People are being very polite to you and asking substantive questions. Others, please correct me if I’m wrong, but let me say what I think most readers here are really thinking:
You should stop what you are doing. This comes across as a scam (I’ll give some more details about that below) or at least as poorly organized. If this were to be successful, even in any small way, it would damage the reputation of EA because of the way in which it is presented.
You need to have a little humility. Yes, EA is a space where people can and do have a big impact when they are new. But teams of the smartest people here have been trying to raise big money for years and it is simply not that easy. The good news about EA is that you do not need to raise 1 billion to have an impact. We are here to focus on the most effective things around, which means you can make a huge difference with just a few thousand dollars.
Here is why this seems like a scam to me:
“Your organization”, EffectiveCauses, doesn’t have a website or any other public-facing information. However, there are a bunch of accounts.
The “EffectiveCauses” Quora account is pushing crypto stuff that is unrelated to your DAO.
The one person commenting in support of you looks a bit like an astroturf account (created recently, fake name/PFP).
The Twitter account you linked to is also quite shallow (few posts/no substantive posts, no followers, etc.), as is your EA Forums account.
I’m not assuming its a scam, and seems unlikely it’d damage the reputation of EA. Seems like a person who got super enthusiastic about a particular governance idea they had, and had a few too many conversations about how to pitch well.
First of all let me sincerely apologize if this comes accros as poorly organized or scammy. It is definitely not my intention to do anything that would bring any more negative publicity to EA at this time.
I will immediately stop posting here and try other EA communities if I am asked to stop further updates by the mods.
But I am very hesitant to kill the project completely and I probably will not because I don’t really think its success will make EA look bad, but again I’m new so maybe I dont fully understand it all.
I was (and strongly still) under the impression that this would be a good thing for EA and since it deals with a core EA matter then I felt I could / should post it here if only to gather some feedback and get the word out.
Especially since we have been encouraged to post on EA forum, I figured I could post them here.
Maybe the title or the $1B figure seems too sensational but I very much think its doable. Most of the push back on the other post seem to do with a DAO not being necessary for something like this and I tried my best to present my own arguments.
I have put in a lot of work into this—since Nov 2022 to be precise and Istrongly believe in the possibility of success so I don’t want to be discouraged by the negativity so far. I have tried my best to provide as much detail as I can explaining how I expect this to work (especially in this very post). If there is any information I’m leaving out I will gladly provide it.
I have watched people in the community bickering and dillydallying these past months over those EA issues but most seem to be just kicking the tires and nobody seems to be going further to do do anything or even ready to do anything concrete about this stuff.
And its eating me deep inside because I can clearly see how much greater this movement can be.
I agree that I’m new to EA (and maybe a bit overzealous in my thinking) and I would love to receive constructive advice on how to go about doing this properly instead of killing the whole idea.
To the best of my knowledge I have tried to answer every question on the first post and I will continue to try and do so with this one.
If my identity is an issue to contend with then I don’t mind revealing it if I have to, or if anybody cares they could DM me for that.
Regarding your “scammy list”
“Your organization”, EffectiveCauses, doesn’t have a website or any other public-facing information. However, there are a bunch of accounts.
The “EffectiveCauses” Quora account is pushing crypto stuff that is unrelated to your DAO.
1. Effective Causes is new and mostly not set up formally yet. It is literally still just an idea in my head and rough blueprints. One of the reasons I’m fundraising for that is to setup formally. The quora and every effectiveDAO link you find were all created by me so that when the project kicks off I will already have those names instead of some cybersquatter hijacking the name. when the actual project begins they will all be cleaned up and readied for use.
Nothing much else by way of formality is going on, I just meet with a couple of students from a nearby university talking to them about EA and we meet a few times to brainstorm and share ideas. The effectivedao.org domain has been registered by me pending when the website is setup. EffectiveCauses and the DAO and everything are really in a pre-launch state, nothing at all is setup.
The one person commenting in support of you looks a bit like an astroturf account (created recently, fake name/PFP).
