本文探讨了Astral Codex Ten (ACX)评论区质量的变化。作者认为，尽管Scott Alexander的文章质量没有下降，但自2016年和2021年以来的数据显示，ACX评论区在讨论质量和互动性上有所下降。一些长期评论者指出，相比SSC时代，现在的评论区更有趣的论点减少，且更容易产生政治文化话题上的不适感。然而，也有评论者认为ACX评论区仍然优秀。文章认为，如果评论区质量下降，可能会影响读者对Scott文章的整体体验。

📊 自2016年和2021年以来，数据显示ACX评论区在讨论质量和互动性上有所下降，这与一些长期评论者的体验相符。

🗣️ 一些评论者指出，相比SSC时代，现在的评论区更有趣的论点减少，且更容易产生政治文化话题上的不适感。

👍 尽管如此，也有评论者认为ACX评论区仍然优秀，并强调其开放和尊重的讨论氛围。

🔄 作者认为，如果评论区质量下降，可能会影响读者对Scott文章的整体体验，因为评论区是文章价值的重要组成部分。

🤔 文章提出，尽管Scott Alexander的文章质量没有下降，但评论区的变化可能会影响读者对博客的整体评价。

Jul 26, 2025

Finalist #5 in the Review Contest

[This is one of the finalists in the 2025 review contest, written by an ACX reader who will remain anonymous until after voting is done. I’ll be posting about one of these a week for several months. When you’ve read them all, I’ll ask you to vote for a favorite, so remember which ones you liked]

Introduction

The Astral Codex Ten (ACX) Commentariat is defined as the 24,485 individuals other than Scott who have contributed to the corpus of work of Scott’s blog posts, chiefly by leaving comments at the bottom of those posts. It is well understood (by the Commentariat themselves) that they are the best comments section anywhere on the internet, and have been for some time. This review takes it as a given that the ACX Commentariat outclasses all of its pale imitators across the web, so I won’t compare the ACX Commentariat to e.g. reddit. The real question is whether our glory days are behind us – specifically whether the ACX Commentariat of today has lost its edge compared to the SSC Commentariat of pre-2021.

A couple of years ago Scott asked, Why Do I Suck?. This was a largely tongue-in-cheek springboard to discuss a substantive criticism he regularly received - that his earlier writing was better than his writing now. How far back do we need to go before his writing was ‘good’? Accounts seemed to differ; Scott said that the feedback he got was of two sorts:

“I loved your articles from about 2013 - 2016 so much! Why don’t you write articles like that any more?”, which dates the decline to 2016 “Do you feel like you’ve shifted to less ambitious forms of writing with the new Substack?”, which dates the decline to 2021

Quite a few people responded in the comments that Scott’s writing hadn’t changed, but it was the experience of being a commentor which had worsened. For example, David Friedman, a prolific commentor on the blog in the SSC-era, writes:

A lot of what I liked about SSC was the commenting community, and I find the comments here less interesting than they were on SSC, fewer interesting arguments, which is probably why I spend more time on [an alternative forum] than on ACX.

Similarly, kfix seems to be a long-time lurker (from as early as 2016) who has become more active in the ACX-era, writes:

I would definitely agree that the commenting community here is 'worse' than at SSC along the lines you describe, along with the also unwelcome hurt feelings post whenever Scott makes an offhand joke about a political/cultural topic.

And of course, this position wasn’t unanimous. Verbamundi Consulting is a true lurker who has only ever made one post on the blog – this one:

Ok, I've been lurking for a while, but I have to say: I don't think you suck… You have a good variety of topics, your commenting community remains excellent, and you're one of the few bloggers I continue to follow.

The ACX Commentariat is somewhat unique in that it self-styles itself as a major reason to come and read Scott’s writing – Scott offers up some insights on an issue, and then the comments section engages unusually open and unusually respectful discussion of the theme, and the total becomes greater than the sum of the parts. Therefore, if the Commentariat has declined in quality it may disproportionately affect people’s experience of Scott’s posts. The joint value of each Scott-plus-Commentariat offering declines if the Commentariat are not pulling their weight, even if Scott himself remains just as good as ever. In Why Do I Suck? Scott suggests that there is weak to no evidence of a decline in his writing quality, so I propose this review as something of a companion piece; is the (alleged) problem with the blog, in fact, staring at us in the mirror?

My personal view aligns with Verbamundi Consulting and many other commentors - I’ve enjoyed participating in both the SSC and ACX comments, and I haven’t noticed any decline in Commentariat quality. So, I was extremely surprised to find the data totally contradicted my anecdotal experience, and indicated a very clear dropoff in a number of markers of quality at almost exactly the points Scott mentioned in Why Do I Suck? – one in mid-2016 and one in early 2021 during the switch from SSC to ACX.

https://readscottalexander.com/posts/acx-your-review-the-astral-codex-ten