Collaboration and Credit Principles

Christopher Olah · 30 May 2019

Christopher Olah did not write this page.

Every claim below was made in this piece, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.

Our reading
Sharing credit generously benefits everyone because it encourages future collaboration.

Their wordsCredit isn't zero sum. It is often in everyone's benefit to be generous with credit, because it creates an incentive for others to help in the future.
Our reading
Failing to credit someone who deserves it does more harm than mistakenly crediting someone who doesn't.

Their wordsthe harm of not crediting someone who deserves it is often greater than the harm of crediting someone who doesn't deserve it.
Our reading
People tend to overestimate their own contributions to collaborative work.

Their wordsRemember that you are likely overestimating your own contributions.

Keep reading

The other pieces are the ones whose claims are worded most like this one's. That measures language, not agreement: they may argue the opposite.