I put it up on Thinkspot, which is sort of like Medium, but without all the lefty drivel. Of course, Thinkspot could easily go under. The essay relates the Null Hypothesis to Charles Murray’s new book.
To gain access to Thinkspot, you have to first go here: https://www.ts.today/ and sign up as a beta user. Let me know how that process goes.
All I know about Thinkspot is that Jordan Peterson was involved in starting it. The revenue model for now appears to be not to charge readers but to charge writers a “pay what you will” amount, initially suggested at $48 a year.
Is this anywhere else? Thinkspot seems to be available only to beta users, of which I am not one.
Yeah, it says you need a promo code.
John, did you go here (https://www.ts.today/)? It says that the promo code is optional. Let me know how it goes.
I went there and tried to sign up to be a beta user, but I was only able to get on the waitlist, so no login or password yet.
Oh well.
Did not read well enough…
Dennis, I think you can sign up as a beta user by going here: https://www.ts.today/
The e-mail response for the Thinkspot beta was first was flagged as junkmail but once I found it the response was:
Is J.-François Gariépy’s extremely negative critique of Thinkspot unfair? https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1194310127433736192.html
Arnold, I read pretty much everything you write, but I’m not going to jump through hoops to get to the content, especially when it involves boosting a ridiculous site like that.
Is J.-François Gariépy’s extremely negative critique of Thinkspot unfair?
Depends on the definition of “unfair”, of course, but it seem like J.-François Gariépy hates Jordan Peterson and “Boomers” (term not admitted to being meaningful) and has build what we’ll (generously) call his thought process around that. I suspect he’d give Thinkspot a glowingly positive review if it were produced by someone in their 20’s and more ideologically acceptable to the author.
I also tried to sign up but got the same email as others:
We are currently running a closed beta and are accepting new users regularly
throughout this test phase. You’ve been added to our waitlist. Watch your email
for an exclusive invitation to join us.
Speaking only for myself, I have no interest in signing up for another service.
Mr. Kling, I have been a big fan and occasional emailer for quite a long time, frequently saying that, if nothing else, your motto of “taking the most charitable view of those who disagree” making you one of the few voices on the internet worth listening to. I hope your essays stay on AskBlog where they are more easily accessible.
I agree with Matt that I like having the essays here. I think Arnold is trying to find a place with more exposure, though…
Askblog is all text and without (1) sassy, click-baitish titles, “Ten reasons Bernie is the anti-christ,” (2) totally without the glitzy images from clip art, (3) there’s probably something else it lacks, too. Maybe friendlier search engines? It’s a small set of people who are here.
Prof. Kling could perhaps get more exposure by blogging also under a pseudonym, a sassier version of what’s here.
Perhaps Prof. Kling could get really mad and impatient and write under a pseudonym, start posting at…National Review? Claremont’s American Greatness!
Or better, spawn two alter egos, one that is faux liberal for Medium (which hasn’t died yet) and one faux slightly paranoid right for American Greatness.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the dimension I would tackle without changing the content. TLS certificates was a key upgrade from Google’s perspective and fast (e.g. CDN) and mobile friendly (e.g. AMP Pages) seem like the next low hanging fruit.
Maybe it’s just me, but I find it really valuable that it’s a small set of people who are here. I often find the comments here very informative and helpful, whereas when there are 200 or more comments to a post (on some other site) I usually don’t even bother to look at them. Who has time to read so many comments? Plus, most of them are usually nothing more than name-calling.
I think there is a North Star of successful online forums that you/we can learn from: What Paul Graham has Learned from Hacker News. This article is now a decade old but the core lessons still hold true.
Sigh. What Paul Graham has Learned from Hacker News
RAD — interesting article, thanks. Some of his remarks are indeed applicable to Arnold and his site. And I agree that it’s more important to keep the quality up than to increase the quantity of readers.
I’m confused as to your goal in posting to sites like Medium, or now Thinkspot.
I enjoy and seek out reading all of what you write. But agree with others above that beyond a certain point of difficulty (beta account promo code), I’m not going to bother. I guess if you continue to post there I’ll jump through the hoop obediently enough. For now I’ll wait to see.
To the point, I assume by doing this you’re looking for larger readership than you already get here on your personal blog. With the recent fashion now shifting away from publications, and more towards personal newsletters, which double as personal websites, this is a contrarian position at least. But FWIW, think you should just post everything here. If you want to post elsewhere for visibility, that’s fine. But I’d then dual post here and there together. And unless it’s a paid relationship with other side, don’t see any downside towards your regular readers.
I was also put on the waitlist. However, I think it is neat that you are trying new things – if the network effects work in favor of quality writers and readership on thinkspot then I’m excited about it.