Effective Altruists do so much great work, but much of it occurs in private. Yet if we publicize our good deeds, we can gain many benefits, for ourselves and for the world.
1) Support each other doing good deeds through providing warm fuzzies/emotional support/encouragement;
2) See if we can help each other out;
3) Inspire others with the opportunity to emulate some aspects of those good deeds for ourselves;
4) Provide an opportunity to amplify the signal about things you want others to know about.
As such, based on discussions on .impact, we decided to experiment with an “Accomplishments” thread on the EA Forum. This experiment may seem weird at first, but as Effective Altruists, we know the benefit of trying out unorthodox approaches for good reasons. We believe this experiment may be quite valuable as an EA capacity-building activity. If it works out, we will make it monthly, similar to the current Open thread.
This thread is meant for all of you as a completely safe space, with no social norms of "don't be a braggart" applying - just share and be safe in your sharing. So please share recent EA-themed accomplishments! Share as many or as few good deeds as you wish.
Please both share about your own good deeds and respond to what other people share with your authentic responses, ranging from upvoting to comments :-) Doing so will help this experiment succeed and motivate each other to greater accomplishments going forward.
You can also share on Facebook in the main EA group at this link if you prefer.
P.S. This is an experiment, and is very open to optimization - besides sharing about your good deeds, please suggest ways to improve any aspects of it. Please take a look at the .impact discussion prior to doing so in case some points were raised and addressed there already :-)
EDIT: Edited based on feedback from Kathy Forth and Linchuan Zhang
This is a great idea, Gleb!
1) I published a blog on the Life You Can Save about the Reach Every Mother and Child Act, a bill many EAs should love. I also coordinated with students in North Carolina to write several letters about the bill, which I'm delivering to Senator Burr's office. A staffer for Burr, who I spoke to over the phone, said he was considering the bill.
2) I became an adviser to Charity Entrepreneurship, helping Joey Savoie and their team pick which intervention they should focus on in India.
3) I used Charity Science gift cards to spread ideas about effective giving to my friends/family, gave a significant amount of money to a ton of great EA organizations, convinced my family to donate to the Humane League, and wrote a year-end giving piece that exposed people who aren't Effective Altruists to the kinds of ideas we think about a lot.
4) Finally, I made personal progress in finishing and submitting all of my grad school apps! :)
Scott, thanks for sharing about your accomplishments!
Just read your piece on the Reach Every Mother and Child Act, sounds like a really good bill. I shared it on my Facebook profile, and hope other EAs will as well.
Good luck with the grad school apps!