I’ll use this thread as a sort of “appendix”, listing some additional possible reasons for/against which I think are less genuinely important and/or less often a factor in people’s actual decisions. (So no obligation to read this!)
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Here’s one thing that could perhaps sometimes push in favour of writing posts for / sharing post on the Forum:
Posting might increase your engagement with & retention in EA, & mitigate value drift
There are multiple ways in which posting to the Forum could do this, some of which are related to the points covered in Section 1. These ways include:
Building a habit of engaging with EA
Making EA more a part of your identity
Helping you find an EA-relevant role, funding for EA-relevant projects, etc.
Helping you build your network of EA-adjacent people
Causing positive associations between engaging in EA and gaining enjoyment, satisfaction, attention, etc.
It seems safe to say that this result would often be a good thing, though it’s unclear how often, and it may also often be a bad thing
Personally, I think that mitigating value drift away from EA as a whole—and increasing retention in EA—is probably usually a good thing.
I also think increased engagement with EA among people who are lightly involved in EA and would become more engaged via posting would probably usually be a good thing.
I don’t know how often increased engagement with EA among people who are already pretty engaged with EA is a good thing; it’s probably also sometimes/often a bad thing, primarily due to opportunity costs (e.g., maybe they should spend more time engaging with other bodies of knowledge or other communities)
Here’s another possible—but probably less common or less clearly bad—reason against writing posts for / sharing posts on the Forum:
It could lead to something analogous to a social media “addiction”.
E.g., feeling continually drawn to post or comment, solely in order to get more upvotes, replies, attention etc.
This would basically be bad inasmuch as it might lead to the “reasons against” mentioned in my main post
E.g., it could lead to people writing for the Forum even when it’s not worth the opportunity cost for them, or even when if they often have an overall negative experience when doing so
But I think a mild version of something like this could be not actually bad, or possibly even good, inasmuch as it lead to the “reasons for” mentioned in my main post
E.g., it could help motivate people to capture those benefits
(This can be good inasmuch as someone might’ve otherwise been not very motivated about anything or motivated about less valuable things. It could be bad inasmuch as they’d have otherwise been motivated to do things that make more sense in their situation—e.g., spending more time on a PhD, if that’s what they should be doing.)
In my personal case:
I think I have sometimes been moderately addicted to the Forum, and other times mildly addicted.
I think this was sometimes somewhat bad for me, but mostly about neutral or slightly good
And it’s been more consistently neutral or good since mid last year, since I’ve been more conscious about “managing” the level and results of this “addiction” since then
It’s worth noting that, for me, this is basically replacing a mild “addiction” to things like playing video games, doing stand-up comedy, or becoming a better high school teacher, or a general listlessness
Here’s another possible—but less important and common—reason against writing posts for / sharing posts on the Forum:
It could mislead you about your fit for various things, and worsen your knowledge, models, or skills
This is the flipside of the benefits discussed in Sections 1.1 and 1.2; see those sections for some relevant thoughts
But I think it would probably be silly to worry about this, and I’m not actually aware of anyone worrying about it
It seems very unlikely to me that writing posts for, and sharing writings on, the EA Forum would predictably have a net negative effect on any given person’s self-knowledge, knowledge, models, or skills
[That’s why I ended up cutting this from the post itself]
It might happen to freakishly have a net negative effect for some people, but I think the effect would be positive in expectation for any given person
I do think writing / sharing posts on the Forum could in many cases have less of a positive effect on those variables than an alternative activity would
But that’s just a worry about opportunity cost, which I already mentioned separately
The only reason I mention this anyway just for comprehensiveness
I’ll use this thread as a sort of “appendix”, listing some additional possible reasons for/against which I think are less genuinely important and/or less often a factor in people’s actual decisions. (So no obligation to read this!)
---
Here’s one thing that could perhaps sometimes push in favour of writing posts for / sharing post on the Forum:
Posting might increase your engagement with & retention in EA, & mitigate value drift
There are multiple ways in which posting to the Forum could do this, some of which are related to the points covered in Section 1. These ways include:
Building a habit of engaging with EA
Making EA more a part of your identity
Helping you find an EA-relevant role, funding for EA-relevant projects, etc.
Helping you build your network of EA-adjacent people
Causing positive associations between engaging in EA and gaining enjoyment, satisfaction, attention, etc.
It seems safe to say that this result would often be a good thing, though it’s unclear how often, and it may also often be a bad thing
Personally, I think that mitigating value drift away from EA as a whole—and increasing retention in EA—is probably usually a good thing.
I also think increased engagement with EA among people who are lightly involved in EA and would become more engaged via posting would probably usually be a good thing.
I don’t know how often increased engagement with EA among people who are already pretty engaged with EA is a good thing; it’s probably also sometimes/often a bad thing, primarily due to opportunity costs (e.g., maybe they should spend more time engaging with other bodies of knowledge or other communities)
Here’s another possible—but probably less common or less clearly bad—reason against writing posts for / sharing posts on the Forum:
It could lead to something analogous to a social media “addiction”.
E.g., feeling continually drawn to post or comment, solely in order to get more upvotes, replies, attention etc.
This would basically be bad inasmuch as it might lead to the “reasons against” mentioned in my main post
E.g., it could lead to people writing for the Forum even when it’s not worth the opportunity cost for them, or even when if they often have an overall negative experience when doing so
But I think a mild version of something like this could be not actually bad, or possibly even good, inasmuch as it lead to the “reasons for” mentioned in my main post
E.g., it could help motivate people to capture those benefits
(This can be good inasmuch as someone might’ve otherwise been not very motivated about anything or motivated about less valuable things. It could be bad inasmuch as they’d have otherwise been motivated to do things that make more sense in their situation—e.g., spending more time on a PhD, if that’s what they should be doing.)
In my personal case:
I think I have sometimes been moderately addicted to the Forum, and other times mildly addicted.
I think this was sometimes somewhat bad for me, but mostly about neutral or slightly good
And it’s been more consistently neutral or good since mid last year, since I’ve been more conscious about “managing” the level and results of this “addiction” since then
It’s worth noting that, for me, this is basically replacing a mild “addiction” to things like playing video games, doing stand-up comedy, or becoming a better high school teacher, or a general listlessness
Here’s another possible—but less important and common—reason against writing posts for / sharing posts on the Forum:
It could mislead you about your fit for various things, and worsen your knowledge, models, or skills
This is the flipside of the benefits discussed in Sections 1.1 and 1.2; see those sections for some relevant thoughts
But I think it would probably be silly to worry about this, and I’m not actually aware of anyone worrying about it
It seems very unlikely to me that writing posts for, and sharing writings on, the EA Forum would predictably have a net negative effect on any given person’s self-knowledge, knowledge, models, or skills
[That’s why I ended up cutting this from the post itself]
It might happen to freakishly have a net negative effect for some people, but I think the effect would be positive in expectation for any given person
I do think writing / sharing posts on the Forum could in many cases have less of a positive effect on those variables than an alternative activity would
But that’s just a worry about opportunity cost, which I already mentioned separately
The only reason I mention this anyway just for comprehensiveness