Scott opens voting for the 2025 Non-Book Review Contest finalists, listing all thirteen entries and providing a link to the ranked-choice voting form. Longer summary

Scott Alexander announces voting for the 2025 Non-Book Review Contest finalists, providing links to all thirteen finalist entries and the voting form. The post lists the diverse topics of the finalists, ranging from education and science to personal experiences and historical events. Voting will use ranked choice format where voters pick their top three choices, and closes on October 13. Shorter summary

A data-driven analysis of the ACX/SSC comment section quality over time reveals historical peaks and valleys, with recent signs of improvement after previous declines in 2016 and 2021. Longer summary

This review analyzes the quality of the Astral Codex Ten (ACX) comment section over time, comparing it to its predecessor Slate Star Codex (SSC). Through detailed data analysis of 1.8M comments across 2,460 posts, the author identifies two major changes in comment quality - one in 2016 and another during the 2021 transition to ACX. The analysis looks at four key metrics: depth of engagement, freedom of intellectual engagement, politeness, and complexity of thought. While the data shows a decline after these turning points, recent trends suggest the comment section may be recovering. The author explores several hypotheses for the 2016 decline, including changes in post frequency and the impact of Trump's rise on discussion norms. Shorter summary

Scott asks readers to help select finalists for the Non-Book Review Contest by rating entries through a provided form, with voting open until June 20. Longer summary

Scott Alexander announces the voting phase for the Non-Book Review Contest 2025, asking readers to help narrow down 141 entries to about a dozen finalists. He provides links to categorized lists of entries (Other A-I, J-S, T-Z, Games, Music, TV/Movies) and a rating form. He specifically asks readers not to read entries in order but either randomly or based on interest, to ensure more even distribution of votes. The post includes the full list of entries and mentions a June 20 deadline for voting. Shorter summary

Scott announces an irregular classifieds thread where readers can post advertisements under specific categories, with guidelines for respectful engagement. Longer summary

This is a thread post announcing the irregular ACX classifieds where readers can post advertisements in the comments under specific categories: Employment, Dating, Read My Blog, Consume My Product/Service, Meetup, or Other. Scott includes some guidelines about being respectful, especially regarding dating ads, and provides useful links to EA job boards and meetup finders. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander shares and comments on local voting guides created by ACX meetup groups for various US cities, highlighting interesting aspects of each guide. Longer summary

Scott Alexander presents local voting guides created by ACX meetup groups for various US cities. He provides links to each guide and offers commentary on their contents, highlighting interesting races, propositions, and candidate names. The post covers guides for Austin, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, Oakland/Berkeley, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Seattle. Scott notes the different formats and approaches taken by each group, and mentions plans for future election coverage. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander announces a plan to create voter guides for major US cities, listing meetup details for eight locations where ACX readers will collaborate on local election recommendations. Longer summary

Scott Alexander is organizing voter guides for major US cities with a significant ACX readership. Eight city meetup groups have volunteered to create these guides. The post lists the dates, times, locations, and contact information for meetups in Austin, Boston, Chicago, NYC, Oakland, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Seattle. Participants are encouraged to bring smartphones or computers and any voting guides they've received to help with research. The meetups are tasked with sending their final recommendations to Scott by October 21. Shorter summary