Probably " sience " which is a pretty well respected academic journal

This will start the second American Civil War. Disney world is fort sumter.

Big "if"

imperial units are roughly base twelve so it's easier to do multiples of 1/3. Marginally beneficial in practice, but imperial isn't entirely pointless.

Unironically, the US customary system is really useful for things like carpentry and machining where fractions are important. You can easily divide most measurements by 2, 3, 4, 6, and 12.

Most tradesmen in my family hate metric, but then agian only 2 understand it so :shrug-outta-hecks:

Also, metric superiority is usually a real reddit brain style take. Only people I know who irl who insist on metric are scientists who have little experience outside the lab, or one programmer who thinks Europe is a utopia and all manual laborers are dumb rednecks. Americans should just learn both tbh.

Honestly, fair enough. It is those kind of interactions that are best, but I am unsure how to encourage them to happen without some social reinforcement.

Very possible I’m misunderstanding the point though. I think keeping a cumulative list of people who’ve participated in the on-Hexbear reading group discussions isn’t a bad idea if the comrades that organize the reading groups don’t mind the work of maintaining that list from thread to thread, if that’s more along the lines of what you’re suggesting?

I think this is closer to the point I was getting at. Just figured it might be useful to know who is involved in the educational side of the community, and maybe give them something special to draw people in. Probably prohibitively difficult to do, but the original post was just a random idea I thought might be interesting to discuss.

Honestly I didn't even consider it as shaming them. I figured it would just be a nice way to note who is involved in the discussion. Regardless, this is good advice.

We already do. The site is a reddit clone built for a community that was banned there.

I don't know if this would qualify as hierarchical anymore than anything else, but if i concede the point what do you think about a slight modification? What if the criteria was “participate in hex-bear book club” so it is less about collecting books and more about who engages with the material and the community?

Genuine question: Why not? A bunch of people have given reasons already but I would like to hear yours.

I don't see how this is means testing. Reading theory is not and would never be a prerequisite to engage in discussion.

Yes :yes-chad:

I think "book worship" is a term that gets overused. It is best applied where people are dogmatic and do not allow room for theorists to be mistaken or out dated. It seems like it is often applied in situations where anybody reaches outside of direct personal experience. Theory gives us words and systems to understand our experiences and we should encourage everyone to learn as much as they reasonably can.

Now will this idea generate book worship in the dogmatic sense? Maybe, but I think it is possible to avoid with some slight modifications.

Fair enough.

This line of argument is a little reductionist, but yes I think it would help. Most peoples introduction into leftist theory is twitter discourse and discussion boards like these. If it is possible to note who is a reliable resource it might ease the transition. Instead of just “read theory” what if the criteria was “participate in hex-bear book club” so it is less about collecting books and more about who engages with the material and the community?

The “stronger basis for their position” should come by virtue of better reasoning, and better sources where applicable.

I agree, but I would guess that the the better educated someone is on the topic the less likely you are to see that kind of behavior. As I said to another commenter, what if the criteria was “participate in hex-bear book club” so it is less about collecting books and more about who engages with the material and the community?

I'm just trying to spitball ideas on how to get users to read and listen to the stuff our beliefs are built on. Gamification is not ideal, but its the only thing I can come up with at the moment.

Credentialism is a fuck, just don’t be a g*mer who needs to unlock achievements and judge people based on their comments

I put this in the edit, but what would you think about giving it to active members in theory discussions, and reading series posts? Less credentialism, more about engagement and good faith discussion.

I'm thinking it would be for people who are active in theory discussion posts or reading series.