Thank you for posting this; with respect to the first footnote, I think that even if the post is missing some parts or is slightly miscalibrated, having it on the forum might nonetheless help raise the forum’s epistemic standards.
Some considerations:
I find Epistemic Status notes more useful when the author includes the extent to which they researched or thought about something, which you mentioned under The effort you put into this post and into making its claims very precise. Itmight also be useful to include statements concerning roughly what fractions of sources of evidence referenced in their post they skimmed and what fraction they engaged with deeply.
This point at the end of your post—we often less-than-critically accept the conclusions of a post (especially if it’s by someone who has some expertise or status) - could probably be elaborated on in its own paragraph; additionally, briefly addressing what people should take away / how people should update their beliefs in the Epistemic Status note might help with this.
In my view, Epistemic Status falls under the category of “general transparency”. I highly recommend the Reasoning Transparency, which you list in Further Reading, and want to quote what I consider to be a highly valuable and highly relevant part of the Motivation section :
How trustworthy are you?
How/why is this post important?
Who would you recommend read this post?
What are your priors?
How much external review has this post undergone?
What is your epistemic confidence?
What types of support does this post’s claims use?
What shortcuts did you take?
What are this post’s major inadequacies?
How did you update your beliefs after writing this?
How should I update my beliefs after reading this?
Did you contribute anything notable by creating post?
In my own writing, I try to employ the following “canned transparency” list, which overlaps with both your list of valuable information to include under Epistemic Status and the above list from Reasoning Transparency. Of course, not all of these will be useful to include for every post; more speculative posts might benefit most from a simple Epistemic Status—the list below is geared more towards reports, reviews, and essays.
Why does this essay exist?
1-2 sentences about why there is a need for this writing or why the topic deserves attention
Who is this post for?
1 sentence explaining the author’s opinion for which people / communities would benefit (find interesting, improve research, find insightful) most from reading this
How good is this essay?
1-3 sentences about the time spent writing, claim-robustness of, evidence incorporated in this essay, including shortcuts
This essay’s claims?
1-2 sentences on the types of claims made in the essay
What is my confidence?
1-2 sentences on the confidence you have in the claims you’ve made
Can you trust me?
1-2 sentences on your qualifications, your track record, and your expertise
What are my priors?
1 sentence on what you believed about the topic before writing this post / essay /review
My updated beliefs?
1 sentence on how you updated your beliefs
My sense of where you should update?
1 sentence on how you believe others should or might update their beliefs
My contribution?
1 sentence on what, if any, contribution you believe you made in the space you are writing in
These are more of a blueprint towards a standard transparency block at the beginning of substantive posts or reviews, so I am open to edits / other people’s thoughts on the comprehensiveness / utility of this listing.
Thank you for posting this; with respect to the first footnote, I think that even if the post is missing some parts or is slightly miscalibrated, having it on the forum might nonetheless help raise the forum’s epistemic standards.
Some considerations:
I find Epistemic Status notes more useful when the author includes the extent to which they researched or thought about something, which you mentioned under The effort you put into this post and into making its claims very precise. It might also be useful to include statements concerning roughly what fractions of sources of evidence referenced in their post they skimmed and what fraction they engaged with deeply.
This point at the end of your post—we often less-than-critically accept the conclusions of a post (especially if it’s by someone who has some expertise or status) - could probably be elaborated on in its own paragraph; additionally, briefly addressing what people should take away / how people should update their beliefs in the Epistemic Status note might help with this.
In my view, Epistemic Status falls under the category of “general transparency”. I highly recommend the Reasoning Transparency, which you list in Further Reading, and want to quote what I consider to be a highly valuable and highly relevant part of the Motivation section :
In my own writing, I try to employ the following “canned transparency” list, which overlaps with both your list of valuable information to include under Epistemic Status and the above list from Reasoning Transparency. Of course, not all of these will be useful to include for every post; more speculative posts might benefit most from a simple Epistemic Status—the list below is geared more towards reports, reviews, and essays.
Why does this essay exist?
1-2 sentences about why there is a need for this writing or why the topic deserves attention
Who is this post for?
1 sentence explaining the author’s opinion for which people / communities would benefit (find interesting, improve research, find insightful) most from reading this
How good is this essay?
1-3 sentences about the time spent writing, claim-robustness of, evidence incorporated in this essay, including shortcuts
This essay’s claims?
1-2 sentences on the types of claims made in the essay
What is my confidence?
1-2 sentences on the confidence you have in the claims you’ve made
Can you trust me?
1-2 sentences on your qualifications, your track record, and your expertise
What are my priors?
1 sentence on what you believed about the topic before writing this post / essay /review
My updated beliefs?
1 sentence on how you updated your beliefs
My sense of where you should update?
1 sentence on how you believe others should or might update their beliefs
My contribution?
1 sentence on what, if any, contribution you believe you made in the space you are writing in
These are more of a blueprint towards a standard transparency block at the beginning of substantive posts or reviews, so I am open to edits / other people’s thoughts on the comprehensiveness / utility of this listing.