2. Not sure which person you are referring to, there were quite a number of comments on the other post and a few of them seemed supportive. But I have only one EA Forum account and I don’t know and haven’t asked any other person to comment in support of me, I have nothing to do with them. None of the people in EA who actually know my identity have commented so far. But I’ve shared the post in some communities where I’m active. I’ve been sharing it.
The Twitter account you linked to is also quite shallow (few posts/no substantive posts, no followers, etc.), as is your EA Forums account.
The twitter is sparse because: The project is new. This post is my first major post about it in the public. The actual Twitter accounts are all rather new. Everything is new because its still literally an idea in my head. Only now do I plan to start tweeting more regularly.
I already created new twitter accounts for Effectivecauses and for the DAO but like I explained in the post, I’ve been having issues completing the registration due to twitter’s phone verification issues so I had to use another twitter account of mine and delete all the previous posts so that I would have a twitter to use, albeit temporarily.
For my EA Forum account. I’m new to EA, joined in September or so and posted and commented a couple of times. That’s the best I could do. I comment on posts that interest me and I am knowledgeable about.
But again,
If my identity is an issue, I dont mind going through KYC right now, but not publicly.
If you care to spare some of your time I dont mind doing anything you like me to do to verify my identity.
And most importantly, I will like your guidance on how to do this properly. But please don’t ask me to kill the idea.
I was referring to Joyce Alvino—not sure if that account is controlled by you, but it is almost certainly a fake name/PFP and it is the only account that is quite supportive of your idea here.
There is no point sharing your identity with me—I’m not looking to contribute financially to your organization. Any anonymity is going to be unacceptable to most donors, and use of multiple fake names (Sally Atkins, Degen Chadwick) comes off as as particularly sketchy.
From this comment it does seem like your heart is in the right place—I was perhaps a bit too extreme in saying that this could damage the reputation of EA. I do really think you should take a step back and reconsider this work. Is your biggest impact going to be in creating something new, or could you work more effectively by leveraging the organizations that already exist in EA?
If you really want to launch a new org, that is not going to happen quickly. You need a business plan, a clear and concise pitch, a website, information about who you are and what your track-record is, etc.
Thanks again for the time to offer feedback. I really appreciate.
About the Joyce Alvino I’ve seen their comments but I don’t think I know them, but if they are being supportive then that indeed makes me glad.
I agree that the multiple fake names pseudonyms may seem sketchy. That is why I was upfront about the fact that I use pseudonyms a lot online (mostly because I’m also a digital marketer so using pseudonymous accounts are a common aspect of the trade). But I will understand if funders don’t like that although I believe some won’t mind and I believe that when I get my few collaborators all of that will be sorted out.
Thanks for the advice about the organisational setup. I did opt do do this the “crypto way” where anonymity/pseudonyms is almost normal but I understand that this is not exactly a crypto community so I need to do things the “proper” way. Perhaps if this doesn’t work out as planned I would pivot to a more traditional process.
I understand that getting a new org is not going to happen quickly and I’m not really expecting it to. This is why I want to first get a handful of people to work with me for 2 to 3 months to do all those proper things and also to advise and chip in ideas. One of the purposes of the NFT auction I mentioned is to get a handful of collaborators so that we can set things up properly.
I know it may not be quick or easy but I’m just trying to take the first tentative steps towards building the big organization. I’ll rather fail than not try at all.
You seem like a thoughtful person who is willing to listen to feedback, which I really appreciate, but I think there is something that you are missing here. Spending time trying to raise a billion dollars takes your time away from doing other things that have a higher chance of success.
I actually consider every mistake as an opportunity to learn and I value every kind of feedback because it helps me to improve.
Also nobody knows everything or as someone once said “I know a lot of things about a lot of things. But I don’t know as much about a lot of other things that I wish I knew a lot of things about.”
I always take every opportunity to learn from others because I believe it’s the fastest way to improve.
Wish I could have someone with your kind of insights on this team, that would really be useful.
All the same I very much appreciate the time you took to read the article and offer your feedback.
