Background

Many people first get involved in effective altruism through Facebook. 

However, the largest EA-related Facebook group (“Effective Altruism”) has less activity than it could. The group’s moderators are volunteers without much spare time, and that time tends to go into basic group management (removing spam, approving posts, etc.) rather than sharing content or shaping conversations.

CEA is looking for someone to support better discussion in the group. You could help make the space more welcoming, more informative, and more productive for its members, especially those who are new to EA. 

Role description

This contractor would be responsible for:

•  Collecting and posting good material from outside the group.
  • CEA can help with this — our Content Specialist, Aaron Gertler, can suggest material and help you set up an RSS feed of solid EA sources.
• Answering questions in discussion threads, and linking to further information where it seems helpful.
• Generally being a kind and helpful presence in the group.
• Flagging discussion to moderators when it seems to break the group’s rules, or otherwise demands a response.

You would report to  Aaron Gertler, and be subject to additional feedback from the group's moderators as they see fit. 

In practice, this means Aaron will occasionally check on your contributions, but there probably won't be much contact unless you have questions or actively want feedback. (That said, CEA hasn't had contractors for work of this type before, so things may play out differently than we expect.)

Who are we looking for?

These are some traits our ideal contractor would have. 

It’s okay if some of them don’t describe you — you can and should still apply if you think you'd be good at this.

• You’re happy to help onboard people who are new to EA, and don’t mind answering “beginner questions” or discussing topics you’ve discussed many times before. 
• You read a variety of EA sources and enjoy keeping up to date with what’s happening at various organizations and in different parts of the community.
• You have a good understanding of why people in the community have different beliefs and can fairly represent those beliefs even when you don’t share them. For example, you should be able to explain why some EAs favor various cause areas, even if you disagree with their prioritization.
• You can engage cordially with people whose views you disagree with. You have tolerance for the frustrations that can come with social media discussions, and you do your best to guide discussions in productive directions.
• You’ve been involved in EA online communities in the past, so that we can see some track record of how you discuss things online.

Why should you consider this position?

• You’d be providing a really helpful service to the group's members, many of whom want to learn more about EA but aren’t easily able to do so given the group's current state.
• We’d pay you the standard CEA contractor rate of $25/hour. We expect that you’ll end up working 2-4 hours per week, but that probably means something like “15-30 minutes per day”, as shorter and more frequent visits will probably help the work go well. (This will be up to your judgment, however.)
• This position will give you a lot of practice at supporting an online community and finding information related to effective altruism. This could be useful for several career paths in the EA community. (For example, CEA’s Aaron Gertler wrote this post, and his job involves a lot of community management.)

How to apply

We aren’t asking for a writing sample or anything like that. Just fill out this form, and answer the questions as best you can.

Applications will close on Friday, 22 January, at 11:59 pm PST.