We've asked people to publish a post if they want to submit an entry for the creative writing contest.
However, when it comes to recommending certain entries — those originally published outside the Forum, especially by someone other than the submitter — people have expressed reasonable concerns about:
- Violating copyright or other norms by sharing someone's work in full on another website without permission from the author or the original publisher.
- Creating top-level posts for work they aren't sure is a good fit for the contest.
So we've created this thread for people to submit first published elsewhere without creating top-level posts.
In general, we'd still prefer top-level posts, since those are more likely to reach readers. But we understand the concerns we've heard, and we'll still consider submissions for the contest if you share links to them in a comment here.
(If you are submitting original content, please use a top-level post rather than leaving a comment. I promise that you won't be cluttering the Forum, and you're welcome to use a pseudonym if you'd prefer.)
I’m not much of an effective altruist . . . But every so often, I can see the world as they have to. Where the very existence of suffering, any suffering at all, is an immense cosmic wrongness, an intolerable gash in the world, distressing and enraging. Where a single human lifetime seems frighteningly inadequate compared to the magnitude of the problem. Where all the normal interpersonal squabbles look trivial in the face of a colossal war against suffering itself, one that requires a soldier’s discipline and a general’s eye for strategy.
— Scott Alexander, https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/08/16/fear-and-loathing-at-effective-altruism-global-2017/