I could be wrong, but I have a pretty strong sense that nearly everyone I know with EA funding would be willing to criticise CEA if they had a good reason to. I’d be surprised if {being EA funded} decreased willingness to criticise EA orgs. I even expect the opposite to be true.
I disagree, I know several people who fit this description (5 off the top of my head) who would find this very hard. I think it very much depends on factors like how well networked you are, where you live, how much funding you’ve received and for how long, and whether you think you could work for and org in the future.
When people already well-respected in the community criticise something in EA, it can often be a source of prestige and a display of their own ability to think independently. But if a relative newcomer were to suggest the very same criticisms, it will often be interpreted very differently. Other aspiring EAs might intuitively classify them as “normie” rather than “EA above the pack”.
So depending on where in the local status hierarchy you find yourself, you might have very different perceptions on how risky it is for community members in general to voice contrarian opinions.
The part about newcomers doesn’t reflect my experience FWIW, though my sample size is small. I published a major criticism while a relative newcomer (knew a handful of EAs, mostly online, was working as a teacher, certainly felt like I had no idea what I was doing). Though it wasn’t the goal of doing so, I think that criticism ended causing me to gain status, possibly (though it’s hard to assess accurately) more status that I think I “deserved” for writing it.
[I no longer feel like a newcomer so this is a cached impression from a couple of years ago and should therefore be taken with a pinch of salt]
I disagree. If anything EA has a problem that Alexrjl hinted at that you gain too much status for criticising EA. Scott Alexander’s recent post made me update in that direction.
(Sidenote: I gave your comment an upvote because I appreciate it, but an agreement downvote since I disagree. And it is just making me happy right now to see how useful explicitly seperating these two voting systems can be)
FWIW, I don’t feel like a newcomer and I write a lot of contrarian (but honest) comments. I don’t generally feel like being massively downvoted gains me status. I’m often afraid I’m lowering my chances of ever getting hired by an EA org.
I disagree, I know several people who fit this description (5 off the top of my head) who would find this very hard. I think it very much depends on factors like how well networked you are, where you live, how much funding you’ve received and for how long, and whether you think you could work for and org in the future.
Here’s an anonymous form where people can criticize us, in case that helps.
When people already well-respected in the community criticise something in EA, it can often be a source of prestige and a display of their own ability to think independently. But if a relative newcomer were to suggest the very same criticisms, it will often be interpreted very differently. Other aspiring EAs might intuitively classify them as “normie” rather than “EA above the pack”.
So depending on where in the local status hierarchy you find yourself, you might have very different perceptions on how risky it is for community members in general to voice contrarian opinions.
The part about newcomers doesn’t reflect my experience FWIW, though my sample size is small. I published a major criticism while a relative newcomer (knew a handful of EAs, mostly online, was working as a teacher, certainly felt like I had no idea what I was doing). Though it wasn’t the goal of doing so, I think that criticism ended causing me to gain status, possibly (though it’s hard to assess accurately) more status that I think I “deserved” for writing it.
[I no longer feel like a newcomer so this is a cached impression from a couple of years ago and should therefore be taken with a pinch of salt]
I disagree. If anything EA has a problem that Alexrjl hinted at that you gain too much status for criticising EA. Scott Alexander’s recent post made me update in that direction.
(Sidenote: I gave your comment an upvote because I appreciate it, but an agreement downvote since I disagree. And it is just making me happy right now to see how useful explicitly seperating these two voting systems can be)
FWIW, I don’t feel like a newcomer and I write a lot of contrarian (but honest) comments. I don’t generally feel like being massively downvoted gains me status. I’m often afraid I’m lowering my chances of ever getting hired by an EA org.