If my attempt at this DAO fails, I’ll probably come crawling to you for some tips on how to do it differently better.
But right now the ball is already rolling, I’m already promoting the NFT auction everywhere and the outcome of the auction will determine my next move.
People are being very polite to you and asking substantive questions. Others, please correct me if I’m wrong, but let me say what I think most readers here are really thinking:
You should stop what you are doing. This comes across as a scam (I’ll give some more details about that below) or at least as poorly organized. If this were to be successful, even in any small way, it would damage the reputation of EA because of the way in which it is presented.
You need to have a little humility. Yes, EA is a space where people can and do have a big impact when they are new. But teams of the smartest people here have been trying to raise big money for years and it is simply not that easy. The good news about EA is that you do not need to raise 1 billion to have an impact. We are here to focus on the most effective things around, which means you can make a huge difference with just a few thousand dollars.
Here is why this seems like a scam to me:
“Your organization”, EffectiveCauses, doesn’t have a website or any other public-facing information. However, there are a bunch of accounts.
The “EffectiveCauses” Quora account is pushing crypto stuff that is unrelated to your DAO.
The one person commenting in support of you looks a bit like an astroturf account (created recently, fake name/PFP).
The Twitter account you linked to is also quite shallow (few posts/no substantive posts, no followers, etc.), as is your EA Forums account.
I’m not assuming its a scam, and seems unlikely it’d damage the reputation of EA. Seems like a person who got super enthusiastic about a particular governance idea they had, and had a few too many conversations about how to pitch well.
First of all let me sincerely apologize if this comes accros as poorly organized or scammy. It is definitely not my intention to do anything that would bring any more negative publicity to EA at this time.
I will immediately stop posting here and try other EA communities if I am asked to stop further updates by the mods.
But I am very hesitant to kill the project completely and I probably will not because I don’t really think its success will make EA look bad, but again I’m new so maybe I dont fully understand it all.
I was (and strongly still) under the impression that this would be a good thing for EA and since it deals with a core EA matter then I felt I could / should post it here if only to gather some feedback and get the word out.
Especially since we have been encouraged to post on EA forum, I figured I could post them here.
Maybe the title or the $1B figure seems too sensational but I very much think its doable. Most of the push back on the other post seem to do with a DAO not being necessary for something like this and I tried my best to present my own arguments.
I have put in a lot of work into this—since Nov 2022 to be precise and Istrongly believe in the possibility of success so I don’t want to be discouraged by the negativity so far. I have tried my best to provide as much detail as I can explaining how I expect this to work (especially in this very post). If there is any information I’m leaving out I will gladly provide it.
I have watched people in the community bickering and dillydallying these past months over those EA issues but most seem to be just kicking the tires and nobody seems to be going further to do do anything or even ready to do anything concrete about this stuff.
And its eating me deep inside because I can clearly see how much greater this movement can be.
I agree that I’m new to EA (and maybe a bit overzealous in my thinking) and I would love to receive constructive advice on how to go about doing this properly instead of killing the whole idea.
To the best of my knowledge I have tried to answer every question on the first post and I will continue to try and do so with this one.
If my identity is an issue to contend with then I don’t mind revealing it if I have to, or if anybody cares they could DM me for that.
Regarding your “scammy list”
1. Effective Causes is new and mostly not set up formally yet. It is literally still just an idea in my head and rough blueprints. One of the reasons I’m fundraising for that is to setup formally. The quora and every effectiveDAO link you find were all created by me so that when the project kicks off I will already have those names instead of some cybersquatter hijacking the name. when the actual project begins they will all be cleaned up and readied for use.
Nothing much else by way of formality is going on, I just meet with a couple of students from a nearby university talking to them about EA and we meet a few times to brainstorm and share ideas. The effectivedao.org domain has been registered by me pending when the website is setup. EffectiveCauses and the DAO and everything are really in a pre-launch state, nothing at all is setup.
