If you see someone using “effective altruism” in a context that concerns you, you’re welcome to contact CEA about it.
I recommend using either the EA Forum’s Intercom help system (small box in lower-right corner of your screen) or CEA’s contact form, rather than trying to email a specific individual. (But emailing an individual is better than nothing.)
In a practical sense:
Many odd uses of EA are too small or out-of-the-way to be worth worrying about (e.g. the many people on Twitter who use #effectivealtruism on their posts about low-impact charitable causes).
Our understanding is that “effective altruism” is a general enough term that no one can copyright it, so even if it were being used for something awful, there’s probably no legal avenue. If we saw a substantial misuse, I think we’d probably just reach out and talk to the person in question, or post a clarifying comment on their thread.
That said, there are many past cases where we’ve had conversations like this with people, and many of those ended with the other person agreeing not to use “effective altruism” in the context that concerned us.
If you see someone using “effective altruism” in a context that concerns you, you’re welcome to contact CEA about it.
I recommend using either the EA Forum’s Intercom help system (small box in lower-right corner of your screen) or CEA’s contact form, rather than trying to email a specific individual. (But emailing an individual is better than nothing.)
In a practical sense:
Many odd uses of EA are too small or out-of-the-way to be worth worrying about (e.g. the many people on Twitter who use #effectivealtruism on their posts about low-impact charitable causes).
Our understanding is that “effective altruism” is a general enough term that no one can copyright it, so even if it were being used for something awful, there’s probably no legal avenue. If we saw a substantial misuse, I think we’d probably just reach out and talk to the person in question, or post a clarifying comment on their thread.
That said, there are many past cases where we’ve had conversations like this with people, and many of those ended with the other person agreeing not to use “effective altruism” in the context that concerned us.