One reason for pessimism about the value of this kind of proposal is that a website I’ve built, Effective Altruism Blogs, receives extremely little traffic (about five users/day, according to Google Analytics). The site aggregates content from a long list of curated sources, which I keep regularly updated. Although I know a few people who told me they derive considerable value from visiting the site regularly, this is clearly not the case for the vast majority of EAs, for whom “get[ting] the information from those databases to where people read them” does not appear to be a problem in need of a solution.
I think your key case study here is different that what I propose. You built a new site, I’m suggesting making it easier for people to use their current apps (email, RSS readers, this site) to access EA content, not to get them to change. I agree that getting people to use a new thing is hard.
So to your second point, I agree. I don’t know how many would find this valuable. Though my sense is that better 80k emails might get 5-10% take-up. Is this worth it?
I’m sorry if I’ve been unclear. I don’t think this is about changing things people currently like, but about giving more options to those who currently “bounce off” EA content
One reason for pessimism about the value of this kind of proposal is that a website I’ve built, Effective Altruism Blogs, receives extremely little traffic (about five users/day, according to Google Analytics). The site aggregates content from a long list of curated sources, which I keep regularly updated. Although I know a few people who told me they derive considerable value from visiting the site regularly, this is clearly not the case for the vast majority of EAs, for whom “get[ting] the information from those databases to where people read them” does not appear to be a problem in need of a solution.
Thanks for reading.
I think your key case study here is different that what I propose. You built a new site, I’m suggesting making it easier for people to use their current apps (email, RSS readers, this site) to access EA content, not to get them to change. I agree that getting people to use a new thing is hard.
So to your second point, I agree. I don’t know how many would find this valuable. Though my sense is that better 80k emails might get 5-10% take-up. Is this worth it?
I’m sorry if I’ve been unclear. I don’t think this is about changing things people currently like, but about giving more options to those who currently “bounce off” EA content
Wow, this website looks like a great resource, will definitely be returning to it!!
One thing to note is that a search bar would be really handy, and maybe an option to filter by date etc. And perhaps a really quick about page.