I think as this place becomes a place that gets quoted in external publications more it will be harder to speak freely as a named account without a lot of practice, a very thick skin.
I mean, perhaps easier said than done, but some of my main advice would be: grow a thicker skin, and spend less time anxiously refreshing social media or focusing your attention on low-quality hit pieces.
EA is prominent enough now that we will in fact get a lot less good done in the world if we devote a day or two to reading and debating every news article that mentions us. (Bad-but-illustrative example: Imagine trying to solve a physics problem while also feeling a panicky impulse to read every news article in the world that mentions physicists.)
Writing under stable pseudonyms also seems like it captures a lot of the value of writing stably under your real name.
I have spent so long on twitter that I red team almost everything I say for “being able to be taken out of context”
That… sounds incredibly unhealthy to me, and makes me think we need better alternatives to Twitter—some platform where it’s easier to just ignore haters and talk to people who are there to do collaborative truth-seeking and good-faith meeting of minds.
If EAs feel pressure to do that level of red-teaming whenever they post on Twitter, I’d suggest they strongly consider not using Twitter.
I mean, perhaps easier said than done, but some of my main advice would be: grow a thicker skin, and spend less time anxiously refreshing social media or focusing your attention on low-quality hit pieces.
EA is prominent enough now that we will in fact get a lot less good done in the world if we devote a day or two to reading and debating every news article that mentions us. (Bad-but-illustrative example: Imagine trying to solve a physics problem while also feeling a panicky impulse to read every news article in the world that mentions physicists.)
Writing under stable pseudonyms also seems like it captures a lot of the value of writing stably under your real name.
That… sounds incredibly unhealthy to me, and makes me think we need better alternatives to Twitter—some platform where it’s easier to just ignore haters and talk to people who are there to do collaborative truth-seeking and good-faith meeting of minds.
If EAs feel pressure to do that level of red-teaming whenever they post on Twitter, I’d suggest they strongly consider not using Twitter.