[I went to the leaders forum. I work for 80,000 Hours but these are my personal thoughts.]
One thing to say is in terms of next steps, it’s actually pretty useful just to sync up on what people thought were the problems we should be putting attention to: like that we should be thinking more about how to be overtly appreciative. For example, in my case that means that when I do 80,000 Hours advising calls I pay a bit more attention to making sure people realise I’m grateful for the amazing work they’re doing, or how nice it is to talk to someone working hard at finding the most impactful career path.
We did also brainstorm specific ways in which lots of people can do more to increase that vibe. One example is to point out on the forum when there are particular things you found useful or appreciated. (Eg:https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/wL6nzXsHQEAZ2WJcR/summary-of-core-feedback-collected-by-cea-in-spring-summer#4KHwoAjsiED7tQEg3) I think that’s the kind of thing it’s easy to overlook doing, because it doesn’t seem like it’s moving dialogue forward in a way that offering constructive feedback does. But actually it seems really valuable to do, both because it gives writers on the forum information about what’s useful to people in a way that’s more specific than just upvotes, and because it gives everyone the sense that the forum is a friendly space to contribute.
We also discussed specific ways those at the Leaders Forum might use to try to improve the culture. In particular, we considered ways to have more open discussions about effective altruism as appreciative and inclusive. For example, many of us thought we should be doing more to highlight how amazing it is for someone to be earning a typical US salary and donating 10% of that, and thereby saving someone’s life from malaria every year. On the side of inclusivity, it seemed as if some people worried about effective altruism needing to be something that took over your life to the exclusion of other important life goals. Doing AMAs (like the one Will did recently) and podcast episodes in which people can candidly talk about their views seemed like good ways for some of us to talk about how we feel about these things. (For example, I just recorded a podcast episode about 80,000 Hours advising, in which I also chat briefly about how I’m about to go on maternity leave.) These are all small steps to take, but the hope would be that together they can influence the general culture of the effective altruism community towards feeling friendlier and more inclusive.
[I went to the leaders forum. I work for 80,000 Hours but these are my personal thoughts.]
One thing to say is in terms of next steps, it’s actually pretty useful just to sync up on what people thought were the problems we should be putting attention to: like that we should be thinking more about how to be overtly appreciative. For example, in my case that means that when I do 80,000 Hours advising calls I pay a bit more attention to making sure people realise I’m grateful for the amazing work they’re doing, or how nice it is to talk to someone working hard at finding the most impactful career path.
We did also brainstorm specific ways in which lots of people can do more to increase that vibe. One example is to point out on the forum when there are particular things you found useful or appreciated. (Eg:https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/wL6nzXsHQEAZ2WJcR/summary-of-core-feedback-collected-by-cea-in-spring-summer#4KHwoAjsiED7tQEg3) I think that’s the kind of thing it’s easy to overlook doing, because it doesn’t seem like it’s moving dialogue forward in a way that offering constructive feedback does. But actually it seems really valuable to do, both because it gives writers on the forum information about what’s useful to people in a way that’s more specific than just upvotes, and because it gives everyone the sense that the forum is a friendly space to contribute.
We also discussed specific ways those at the Leaders Forum might use to try to improve the culture. In particular, we considered ways to have more open discussions about effective altruism as appreciative and inclusive. For example, many of us thought we should be doing more to highlight how amazing it is for someone to be earning a typical US salary and donating 10% of that, and thereby saving someone’s life from malaria every year. On the side of inclusivity, it seemed as if some people worried about effective altruism needing to be something that took over your life to the exclusion of other important life goals. Doing AMAs (like the one Will did recently) and podcast episodes in which people can candidly talk about their views seemed like good ways for some of us to talk about how we feel about these things. (For example, I just recorded a podcast episode about 80,000 Hours advising, in which I also chat briefly about how I’m about to go on maternity leave.) These are all small steps to take, but the hope would be that together they can influence the general culture of the effective altruism community towards feeling friendlier and more inclusive.