I didn’t see the old title, but FWIW I had the same thought as Julian had about the old title about this title when I saw it just now:
Don’t just give well, give WELLBYs: HLI’s 2022 charity recommendation
“give well” clearly seemed like a reference to GiveWell to me. It sounded like you’re saying “Don’t give according to GiveWell’s recommendations; give according to HLI’s recommendations made on the basis of maximizing WELLBYs.”
It’s perfectly fine to say this of course, but I think it’s a bit off-putting to say it subtly like that rather than directly. Also it seems strange to make that statement the title, since the post doesn’t seem to be centrally about that claim.
I personally think it’s a good enough pun to be worth the cost (and I do think there is still a real, albeit I think somewhat minor, cost paid in it feeling a bit adversarial). I’ve laughed about it multiple times today as I revisited the EA Forum frontpage, and it lightened up my day a bit in these somewhat stressful times.
Fair enough. I agree that the current title feeling a bit adversarial is only a minor cost.
I’ve realized that my main reason for not liking the title is that the post doesn’t address my concerns about the WELLBY approach, so I don’t feel like the post justifies the title’s recommendation to “give WELLBYs” rather than “give well” (whether that means GiveWell or give well on some other basis).
On a meta-note, I’m reluctant to down-vote Julian’s top comment (I certainly wouldn’t want it to have negative karma), but it is a bit annoying that the (now-lengthy) top comment thread is about the title rather than the actual post. I suppose I’m mostly to blame for that by replying with an additional comment (now two) to the thread, but I also don’t want to be discouraged from adding my thoughts just by the fact that the comment thread is highly upvoted and thus prominently visible. (I strong-agreement-voted Julian’s comment, and refrained from regular karma voting on it.)
I didn’t see the old title, but FWIW I had the same thought as Julian had about the old title about this title when I saw it just now:
“give well” clearly seemed like a reference to GiveWell to me. It sounded like you’re saying “Don’t give according to GiveWell’s recommendations; give according to HLI’s recommendations made on the basis of maximizing WELLBYs.”
It’s perfectly fine to say this of course, but I think it’s a bit off-putting to say it subtly like that rather than directly. Also it seems strange to make that statement the title, since the post doesn’t seem to be centrally about that claim.
I personally think it’s a good enough pun to be worth the cost (and I do think there is still a real, albeit I think somewhat minor, cost paid in it feeling a bit adversarial). I’ve laughed about it multiple times today as I revisited the EA Forum frontpage, and it lightened up my day a bit in these somewhat stressful times.
Fair enough. I agree that the current title feeling a bit adversarial is only a minor cost.
I’ve realized that my main reason for not liking the title is that the post doesn’t address my concerns about the WELLBY approach, so I don’t feel like the post justifies the title’s recommendation to “give WELLBYs” rather than “give well” (whether that means GiveWell or give well on some other basis).
On a meta-note, I’m reluctant to down-vote Julian’s top comment (I certainly wouldn’t want it to have negative karma), but it is a bit annoying that the (now-lengthy) top comment thread is about the title rather than the actual post. I suppose I’m mostly to blame for that by replying with an additional comment (now two) to the thread, but I also don’t want to be discouraged from adding my thoughts just by the fact that the comment thread is highly upvoted and thus prominently visible. (I strong-agreement-voted Julian’s comment, and refrained from regular karma voting on it.)