First, it’s definitely worth considering if you’re contributing to conversations, but as others have said, I don’t think the bar has to be “your post is as well-thought-out and detailed as a Scott Alexander post on the same topic”. I basically trust the Forum’s karma system + people’s own judgment of what’s valuable to them to effectively filter for what’s worth reading, so I don’t think writers have to do that themselves. If your post isn’t valuable to individuals, they won’t read it or upvote it.
A way you can see this is: if you write the thing, people can choose not to read it, but if you don’t write it, they can’t choose to read it. I feel like what you are doing is similar to how some EAs are like ‘oh I won’t apply to that job because I don’t want to waste the org’s time and surely I’m not a good candidate’. Well, that’s true for some jobs, but most orgs want people to apply, even if they are uncertain, and they’ll do the filtering themselves!
Second, maybe if you’re worried about diverting traffic from posts you see as better, you could incorporate those posts into your own and link them/give them a shout-out.
E.g.: [at the end of the post] “if you’re interested in this topic, I found this post by [NAME] super helpful in clarifying my thoughts.” E.g.: [at the start of the post] “I really enjoyed this post by [NAME] on [TOPIC], and it inspired me to write up some more arguments about [TOPIC] that [NAME] didn’t go into”
i.e. frame your post as a “yes and” or as a contribution to an ongoing conversation, rather than something designed to compete with, or be as good as, other posts.
NON-example: “If you care about this topic you should probably read this post whch is waaaay better than mine I’m sure” self-flagellate, self-flagellate
Third, would it help to frame your writing (to yourself, or explicitly in the post) as a way for you to clarify your own thinking, rather than as something that has to make an original argument? For example, Holden Karnofsky has talked about ‘learning by writing’: maybe you are doing a version of that, rather than being at the absolute cutting edge of research. You might say ‘well, in that case, I don’t need to publish it’, and it’s true you don’t have to publish anything, but some reasons to publish this sort of writing might be:
-it might be helpful, not for experts, but for others with similar expertise to you (or less) who are trying to clarify their own thinking on the matter -you can get feedback from commenters that might help you learn -the fact of having Published a Thing might motivate you to do more of this
Second, it’s ironic that you used this example, “I feel like what you are doing is similar to how some EAs are like ‘oh I won’t apply to that job because I don’t want to waste the org’s time and surely I’m not a good candidate’” as I have literally said that to my brother before. Your thoughts have changed my mind on the topics discussed, and I appreciate this. Sometimes, all it takes is someone laying out the argument, showing some of the absurdities of it, and then I see it in a whole new light.
As a result of the discussions on this post, I intend to write more on the forum and my blog.
I recently wrote an article yesterday where I outlined some of my reasons for writing, no coincidence, including learning by writing.
Again, thank you for your well-thought-out response and rational encouragement!
I have a few thoughts on this.
First, it’s definitely worth considering if you’re contributing to conversations, but as others have said, I don’t think the bar has to be “your post is as well-thought-out and detailed as a Scott Alexander post on the same topic”. I basically trust the Forum’s karma system + people’s own judgment of what’s valuable to them to effectively filter for what’s worth reading, so I don’t think writers have to do that themselves. If your post isn’t valuable to individuals, they won’t read it or upvote it.
A way you can see this is: if you write the thing, people can choose not to read it, but if you don’t write it, they can’t choose to read it. I feel like what you are doing is similar to how some EAs are like ‘oh I won’t apply to that job because I don’t want to waste the org’s time and surely I’m not a good candidate’. Well, that’s true for some jobs, but most orgs want people to apply, even if they are uncertain, and they’ll do the filtering themselves!
Second, maybe if you’re worried about diverting traffic from posts you see as better, you could incorporate those posts into your own and link them/give them a shout-out.
E.g.: [at the end of the post] “if you’re interested in this topic, I found this post by [NAME] super helpful in clarifying my thoughts.”
E.g.: [at the start of the post] “I really enjoyed this post by [NAME] on [TOPIC], and it inspired me to write up some more arguments about [TOPIC] that [NAME] didn’t go into”
i.e. frame your post as a “yes and” or as a contribution to an ongoing conversation, rather than something designed to compete with, or be as good as, other posts.
NON-example: “If you care about this topic you should probably read this post whch is waaaay better than mine I’m sure” self-flagellate, self-flagellate
Third, would it help to frame your writing (to yourself, or explicitly in the post) as a way for you to clarify your own thinking, rather than as something that has to make an original argument? For example, Holden Karnofsky has talked about ‘learning by writing’: maybe you are doing a version of that, rather than being at the absolute cutting edge of research. You might say ‘well, in that case, I don’t need to publish it’, and it’s true you don’t have to publish anything, but some reasons to publish this sort of writing might be:
-it might be helpful, not for experts, but for others with similar expertise to you (or less) who are trying to clarify their own thinking on the matter
-you can get feedback from commenters that might help you learn
-the fact of having Published a Thing might motivate you to do more of this
Hi @Amber Dawn,
First, thank you.
Second, it’s ironic that you used this example, “I feel like what you are doing is similar to how some EAs are like ‘oh I won’t apply to that job because I don’t want to waste the org’s time and surely I’m not a good candidate’” as I have literally said that to my brother before. Your thoughts have changed my mind on the topics discussed, and I appreciate this. Sometimes, all it takes is someone laying out the argument, showing some of the absurdities of it, and then I see it in a whole new light.
As a result of the discussions on this post, I intend to write more on the forum and my blog.
I recently wrote an article yesterday where I outlined some of my reasons for writing, no coincidence, including learning by writing.
Again, thank you for your well-thought-out response and rational encouragement!
- Aaron