My notes on what I liked about the post, from the announcement:
Ben Kuhn’s book review contains enough ideas for many good Forum posts; instead, he combined them all into one excellent post. I’m loathe to even attempt a summary; you should really read the whole thing.
Some especially good features of the post:
Written in a colloquial style. This seems likely to help readers (a) finish the post and (b) remember the ideas. Using a freewheeling, SlateStarCodex-ish voice isn’t always ideal, but in this context, it works out beautifully.
Starts by defining its terms. Ben’s list of features found in “long-termist” and “short-termist” worldviews provides useful context for the rest of the post, and also gives readers a model for how they might apply each worldview to causes outside of global development.
Includes practical takeaways — not just “EA should do more X,” but “EA may spend too much time on Y, and people with outlook Z should consider doing X”. (In this case, “long-termists sympathetic to global poverty as a cause area should consider a root-cause approach to problem-solving.”)
If you want to make a recommendation in a post, it’s helpful to think about tradeoffs and your target audience. “Effective altruism” isn’t an individual entity that can do more or less of something; actions come from specific people and organizations within the community.
This post was awarded an EA Forum Prize; see the prize announcement for more details.
My notes on what I liked about the post, from the announcement: