On Friday I gave a talk to the APART research fellows, about writing on the EA Forum. The talk included a few tips on writing a banger Forum post. The corresponding section from my handout is belowâLMK if any of the advice is useful, or strikes you as wrong:
3 rules for (Forum) writing
Be Engaging
Write with your readerâs limited time and attention in mind.
Use concrete examples and analogies to illustrate points.
Be concise and avoid repetition.
Be Honest
Express uncertainty when you have it.
Donât aim to persuade, aim to explain.
Make your reasoning transparent and easy to follow â this helps people disagree with you
Be Clear
Put a TL;DR at the beginning
Use descriptive headings that summarise each section
Write concise, uncluttered sentences (Claude is very helpful for this)
Common Mistakes
Donât assume readers are automatically interested in your topicâexplain its relevance.
Donât assume specialised knowledgeâdefine jargon and provide necessary background information. People are familiar with basic AI risk arguments, but more niche topics need some explanation. As a rule of thumb, if you are about to use an acronym, youâre probably talking about something niche.
If youâve heard writing advice before, you might not get much from this, but itâs often recommended â the main useful takeaway was how much the author hates âclutterâ. Heâs right. Remove unnecessary words and phrases as you write, and when you do your final edit.
General Forum advice
A post on the Forum is the start, not the end, of a conversation. Donât feel you have to answer every critique and explore every angle. Youâll have the opportunity to do that in the comments.
On Friday I gave a talk to the APART research fellows, about writing on the EA Forum. The talk included a few tips on writing a banger Forum post. The corresponding section from my handout is belowâLMK if any of the advice is useful, or strikes you as wrong:
3 rules for (Forum) writing
Be Engaging
Write with your readerâs limited time and attention in mind.
Use concrete examples and analogies to illustrate points.
Be concise and avoid repetition.
Be Honest
Express uncertainty when you have it.
Donât aim to persuade, aim to explain.
Make your reasoning transparent and easy to follow â this helps people disagree with you
Be Clear
Put a TL;DR at the beginning
Use descriptive headings that summarise each section
Write concise, uncluttered sentences (Claude is very helpful for this)
Common Mistakes
Donât assume readers are automatically interested in your topicâexplain its relevance.
Donât assume specialised knowledgeâdefine jargon and provide necessary background information. People are familiar with basic AI risk arguments, but more niche topics need some explanation. As a rule of thumb, if you are about to use an acronym, youâre probably talking about something niche.
Extra tips
[highly recommended] Julian Shapiroâs handbook- TLDR:
Itâs worth rewriting things.
Optimise for succinctness and clarity.
No more than one idea per sentence.
On writing well
If youâve heard writing advice before, you might not get much from this, but itâs often recommended â the main useful takeaway was how much the author hates âclutterâ. Heâs right. Remove unnecessary words and phrases as you write, and when you do your final edit.
General Forum advice
A post on the Forum is the start, not the end, of a conversation. Donât feel you have to answer every critique and explore every angle. Youâll have the opportunity to do that in the comments.