2. Not sure which person you are referring to, there were quite a number of comments on the other post and a few of them seemed supportive. But I have only one EA Forum account and I don’t know and haven’t asked any other person to comment in support of me, I have nothing to do with them. None of the people in EA who actually know my identity have commented so far. But I’ve shared the post in some communities where I’m active. I’ve been sharing it.
The twitter is sparse because: The project is new. This post is my first major post about it in the public. The actual Twitter accounts are all rather new. Everything is new because its still literally an idea in my head. Only now do I plan to start tweeting more regularly.
I already created new twitter accounts for Effectivecauses and for the DAO but like I explained in the post, I’ve been having issues completing the registration due to twitter’s phone verification issues so I had to use another twitter account of mine and delete all the previous posts so that I would have a twitter to use, albeit temporarily.
For my EA Forum account. I’m new to EA, joined in September or so and posted and commented a couple of times. That’s the best I could do. I comment on posts that interest me and I am knowledgeable about.
But again,
If my identity is an issue, I dont mind going through KYC right now, but not publicly.
If you care to spare some of your time I dont mind doing anything you like me to do to verify my identity.
And most importantly, I will like your guidance on how to do this properly. But please don’t ask me to kill the idea.
I was referring to Joyce Alvino—not sure if that account is controlled by you, but it is almost certainly a fake name/PFP and it is the only account that is quite supportive of your idea here.
There is no point sharing your identity with me—I’m not looking to contribute financially to your organization. Any anonymity is going to be unacceptable to most donors, and use of multiple fake names (Sally Atkins, Degen Chadwick) comes off as as particularly sketchy.
From this comment it does seem like your heart is in the right place—I was perhaps a bit too extreme in saying that this could damage the reputation of EA. I do really think you should take a step back and reconsider this work. Is your biggest impact going to be in creating something new, or could you work more effectively by leveraging the organizations that already exist in EA?
If you really want to launch a new org, that is not going to happen quickly. You need a business plan, a clear and concise pitch, a website, information about who you are and what your track-record is, etc.
Thanks again for the time to offer feedback. I really appreciate.
About the Joyce Alvino I’ve seen their comments but I don’t think I know them, but if they are being supportive then that indeed makes me glad.
I agree that the multiple
fake namespseudonyms may seem sketchy. That is why I was upfront about the fact that I use pseudonyms a lot online (mostly because I’m also a digital marketer so using pseudonymous accounts are a common aspect of the trade). But I will understand if funders don’t like that although I believe some won’t mind and I believe that when I get my few collaborators all of that will be sorted out.Thanks for the advice about the organisational setup. I did opt do do this the “crypto way” where anonymity/pseudonyms is almost normal but I understand that this is not exactly a crypto community so I need to do things the “proper” way. Perhaps if this doesn’t work out as planned I would pivot to a more traditional process.
I understand that getting a new org is not going to happen quickly and I’m not really expecting it to. This is why I want to first get a handful of people to work with me for 2 to 3 months to do all those proper things and also to advise and chip in ideas. One of the purposes of the NFT auction I mentioned is to get a handful of collaborators so that we can set things up properly.
I know it may not be quick or easy but I’m just trying to take the first tentative steps towards building the big organization. I’ll rather fail than not try at all.
You seem like a thoughtful person who is willing to listen to feedback, which I really appreciate, but I think there is something that you are missing here. Spending time trying to raise a billion dollars takes your time away from doing other things that have a higher chance of success.
I actually consider every mistake as an opportunity to learn and I value every kind of feedback because it helps me to improve.
Also nobody knows everything or as someone once said “I know a lot of things about a lot of things. But I don’t know as much about a lot of other things that I wish I knew a lot of things about.”
I always take every opportunity to learn from others because I believe it’s the fastest way to improve.
Wish I could have someone with your kind of insights on this team, that would really be useful.
All the same I very much appreciate the time you took to read the article and offer your feedback.
If my attempt at this DAO fails, I’ll probably come crawling to you for some tips on how to do it
differentlybetter.But right now the ball is already rolling, I’m already promoting the NFT auction everywhere and the outcome of the auction will determine my next move.
Fingers crossed...