Slate Star Codex: Difference between revisions

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The site was a primary venue of the rationalist community and also attracted wider audiences.<ref name=NewYorker/> The ''[[New Statesman]]'' characterizes it as "a nexus for the rationalist community and others who seek to apply reason to debates about situations, ideas, and moral quandaries."<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Jackson |first=Jasper |date=25 June 2020 |title=Why is the New York Times threatening to reveal blogger Scott Alexander's true identity? |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/world/2020/06/why-new-york-times-threatening-reveal-blogger-scott-alexander-s-true-identity |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200627185403/https://www.newstatesman.com/world/2020/06/why-new-york-times-threatening-reveal-blogger-scott-alexander-s-true-identity |archive-date=27 June 2020 |access-date=28 June 2020 |website=[[New Statesman]] |language=en}}</ref> ''The New Yorker'' describes Alexander's fiction as "delightfully weird" and his arguments "often counterintuitive and brilliant".<ref name="NewYorker" /> Economist [[Tyler Cowen]] calls Scott Alexander "a thinker who is influential among other writers".<ref name="TwinCitiesPioneerPress">{{cite web|last=Cowen|first=Tyler|date=4 May 2018|title=Tyler Cowen: Holding up a mirror to intellectuals of the left|url=https://www.twincities.com/2018/05/04/tyler-cowen-holding-up-a-mirror-to-intellectuals-of-the-left/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200621114822/https://www.twincities.com/2018/05/04/tyler-cowen-holding-up-a-mirror-to-intellectuals-of-the-left/|archive-date=21 June 2020|access-date=3 July 2019|website=Twin Cities Pioneer Press}}</ref>

=== ''The New York Times'' controversy ===

Alexander used his [[first name|first]] and [[middle name]] alone for safety and privacy reasons, although he had previously published ''Slate Star Codex'' content academically under his real name.<ref name="nytssc" /> In June 2020, he deleted all entries on ''Slate Star Codex'', stating that a ''[[New York Times]]'' technology reporter intended to publish an article about the blog using his full name. Alexander said that the reporter told him that it was newspaper policy to use real names.<ref name="hoonhout">{{cite news |last1=Hoonhout |first1=Tobias |date=23 June 2020 |title=What an NYT Reporter's Doxing Threat Says about the Paper's 'Standards' |url=https://www.nationalreview.com/news/what-a-nyt-reporters-doxxing-threat-says-about-the-papers-standards/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200623232307/https://www.nationalreview.com/news/what-a-nyt-reporters-doxxing-threat-says-about-the-papers-standards/ |archive-date=23 June 2020 |access-date=23 June 2020 |work=[[National Review]]}}</ref> ''The New York Times'' responded: "We do not comment on what we may or may not publish in the future. But when we report on newsworthy or influential figures, our goal is always to give readers all the accurate and relevant information we can."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Athey |first1=Amber |date=23 June 2020 |title=The death of the private citizen |url=https://spectator.us/new-york-times-private-slate-star-codex-blog/ |url-status=deviated |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200623214217/https://spectator.us/new-york-times-private-slate-star-codex-blog/ |archive-date=23 June 2020 |access-date=23 June 2020 |work=[[Spectator USA]]}}</ref> ''[[The Verge]]'' cited a source saying that at the time when Alexander deleted the blog, "not a word" of a story about ''SSC'' had been written.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Schiffer |first=Zoe |date=16 July 2020 |title=How Clubhouse brought the culture war to Silicon Valley's venture capital community |url=https://www.theverge.com/2020/7/16/21325678/venture-capitalists-vc-media-silicon-valley-clubhouse-tech-journalists |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200716145045/https://www.theverge.com/2020/7/16/21325678/venture-capitalists-vc-media-silicon-valley-clubhouse-tech-journalists |archive-date=16 July 2020 |access-date=16 July 2020 |website=[[The Verge]] |language=en}}</ref> The [[Poynter Institute]]'s David Cohn interpreted this event and the furor around it as one incident in a longer conflict over values between the tech and media industries.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Cohn |first1=David |title=When journalism and Silicon Valley collide |url=https://www.poynter.org/ethics-trust/2020/when-journalism-and-silicon-valley-collide/ |publisher=[[Poynter Institute]] |date=1 September 2020 |access-date=8 September 2020 |archive-date=1 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200901213818/https://www.poynter.org/ethics-trust/2020/when-journalism-and-silicon-valley-collide/ |url-status=live }}</ref>{{Clarify|reason=This doesn't seem to be directly relevant to the previous sentence.

The Poynter Institute's opinion seems to be about the context of the controversy and should be separated from the discussion of details of the controversy.|date=January 2024}}