that's how Slashdot did it (and so far as I know, still does it) - they'd solicit questions and take a top 10 to the interviewee. The downside of that is that you largely sacrifice the feeling that you're talking directly to the interviewee.
- redthrowaway 14y ago
  That's how Nate's doing this one: thread opens at 12:00, then he shows up at 2:00. It should hopefully work out well.

29 points by redthrowaway 14y ago

If you guys like a bit of humor, I regularly check this for any updated info on the whether Nate Silver is a witch: http://isnatesilverawitch.com/ http://isnatesilverawitch.com/

nicholassmith 14y ago
As it's reddit I imagine the top question will probably be, "Nate Silver, are you actually a witch?".
- Posibyte 14y ago
  Followed by "One horse sized witch, or five witch sized horses?" and "How do you feel about witch mustaches?"
  - altcognito 14y ago
    As a horse with a witch mustache, I approve of this question.
    - clicks 14y ago
      You know what's infinitely sadder than Reddit having fun with stupid memes is Hacker News never missing a chance to look down upon them and deriding them as inferiors. It's getting to be pretty pathetic and cliche. So let's just tone down the Reddit-hate, alright guys?
      - redthrowaway 14y ago
        But how can we maintain our air of smug superiority if we can't snidely look down on others?

kmfrk 14y ago

I think it's become a bit of a problem that people make jokes about his wizardlike ability to "predict" and "calculate" everything. I hope he takes some time to clear up what it is he actually does, and what statistics are and aren't capable of. As much as he's done to draw attention to statistics, a lot of misconceptions seem to go with the popularity.

natrius 14y ago
"I hope he takes some time to clear up what it is he actually does, and what statistics are and aren't capable of." He wrote a whole book about it. http://www.amazon.com/dp/159420411X http://www.amazon.com/dp/159420411X
- kmfrk 14y ago
  I hope he clears it up without requiring people to read his book. :)
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]

untog 14y ago

I love the concept of Reddit AMAs, but have been consistently disappointed by the results. It's not the meme-y questions (I actually find the idea of asking everyone the same inane question oddly interesting) but it seems like interesting questions/content never get surfaced- the interviewee gets absolutely overwhelmed with questions and only answers a few. I'd prefer a system where a notice goes up that Nate Silver is holding an AMA in 24 hours- people post questions then, and get upvotes/downvotes according to community interest. Then the AMA-er answers them in order until they stop.

ZachPruckowski 14y ago
Yeah, that's how Slashdot did it (and so far as I know, still does it) - they'd solicit questions and take a top 10 to the interviewee. The downside of that is that you largely sacrifice the feeling that you're talking directly to the interviewee.
redthrowaway 14y ago
That's how Nate's doing this one: thread opens at 12:00, then he shows up at 2:00. It should hopefully work out well.