I was one who expressed an interest but was unable to join on the day. I did however do some writing over the last week and found knowing about the blog post day somewhat motivational so I think it also helped me indirectly.
There wasn't really any draft-swapping because everyone was finishing right before the deadline.
So, anyone interested in another Blog Post Day? Obviously not soon, but how far away? Three months from now? One month? I could make this a regular scheduled event if there is interest.
What about a blog post drafting day?
The idea being, we draft posts but don't publish them and instead just swap them around for comments? Sure, I guess... I think I would find that less useful as a motivational tool than if we have to publish them by the end.
The idea being, like a drafting day, and a posting day. People might not have time for two consecutive days, but your announcement of blog posting day was about 2 weeks in advance of it. Two consecutive saturdays might enable finishing things before the deadline and people getting feedback, by separating the two.
Ah, OK. Well, I'm open to it if there's demand for it. I take it you want it to be this way? Maybe next time I'll take a poll in the announcement.
Yesterday was Blog Post Day. I think it was a success! In this post I'll link to all the blog posts that were written as part of Blog Post Day, and then say some things about what I learned and when we'll do another one.
The posts (in no particular order) were:
My Updating Thoughts on AI Policy, by Ben Pace.
How to Choose a Massage Therapist, by mingyuan
An Analytic Perspective on AI Alignment, by Daniel Filan
Bayesian Inference with Partially Specified Priors, by Christopher Clark
Cortés, Pizarro, and Afonso as Precedents for Takeover by me
Edit: Also Ben Goldhaber's shortform about depression
I think I missed a few from this list--for example, Coscott said they finished a post but would not put it up yet because it was part of a planned sequence. There may have been people who participated but didn't finish, or at least didn't post about it where I could see that they finished. Please let me know if I missed you and I can link to your post here (if you want).
There was less chatting in the discord than I expected; for the most part people just worked on their posts. Nevertheless the chatting that did happen was positive and encouraging and made me feel good. There wasn't really any draft-swapping because everyone was finishing right before the deadline.
We had about 12 people express interest in participating, and maybe about 8 people actually participate, and it looks like we got 5+ posts out of it. (Maybe more will trickle in) That sounds good enough to me! I for one am happy with what I accomplished in just one day; I definitely want to repeat this procedure even if no one else joins me.
So, anyone interested in another Blog Post Day? Obviously not soon, but how far away? Three months from now? One month? I could make this a regular scheduled event if there is interest.