# Status Moves

## Overview

A status move is a concrete action that costs little money, costs mostly time, and compounds in reputation over years inside a specific community. The shape: low cost, high asymmetric upside, hard to copy after the fact because the scarce thing (a domain, a publication, a niche, a maintainership slot, a track record starting in year X) is now yours.

ninetimes.org is the archetype Kris already executed. Plan 9 has zero serious news publication. Once the field grows even modestly (10 percent yearly), the domain holder who actually published is the canonical source. The cost was a domain registration and a writing habit. The reward is one of the half-dozen permanent slots in a small community.

The principles behind this document:

- **Scarcity binds reputation**. Communities only have so many "the X person" slots. Claim one early in a domain you actually care about. Avoid niches where Gwern, Patrick McKenzie, bunnie, or Scott Aaronson already sit.
- **Real estate compounds**. A domain, a GitHub org, a Trusted User slot, a port-maintainer line, a published man page byline, a Wikipedia edit history. These are anchored permanently.
- **Output before posture**. Status follows from sustained legible output. No essays about influence, no guru voice, no Twitter follow campaigns. Build something, then describe it once.
- **Avoid the squatter pattern**. One domain, one project, build it out. Ten registered domains with empty sites is anti-status.
- **Cross-pollinate carefully**. A mathematician inside Plan 9 + alignment is a unique slot. A mathematician in EA who writes serious systems essays is unique. Don't force the fusion in titles; let the body of work make the claim.

Below: 5 to 10 specific moves per community, then cross-community, then a domain audit table, then anti-moves, then a ranked top 10.

## 1. Plan 9 / cat-v.org orbit

The community is small (low hundreds active), graying, and **publication-starved**. There is no LWN, no Lobsters-equivalent, no actively maintained bibliography. Coders here write code, not prose. That's the gap.

### Move 1.1: Build ninetimes.org into the paper of record
- **Cost**: domain (paid), 4-8 hours/week writing.
- **Why it works**: There is literally no competitor. 9fans mailing list is a chat log. 9front's website is a wiki. cat-v.org is a static archive curated by uriel's successors but doesn't publish. The Plan 9 community has no equivalent of LWN, Hacker News digest, or even Phoronix-style news desk.
- **Execute**: Weekly issue. Patch summaries from 9front hg, a "talk of the week" from 9fans, one essay or guest piece, one historical artifact. Mirror to gopher and 9p. Cross-post to LWN comments and lobste.rs.
- **Failure mode**: Burns out after 8 issues. Mitigation: publish bi-weekly from the start.
- **Timeline**: First citation by a mainstream tech outlet within 18 months.

### Move 1.2: Claim plan9papers.org and build the canonical bibliography
- **Cost**: ~$12/year domain. WHOIS confirms **available** as of 2026-05-20.
- **Why it works**: Every Plan 9 newcomer asks "where do I read the original papers?" The current answer is a scattering of links across cat-v, Bell Labs archives, 9p.io, and dead pages. A clean, citation-ready, downloadable bibliography becomes the default link for the next decade.
- **Execute**: Register. Mirror the original Bell Labs papers (most are public). Add BibTeX exports. Tag by subsystem (rio, acme, fossil, venti, etc.). Add a "papers that cite Plan 9" reverse index. Run it as a static site (Hugo or hand-rolled).
- **Failure mode**: Becomes another mirror nobody updates. Counter: commit to one new paper-summary per month.
- **Timeline**: Top Google result for "plan 9 papers" within 12 months.

### Move 1.3: Register the subsystem-namespace domains (drawterm.org, sam-editor.org, acme-editor.org, rio-wm.org, fossil-fs.org, venti-fs.org)
- **Cost**: ~$60-80/year total. **All six confirmed available** via WHOIS.
- **Why it works**: These are the most-searched Plan 9 names with no current authoritative page. Each currently routes to either Bell Labs' archive or a 9front wiki page. Owning them and pointing them to clean modern docs is a 30-minute-per-domain investment.
- **Execute**: Buy all six. Stand each up as a single-page reference with: short description, current maintainer, source location, link to authoritative docs, ports list (Linux/Mac/BSD), historical paper. Do NOT clutter with blog. One page per domain.
- **Failure mode**: Looks like a domain hoard. Mitigation: each one must have a real, useful single page within 30 days of registration. Donate them to 9front/plan9foundation later if appropriate.
- **Timeline**: SEO authority in 2-3 years.

