I do this because I want to reduce the likelihood of conflict-of-interest stuff coming up. (Feels very unlikely, but could be super messy to deal with if it did happen.)
I’ve probably been influenced here by GiveWell’s early astroturfing controversy (which almost killed the org).
Thanks. I agree it probably makes sense to add such statements when your posts or comments could be seen as promoting an organization you work for. The general argument for disclosing potential conflicts of interest applies here.
While I didn’t make it clear in my question, the cases I had in mind are not cases of this sort. Rather, I was thinking of cases in which the purpose of the disclaimer is to indicate that the views one expresses should not be interpreted as representing those of one’s organization.
Larks draws a useful distinction between disclosures and disclaimers, which corresponds to these two different cases. I sympathize with his arguments for concluding that, while disclosures are desirable, disclaimers are unnecessary.
If you’re adding a disclosure already, surely having it be a disclaimer also isn’t more distracting? I’m assuming these look like [I work for 80k] and [I work for 80k but this is my personal opinion] respectively—let me know if that’s not how you think about them.
If you’re adding a disclosure already, surely having it be a disclaimer also isn’t more distracting?
I agree with this. But my sense is that only a small fraction of the comments which include a disclaimer are also comments which include or should include a disclosure. So the fact that it’s not more distracting to have both than only a disclaimer doesn’t influence my general thinking about disclaimers much.
There’s also the separate argument that adding disclaimers runs the risk of changing expectations about what can be inferred from posts that lack them. Other things equal, I would prefer to support the conversational norm that no one is speaking in a professional capacity unless they say so explicitly, or is otherwise obvious from context.
I add short disclosure statements when posting about Ought.
I do this because I want to reduce the likelihood of conflict-of-interest stuff coming up. (Feels very unlikely, but could be super messy to deal with if it did happen.)
I’ve probably been influenced here by GiveWell’s early astroturfing controversy (which almost killed the org).
Thanks. I agree it probably makes sense to add such statements when your posts or comments could be seen as promoting an organization you work for. The general argument for disclosing potential conflicts of interest applies here.
While I didn’t make it clear in my question, the cases I had in mind are not cases of this sort. Rather, I was thinking of cases in which the purpose of the disclaimer is to indicate that the views one expresses should not be interpreted as representing those of one’s organization.
Larks draws a useful distinction between disclosures and disclaimers, which corresponds to these two different cases. I sympathize with his arguments for concluding that, while disclosures are desirable, disclaimers are unnecessary.
Got it. I like Larks’ distinction. I also think finance & investing communities have good norms around this.
If you’re adding a disclosure already, surely having it be a disclaimer also isn’t more distracting? I’m assuming these look like [I work for 80k] and [I work for 80k but this is my personal opinion] respectively—let me know if that’s not how you think about them.
I agree with this. But my sense is that only a small fraction of the comments which include a disclaimer are also comments which include or should include a disclosure. So the fact that it’s not more distracting to have both than only a disclaimer doesn’t influence my general thinking about disclaimers much.
There’s also the separate argument that adding disclaimers runs the risk of changing expectations about what can be inferred from posts that lack them. Other things equal, I would prefer to support the conversational norm that no one is speaking in a professional capacity unless they say so explicitly, or is otherwise obvious from context.