Tag Archives: signal

Comments: Signal vs Noise

Recently there has been a lot of noise in the comments here with very little real information. That is a waste of time and effort for everyone.

I would appreciate if all of you thought about any comments you plan to make. The stronger your belief in a proposition, the more you should hesitate before posting it.

One thing you should keep in mind is that I know more than you do. I do not mean that as a boast but as a fact. Of course, I do not know the esoterica of South Asian caste divisions, religious rituals and cultural practices. It can even be said that my knowledge of Indian history is inferior to that of European, American and Near Eastern history. However, when participants send me their data, they are generous with their personal information. I have a lot more information about their ethnic backgrounds than is public, due to privacy concerns. Another factor is that a lot of the analyses I run do not end up here due to various reasons. But I use them in creating a complete picture. These two things give me an unfair advantage over you guys.

Generally, I have kept a very light hand on the comment section. This might have to do with this being my hobby. Thus I do not have time to control the conversation and reduce the noise. And I also feel that I have much to learn about history and genetics from all comers.

However, recently I feel that I need to run a much tighter ship so discussions are useful and on-topic and not the hobby horses of a few crazed people. I might have to take a page from my friend Razib Khan's comment policy and be very strict about deleting, warning and banning.