Hmm you're right, thanks for catching this. I think I probably have some false prior that culture warm terms are more affiliated with internet memes? But yeah, makes sense that a term could be both.

It can be hard to parse between what we view as the gradient between reasonable and unreasonable assumptions

Thanks for bringing this up, I think I did significantly update to being a bit more okay with folks being ignorant, or having false assumptions. It's tough! I would probably make the same mistakes too and would want some space to fumble around and correct myself.

Hmm I think you're right! I don't think my advice doesn't seem to be solving this issue. 
Perhaps a better advice is to just read more about the norms of the country first? And expect such poor CCIs to happen and allow for space to have meta-conversations around what's appropriate?

Ah, thanks for pointing that out. 
And I appreciate the praise!
 

I also feel somewhat confused too. I agree that e.g., Black African Americans are probably pretty close to the category of "West". At the time, I was thinking about the trade off between including people who are sort of in the middle of West and non-West, and having a clearer demarcation between West vs non-West to reduce noise. 

I don't think I have a lot of strong reasons, but I thought the clearer demarcation is more important. If folks disagree about my decision, happy to hear more!

Got it, this was helpful. Thanks!

most prominently transforming LessWrong into something that looks a lot more respectable in a way that I am worried might have shrunk the overton window of what can be discussed there by a lot, and having generally contributed to a bunch of these dynamics

Would you mind sharing  a bit more of what you mean here? 
I'm not sure I understand how an increase in respectability in LessWrong equates to a shrinking overton window. I would have guessed the opposite -- an increase in respectability would have shifted or expanded the overton window in ways that are more epistemically desirable. But I feel like I'm missing something here.

Also, I feel appreciative that you've shared a bunch of concerns and learnings with us.  

Another thing I've noticed -- folks from elite cultures seem less inclined to mix and hangout with non-elite cultures. 

Somewhat adjacent to your "culture clash" segment. I've noticed folks from "perceived-to-be-higher-status-cultures" hijacking (probably unconsciously) norms or spaces  where there are more folks from "perceived-to-be-lower-status-cultures".

Thanks for writing this up! Some rough thoughts about the LMIC category:

1. I think the LMIC is a pretty useful category insofar as it's used as "non-high-income-countries". 

2. Otherwise, I worry that folks might conflate with LMICs as just "low income countries", when most countries in the LMIC category are lower to upper middle income (or developing). 

3. I have a light preference for separating LMICs into two categories: "least developed countries" and "middle income countries".