Anecdotally (and also maybe some survey data), there are people that you would consider âtop EAsâ where it feels like they could have not gotten into EA if things were different, e.g. they were introduced by a friend they respected less or they read the wrong introduction. It seems still quite possible that we arenât catching all the âtop people.â
I agree with all of this. In particular, saying âall the people in EA seem like theyâd have ended up here eventuallyâ leaves out all the people who also âseem like theyâd have ended up here eventuallyâ but⌠arenât here.
I can think of people like this! I had lots of conversations while I was leading the Yale group. Some of them led to people joining; others didnât; in some cases, people came to a meeting or two and then never showed up again. Itâs hard to imagine thereâs no set of words I could have said, or actions I could have taken, that wouldnât have converted some people from âleaving after one meetingâ to âsticking aroundâ or ânever joiningâ to âattending a first event out of curiosityâ.
The Introductory Fellowship is a thing, created and funded by âmetaâ people, that I think would have âconvertedâ many of those people â if Iâd had access to it back in 2014, I think EA Yale could have been twice the size in its first year, because we lost a bunch of people who didnât have anything to âdoâ or who were stuck toiling away on badly-planned projects because I was a mediocre leader.
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I also have at least one friend I think would have been a splendid fit, and who was involved with the community early on, but then had a terrible experience with the person who introduced her to EA (they are no longer a member) and has now soured on everything related to the community (while still holding personal beliefs that are basically EA-shaped, AFAICT). Thatâs the sort of thing that meta/âcommunity-building work should clearly prevent if itâs going well.
Had my friend had the bad experience in 2021 rather than nearly a decade earlier, sheâd have access to help from CEA, support from several specialized Facebook groups, and a much larger/âbetter-organized community in her area that would [I hope] have helped her resolve things.
I agree with all of this. In particular, saying âall the people in EA seem like theyâd have ended up here eventuallyâ leaves out all the people who also âseem like theyâd have ended up here eventuallyâ but⌠arenât here.
I can think of people like this! I had lots of conversations while I was leading the Yale group. Some of them led to people joining; others didnât; in some cases, people came to a meeting or two and then never showed up again. Itâs hard to imagine thereâs no set of words I could have said, or actions I could have taken, that wouldnât have converted some people from âleaving after one meetingâ to âsticking aroundâ or ânever joiningâ to âattending a first event out of curiosityâ.
The Introductory Fellowship is a thing, created and funded by âmetaâ people, that I think would have âconvertedâ many of those people â if Iâd had access to it back in 2014, I think EA Yale could have been twice the size in its first year, because we lost a bunch of people who didnât have anything to âdoâ or who were stuck toiling away on badly-planned projects because I was a mediocre leader.
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I also have at least one friend I think would have been a splendid fit, and who was involved with the community early on, but then had a terrible experience with the person who introduced her to EA (they are no longer a member) and has now soured on everything related to the community (while still holding personal beliefs that are basically EA-shaped, AFAICT). Thatâs the sort of thing that meta/âcommunity-building work should clearly prevent if itâs going well.
Had my friend had the bad experience in 2021 rather than nearly a decade earlier, sheâd have access to help from CEA, support from several specialized Facebook groups, and a much larger/âbetter-organized community in her area that would [I hope] have helped her resolve things.