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I've been having some mixed feelings about some recent initiatives in the Forum.
These include things in the space of the creative fiction contest, posting humorous top level content and asking people to share memes.
I am having trouble articulating exactly what is causing my uneasiness. I think its something along the lines of "I use the EA Forum to stay up to date on research, projects and considerations about Effective Altruism. Fun content distracts from that experience, and makes it harder for the work I publish in the Forum to be taken seriously".
On the other hand, I do see the value of having friendly content around. It makes the community more approachable. And the last thing I would want is to gatekeep people out for wanting to have fun together. I love hanging out with EAs too!
I trust the leadership of the Forum to have thought about these and other considerations. But I am voicing my opinion in case there are more who also share this uneasiness, to see if we can pinpoint it and figure out what to do about it.
Things that I think would help mitigate my uneasiness:
What do other people think? Do other people feel this way?
I thought the Clickhole post was both funny, and a good illustration of how cause prioritization can be perceived by many people.