“What makes you stop posting?” could be reframed as “What makes you post in the first place?”, and “What might make it easier?” could be reframed as “What might make you publish posts that were more challenging for you (practically or emotionally)?”
The quality of many forum posts is very high, including from people who are not paid by a research org to write them and have no direct connection to the community (such as thesetwo). So even if you only factor in the time cost, you would still have to suppose some pretty large benefits to explain why people write them.
This was a really good point, and it made me think for quite a while. I’ve posted on the forum a lot since re-entering the EA community (to the point I’ve consciously tried to do it less so it’s not spammy!), but I’ve never really thought about why I put so much effort into posts or, indeed, my comments. There’s not much of a difference between the two, really, since one of my recent comments on someone’s post was 1,207 words long haha. All in good faith, though!
I don’t gain anything from posting. I have a good job outside of EA, I’m not part of any EA groups, and I don’t particularly want or need anything from anyone in EA. So there’s nothing concrete there. I’ve never really thought about it, but it boils down to sharing knowledge. If the things I know about can help someone else somewhere do good better, or address a problem, or whatever then I like the idea that maybe my posts are useful to people. My specialist area is also kind of niche and difficult to enter, so I like the idea of making it more understandable and approachable.
I never get any karma really, or even high reads, but I do get high retention so people (~50%) tend to read my posts all the way through which I really like. So that ties in with what I think my core motivation is.
Obviously I think it’s good to make sure criticism is of ideas and not people/their values, and to be polite in a common sense way such as trying to give criticism as a compliment sandwich.
I’m a huge fan of this. It’s rare, but if ever I really disagree with someone’s post I’ll always highlight what I liked about it too. In my experience aside from being polite, it also results in better conversation.
Just chiming in with a quick note: I collected some tips on what could make criticism more productive in this post: “Productive criticism: what could help?”
I’ll also add a suggestion from Aaron: If you like a post, tell the author! (And if you’re not sure about commenting with something you think isn’t substantive, you can message the author a quick note of appreciation or even just heart-react on the post.) I know that I get a lot out of appreciative comments/messages related to my posts (and I want to do more of this myself).
I think it would be particularly valuable to tell the author (and the rest of the Forum) how you think reading the post created impact. More concrete / personal examples might include: I am more likely to donate to X / using Y strategy because I read this post, or I will be more likely to advise people who come to me for career advice to do Z. I think many potential authors may be wondering whether the time spent writing actually produces impact in comparison to the counterfactual uses of their time, so feedback on that point should be helpful.
This was a really good point, and it made me think for quite a while. I’ve posted on the forum a lot since re-entering the EA community (to the point I’ve consciously tried to do it less so it’s not spammy!), but I’ve never really thought about why I put so much effort into posts or, indeed, my comments. There’s not much of a difference between the two, really, since one of my recent comments on someone’s post was 1,207 words long haha. All in good faith, though!
I don’t gain anything from posting. I have a good job outside of EA, I’m not part of any EA groups, and I don’t particularly want or need anything from anyone in EA. So there’s nothing concrete there. I’ve never really thought about it, but it boils down to sharing knowledge. If the things I know about can help someone else somewhere do good better, or address a problem, or whatever then I like the idea that maybe my posts are useful to people. My specialist area is also kind of niche and difficult to enter, so I like the idea of making it more understandable and approachable.
I never get any karma really, or even high reads, but I do get high retention so people (~50%) tend to read my posts all the way through which I really like. So that ties in with what I think my core motivation is.
I’m a huge fan of this. It’s rare, but if ever I really disagree with someone’s post I’ll always highlight what I liked about it too. In my experience aside from being polite, it also results in better conversation.
Edit: Grammar
Just chiming in with a quick note: I collected some tips on what could make criticism more productive in this post: “Productive criticism: what could help?”
I’ll also add a suggestion from Aaron: If you like a post, tell the author! (And if you’re not sure about commenting with something you think isn’t substantive, you can message the author a quick note of appreciation or even just heart-react on the post.) I know that I get a lot out of appreciative comments/messages related to my posts (and I want to do more of this myself).
I think it would be particularly valuable to tell the author (and the rest of the Forum) how you think reading the post created impact. More concrete / personal examples might include: I am more likely to donate to X / using Y strategy because I read this post, or I will be more likely to advise people who come to me for career advice to do Z. I think many potential authors may be wondering whether the time spent writing actually produces impact in comparison to the counterfactual uses of their time, so feedback on that point should be helpful.