The thing about making EA more welcoming though is that it seems hard to determine what discourse norms will actually get you more people on net.
I mean, I’m an EA because I think the philosophical arguments are correct. But I never would have even listened to the arguments if I hadn’t been drawn in by the community first. And what drew me in about the community?
- full of programmers and philosophers
- willing to argue about the methodology of studies or the details of population ethics at very little provocation
- conversations about the Silmarillion (which I haven’t even read but still)
- capable of discussing the pros and cons of murdering babies in a calm and rational manner
- ridiculous thought experiments and in-group jargon
- the kind of place where you can refer to the thin line between feminism and literally Voldemort and no one will storm out of the room
Like high-variance strategies are a thing, “make EA as non-weird as possible” seems unlikely to actually be the best way to do recruitment.