It’s now occurred to me that a natural option to compare this against is having something like a directory listing EAs who are open to 1-on-1s on various topics, where their areas of expertise or interest are noted. Like this or this.
Here are some quick thoughts on how these options compare. But I’d be interested in others’ thoughts too.
Relative disadvantages of this “tentative AMA” approach:
Less centralised; you can’t see all the people listed in one place (or a small handful of places)
Harder to find again later; this post will soon slip off the radar, unless people remember it or happen to search for it
Maybe directs a disproportionate amount of attention/prominence to the semi-random subset of EAs who decide to do a “tentative AMA”
E.g., for at least a brief period, this post is on the frontpage, just as would be an AMA from Toby Ord, Will MacAskill, etc., even though those are much more notable and relevant for many EAs. If a lot of people did “tentative AMAs”, that’d happen a lot. Whereas just one post where all such people can comment or add themselves to a directory would only “take up attention” once, in a sense.
On the other hand, the karma system provides a sort of natural way of sorting that out.
Relative advantage of this “tentative AMA” approach:
More likely to lead to public answers and discussion, rather than just 1-on-1s, which may benefit more people and allow the discussion to be found again later
It’s now occurred to me that a natural option to compare this against is having something like a directory listing EAs who are open to 1-on-1s on various topics, where their areas of expertise or interest are noted. Like this or this.
Here are some quick thoughts on how these options compare. But I’d be interested in others’ thoughts too.
Relative disadvantages of this “tentative AMA” approach:
Less centralised; you can’t see all the people listed in one place (or a small handful of places)
Harder to find again later; this post will soon slip off the radar, unless people remember it or happen to search for it
Maybe directs a disproportionate amount of attention/prominence to the semi-random subset of EAs who decide to do a “tentative AMA”
E.g., for at least a brief period, this post is on the frontpage, just as would be an AMA from Toby Ord, Will MacAskill, etc., even though those are much more notable and relevant for many EAs. If a lot of people did “tentative AMAs”, that’d happen a lot. Whereas just one post where all such people can comment or add themselves to a directory would only “take up attention” once, in a sense.
On the other hand, the karma system provides a sort of natural way of sorting that out.
Relative advantage of this “tentative AMA” approach:
More likely to lead to public answers and discussion, rather than just 1-on-1s, which may benefit more people and allow the discussion to be found again later