I’d be interested in getting others’ takes here, but as currently phrased this post feels a bit too much like marketing / propaganda for me to be comfortable with it as a post on this Forum.
(I continue to be very supportive of WAI’s mission, methods, and staff.)
FWIW, I can see where you’re coming from but I think for me personally these kind of posts are overall net good. The key thing is making me aware that some new piece has been published, which may be interesting for various use cases. (E.g. currently I’m designing an EA seminar series.) I don’t care much about how the post is phrased, I get all the relevant info from the title + link.
Tbc, it seems very possible to me that there would be another way for me to get such information that doesn’t take up Forum space or comes with other costs.
I think this post should be on the Forum and doesn’t feel too much like marketing/propaganda to me. I wouldn’t have known about this article if not for WAI posting about it.
I guess if we start getting way too many (i.e. more than 4 a day across different orgs?) of these positive self-posts by organizations on the forum, we should start getting concerned, but I don’t think we’re close to that point yet.
Yeah, to be clear I’m happy for EA and EA-adjacent orgs to publish news they’re excited about on the Forum, and this certainly qualifies.
Something about the phrasing does bug me, but I’m not sure exactly what. This could be explained by WAI copying phrasing from another source (e.g. promotional material) to make this post, which would be understandable as a time-saver.
Hi Will, Hollis here! You’re correct, this is crossposted from our blog, which has a different tone from most EA Forum posts. I’ve added a note and a link above to clarify.
I’d be interested in getting others’ takes here, but as currently phrased this post feels a bit too much like marketing / propaganda for me to be comfortable with it as a post on this Forum.
(I continue to be very supportive of WAI’s mission, methods, and staff.)
FWIW, I can see where you’re coming from but I think for me personally these kind of posts are overall net good. The key thing is making me aware that some new piece has been published, which may be interesting for various use cases. (E.g. currently I’m designing an EA seminar series.) I don’t care much about how the post is phrased, I get all the relevant info from the title + link.
Tbc, it seems very possible to me that there would be another way for me to get such information that doesn’t take up Forum space or comes with other costs.
I think this post should be on the Forum and doesn’t feel too much like marketing/propaganda to me. I wouldn’t have known about this article if not for WAI posting about it.
I guess if we start getting way too many (i.e. more than 4 a day across different orgs?) of these positive self-posts by organizations on the forum, we should start getting concerned, but I don’t think we’re close to that point yet.
Yeah, to be clear I’m happy for EA and EA-adjacent orgs to publish news they’re excited about on the Forum, and this certainly qualifies.
Something about the phrasing does bug me, but I’m not sure exactly what. This could be explained by WAI copying phrasing from another source (e.g. promotional material) to make this post, which would be understandable as a time-saver.
Hi Will, Hollis here! You’re correct, this is crossposted from our blog, which has a different tone from most EA Forum posts. I’ve added a note and a link above to clarify.