Help with the Forum; wiki editing, giving feedback, moderation, and more

By Lizka @ 2022-04-20T12:58 (+88)

There are a number of ways you could help make the Forum (even) better, and we’re opening an expression of interest form in case you’d like to get involved in any of the ways listed below. 

Note that we’re interested in a variety of models; you could be a contractor working a certain number of hours, a volunteer, or even potentially a full-time hire.

1. EA Forum Wiki
   1. Editing and adding to the EA Forum Wiki
2. Giving feedback on drafts of Forum posts
3. Forum upkeep
   1. Deleting spam and approving non-spam
   2. Adding relevant tags to new posts
4. Moderation
   1. Enforcing and promoting the Forum norms.  
5. General expression of interest
6. [Bonus] For everyone: actions you can take to improve the Forum

⇨ Express interest ⇦

• You do not need to have any particular experience for any of these tasks. If interested and in doubt about whether you’re qualified, please just submit the expression of interest form! 
• Please note that this is just an expression of interest. We may end up not adding anyone to the team.
• By default, we would suggest a contractor rate of around $30 per hour for most of this work, but you could volunteer your time if you prefer. Declaring a wish to volunteer will not make us more likely to work with you on this.

1. The EA Forum Wiki

The EA Forum Wiki does the following:

• Explains key concepts in an accessible way (here’s an example) 
• Helps organize writing; it collects content related to a given EA-relevant topic in one place, so that it’s more discoverable (for instance, you can find the “improving institutional decision-making” posts at the relevant tag)
• It might also serve as a basis for communities or subforums that will be formed around given topics (e.g. “biosecurity” or “animal welfare” communities)

Forum users do a lot of great work to make the Wiki happen, but having regular contributors could help unlock the full potential of the Wiki. 

You can read more about the point and functioning of the Wiki here.

What you can do:

1. Write and improve entries
2. Help organize the Wiki
3. Tag posts

You’d likely be a good fit if you: 

• Are happy to learn about a broad range of EA-relevant topics
• Read content on the Forum a lot
• Are willing to write sometimes

If any of this is interesting to you and you think you might be able to work on it, please express interest! 

2. Giving feedback on drafts of Forum posts

Would you enjoy looking at drafts of posts and giving feedback? We may be interested in putting you in touch with people who are looking for feedback; we think this often leads to good posts that wouldn’t have happened otherwise and is generally a useful community service. You’ll work with Lizka (me). I’ll be giving feedback occasionally, but may not have time to give feedback every time it’s requested, and will direct people to you when that seems appropriate. (Note that you could also just be an active participant in the EA Editing and Review Facebook group.) 

You’d likely be a good fit if you: 

• Are encouraging
• Would enjoy reading drafts and giving feedback
• Have a sense of what makes for a good Forum post
• [Not required] Have domain expertise in a particular field

Express interest.

3. Forum upkeep

As sketched out above, the main upkeep tasks required on the Forum are: 

• Deleting spam and approving new non-spam users
• Adding relevant tags to new posts

Sorting spam and adding tags are some of the most crucial activities listed in this post. We’re doing our best to ensure that the Forum is one of the clean and safe places on the internet, and we’d love help with that. 

I’m interested in hearing from you even if you’d just be willing to commit to regularly going to the Frontpage to approve non-spam users and delete spam comments. 

4. Moderation

This involves occasionally helping to emphasize and enforce Forum discussion norms, and sometimes brainstorming ways of making the Forum more helpful and encouraging.

Note that the current moderation team consists of Lizka (me), Aaron Gertler, Edo Arad, Julia Wise, and Vaidehi Agarwalla. 

If you’re interested in moderation, please express interest. 

5. General expression of interest

As you might imagine, there’s a lot of other work— and there will be more work that we just don’t know about yet! 

If you’d like to help but aren’t sure with what (or don’t feel like any of the above quite fits), please feel free to express interest and simply tell us that.

We’ll also have new roles that we can’t anticipate, and we may draw from expressions of interest when those come up. 

6. For everyone: actions you can take to improve the Forum

Note: I might flesh this out as a full post later.

1. If you like a post, tell the author!
2. Upvote posts you appreciate
3. Tag posts with relevant tags
4. Share posts with your friends or people you think may profit from it
5. Post! You — yes, you — could have an impact by writing and posting
   1. You could post your own thoughts
   2. You could write about your job
   3. You could post summaries and collections of resources
   4. You could crosspost or linkpost!
6. Put together sequences
7. Edit the wiki
   1. Even if you’re not interested in doing this on a committed basis, anyone can edit wiki articles when they notice something that could be improved 
8. Write a Forum bio. It helps other people in various ways — such as having context for your posts and comments, or feeling part of a community of real people — if they have some sense of who you are and what interests you. 
9. Give us feedback

All of you already doing these things — thank you!