Keep in mind that soliciting upvotes for a comment is explicitly against Reddit rules. I understand if you think that the stakes of this situation are more important than these rules, but be sure you are consciously aware of the judgment you have made.
I’d say our policy should be ‘just don’t do that.’ EA has learned its lesson on this from GiveWell.
Because we believe that trust, cooperation, and accurate information are essential to doing good, we strive to be honest and trustworthy. More broadly, we strive to follow those rules of good conduct that allow communities (and the people within them) to thrive. We also value the reputation of effective altruism, and recognize that our actions reflect on it.
Indeed, maybe I should made the point more harshly. To be clear, that comment is not about something people might do, it’s about what’s already present in the top post, which I see as breaking the Reddit rules.
I used soft language because I was worried about EA discussions breaking into arguments whenever someone suggests a good thing to do, and was worried that I might have erred too much in the other direction in other contexts. I still don’t feel I have a good intuition on how confrontational I should be.
I think it was an understandable first thought for someone who didn’t know those rules, and Dony shouldn’t be castigated for not knowing about them in a useful post about an important topic. But I think we should be definite about not violating the rules (e.g. by editing the post) now that everyone involved knows about them, while pursuing Dony’s other good ideas.
I’d say our policy should be ‘just don’t do that.’ EA has learned its lesson on this from GiveWell.
Also:
Indeed, maybe I should made the point more harshly. To be clear, that comment is not about something people might do, it’s about what’s already present in the top post, which I see as breaking the Reddit rules.
I used soft language because I was worried about EA discussions breaking into arguments whenever someone suggests a good thing to do, and was worried that I might have erred too much in the other direction in other contexts. I still don’t feel I have a good intuition on how confrontational I should be.
I think it was an understandable first thought for someone who didn’t know those rules, and Dony shouldn’t be castigated for not knowing about them in a useful post about an important topic. But I think we should be definite about not violating the rules (e.g. by editing the post) now that everyone involved knows about them, while pursuing Dony’s other good ideas.