(1) Confusing: based on the name alone, I’d expect the blog to contain very fundamental criticism of EA ideas or community, rather than criticism that is pretty well in the spirit of the enterprise. I’d also expect it to be more hostile than is justified by values or epistemic norms I share.
(2) Bad associations: I’ve seen the phrase “ineffective altruism” a few times before. All the examples I can remember were in the context of low-quality criticism and vibe-based sniping on Twitter.
(3) Hostile to a key audience: one of your most important audiences probably won’t like the name much. If you’re trying to have a good discussion, it’s usually a bad idea to open by suggesting your interlocutor is misguided or “ineffective”. [1]
The combination of (1)-(3) probably explain why this post doesn’t already have 100 karma (83 at the time of writing). I’d guess the name will reduce engagement and sharing going forwards by at least 10% compared to a neutral name like “Thorstad’s blog”.
Thanks again for starting this. I will follow along with interest.
[1] Unfortunately the name “effective altruism” also does this, because it’s dunking on the foil (regular altruism).
Cool. I’m interested to read some of these.
Hot take: I think you should change the name.
Current name has several issues:
(1) Confusing: based on the name alone, I’d expect the blog to contain very fundamental criticism of EA ideas or community, rather than criticism that is pretty well in the spirit of the enterprise. I’d also expect it to be more hostile than is justified by values or epistemic norms I share.
(2) Bad associations: I’ve seen the phrase “ineffective altruism” a few times before. All the examples I can remember were in the context of low-quality criticism and vibe-based sniping on Twitter.
(3) Hostile to a key audience: one of your most important audiences probably won’t like the name much. If you’re trying to have a good discussion, it’s usually a bad idea to open by suggesting your interlocutor is misguided or “ineffective”. [1]
The combination of (1)-(3) probably explain why this post doesn’t already have 100 karma (83 at the time of writing). I’d guess the name will reduce engagement and sharing going forwards by at least 10% compared to a neutral name like “Thorstad’s blog”.
Thanks again for starting this. I will follow along with interest.
[1] Unfortunately the name “effective altruism” also does this, because it’s dunking on the foil (regular altruism).
Thanks Peter! Your feedback on the name is much appreciated.
Please do let me know what you think of future posts. It’s always good to hear from interested readers.