Thereās not as much new content as Iād hope, or at least easily discoverable content on the front page.
I agree with this, and I hope that we can improve the situation with a combination of community building and more actively steering discussions (for example via Forum events).
Itās very serious!
Yeah I agree this is true, but Iām not sure what (if anything) to do about it. At least, if this is a problem, it doesnāt feel like a top priority one to address. My hypothesis is that doing more community building work will address this somewhat, like if users feel more comfortable with each other and feel like they know each other better (than right now).
The standards are very high.
Agree with this one too. :) However I do think that having high standards does have benefits, and I currently think that we should actually have higher standards on the margin. I agree that there are trade-offs, and I am sad to lose out on good content purely due to people feeling intimidated.
If youāre feeling unsure about posting something, please feel free to reach out to Toby or contact the team here. Weāre happy to give you feedback, and help you figure out what works on the Forum. Also, quick takes are another great solution, I def recommend using them!
Thereās not a lot of disagreement.
This oneās interesting, and I feel like I donāt know how to evaluate whether this is true. I think thereās a related phenomenon where, when someone is first learning about EA, there are a ton of ideas that are new to them, and over time the rate of encountering novel ideas decreases (partly because there are less low-hanging fruit maybe?). I agree that having āmore polite, thoughtful, good-faith disagreementā on the Forum would be great though, and I hope that our team can build up a community that encourages that. (If you have any specific people in mind who could bring that energy here, please reach out to Toby and send him suggestions!)
Reading Evanās comment and Sarahās responseāalong with some other comments like @titotalāsāupdates me to a mild-to-moderate degree toward the possibility that there may be a felt (and possibly real) need for two or more related spaces that call for mutually inconsistent design criteria. One might be more academic, formal, and rigorous while the other related space would be more flexible, open, and accessible. That feels like a big change from the status quo, and Iām hardly confident my update is directionally correct. But I think itās worth pondering whether different groups of users may be seeking things from the Forum experience that are valid, worthwhile, and yet incompatible.
Yeah, I think itās hard (and maybe not worth our resources) to build one space that fulfills all of those criteria. I think it would be fun for the Forum to have a more casual space, but there exist many other places that can fill that need:
I appreciate your thoughtful reflections! :)
I agree with this, and I hope that we can improve the situation with a combination of community building and more actively steering discussions (for example via Forum events).
Yeah I agree this is true, but Iām not sure what (if anything) to do about it. At least, if this is a problem, it doesnāt feel like a top priority one to address. My hypothesis is that doing more community building work will address this somewhat, like if users feel more comfortable with each other and feel like they know each other better (than right now).
Agree with this one too. :) However I do think that having high standards does have benefits, and I currently think that we should actually have higher standards on the margin. I agree that there are trade-offs, and I am sad to lose out on good content purely due to people feeling intimidated.
If youāre feeling unsure about posting something, please feel free to reach out to Toby or contact the team here. Weāre happy to give you feedback, and help you figure out what works on the Forum. Also, quick takes are another great solution, I def recommend using them!
This oneās interesting, and I feel like I donāt know how to evaluate whether this is true. I think thereās a related phenomenon where, when someone is first learning about EA, there are a ton of ideas that are new to them, and over time the rate of encountering novel ideas decreases (partly because there are less low-hanging fruit maybe?). I agree that having āmore polite, thoughtful, good-faith disagreementā on the Forum would be great though, and I hope that our team can build up a community that encourages that. (If you have any specific people in mind who could bring that energy here, please reach out to Toby and send him suggestions!)
Reading Evanās comment and Sarahās responseāalong with some other comments like @titotalāsāupdates me to a mild-to-moderate degree toward the possibility that there may be a felt (and possibly real) need for two or more related spaces that call for mutually inconsistent design criteria. One might be more academic, formal, and rigorous while the other related space would be more flexible, open, and accessible. That feels like a big change from the status quo, and Iām hardly confident my update is directionally correct. But I think itās worth pondering whether different groups of users may be seeking things from the Forum experience that are valid, worthwhile, and yet incompatible.
Yeah, I think itās hard (and maybe not worth our resources) to build one space that fulfills all of those criteria. I think it would be fun for the Forum to have a more casual space, but there exist many other places that can fill that need:
The EA subreddit
EA Anywhereās slack workspace and virtual events
EA Gather (a virtual space to hang out and co-work)
The EA community on Twitter
The Effective Altruism Facebook group
The EA Hangout Facebook group
The EA Corner Discord
Personally I donāt use any of these very often so I donāt have much opinion on them.