### Move 1.4: Become a 9fans known name
- **Cost**: zero, mailing list time.
- **Why it works**: 9fans is the closest thing to a Plan 9 town square. ~5 contributors define the tone. Becoming one of those names is achievable in 12 months of sustained quality posting.
- **Execute**: Read every thread for 60 days silently. Then post: a clean trip report on running 9front, a port of a Linux tool to Plan 9, a careful summary of a paper. Avoid: opinion threads, distro flame wars, "what should I read first" newbie questions. Cross-reference 9p.io archives so you know what's been debated.
- **Failure mode**: Posting too early, posting opinions. Counter: ratio of code/ports/summaries to opinions should be 5:1.
- **Timeline**: 18-24 months for community recognition.

### Move 1.5: Run the first Plan 9 hackathon in North America since IWP9 dispersal
- **Cost**: ~$500-2000 venue rental, possibly free if hosted at a university you can convince. Time: 3 months organizing.
- **Why it works**: IWP9 (International Workshop on Plan 9) has rotated globally and skipped years. North America has no regular Plan 9 in-person event. Organizing one and getting 9front maintainers (cinap_lenrek, sl, others) to attend is a permanent line on the resume.
- **Execute**: Pick a weekend. Get Bell Labs alumni list and current 9front committers. Stream the talks. Publish proceedings as a small book through plan9papers.org.
- **Failure mode**: 5 people attend. Counter: hybrid format, virtual stream, low expectations on year 1.
- **Timeline**: First event year 1, status compounds across year 2-3.

### Move 1.6: Port a popular modern tool to plan9port + 9front with care
- **Cost**: Zero, 40-200 hours of skilled work.
- **Why it works**: A single deeply-done port (e.g. ripgrep on 9front, a usable language server protocol, modern TLS in libsec) is the kind of artifact the community remembers. Choose a tool the community keeps asking for.
- **Execute**: Read 9fans archives to find the most-complained-about gap. Build it. Maintain it for at least 24 months. Document the porting process as a series in ninetimes.
- **Failure mode**: Picking a tool nobody actually wants. Counter: do the listening first.
- **Timeline**: Recognized port = 6-12 months. "The author of the X port" identity = 2 years.

### Move 1.7: Curate the "Plan 9 Best Of" YouTube reel
- **Cost**: $0, time for clipping and uploading.
- **Why it works**: Plan 9 has spectacular demos (rio mouse chord menus, acme middle-click execute, plumber routing) but no canonical "watch this" video. A 5-minute reel becomes the default link in every Plan 9 thread on HN/Lobsters for a decade.
- **Execute**: Record on 9front. Narrate. Upload to YouTube + PeerTube + own server. Crosspost when relevant threads appear (sparingly).
- **Failure mode**: Production value too low. Counter: study Bryan Cantrill's talks for pacing.
- **Timeline**: Goes viral or doesn't within 30 days.

### Move 1.8: Author a modern Plan 9 reference book under CC license
- **Cost**: $0, ~12 months of writing.
- **Why it works**: The Plan 9 book canon froze in the early 2000s. Russ Cox's papers and the original Lions-style commentary are missing for 9front specifically. A 200-page reference, published free on plan9papers.org and printed POD via Lulu, becomes the gift book for every new Plan 9 user.
- **Execute**: Outline first, get 9front maintainers to review chapters as they're drafted. Use draws and screenshots from real 9front installs.
- **Failure mode**: 18-month project with no finish line. Counter: chapter-per-month publishing schedule from chapter 1.
- **Timeline**: Reputation lift around month 6 (preprint chapters), permanent dossier on completion.

## 2. BSD

The BSD communities are stable, doc-rich, and respect three things: documented diffs, doc patches, and port maintenance. They are suspicious of newcomers but extremely loyal to anyone who has stuck around 24 months.

### Move 2.1: Become an OpenBSD man page contributor
- **Cost**: zero. ~5-20 hours per accepted patch.
- **Why it works**: OpenBSD's culture treats good man page writing as nearly sacred. Submitting clean, technically correct improvements to misc@/tech@ with proper diff format is the single most efficient way to get on Theo and the regulars' radar.
- **Execute**: Read https://www.openbsd.org/mail.html. Pick a man page with a known weakness (rcctl(8), pf.conf(5), iked.conf(5) often have edge cases unexplained). Submit via tech@ with a clear "here's the diff, here's why" format. Accept criticism, iterate, never argue tone.
- **Failure mode**: One bad thread (defensive reply) sets you back 18 months. Counter: rewrite responses overnight before sending.
- **Timeline**: First accepted diff in 2-4 months. Recognized contributor in 18.

### Move 2.2: Adopt 3-5 orphaned FreeBSD ports
- **Cost**: zero, ~2 hours/week ongoing.
- **Why it works**: FreeBSD has hundreds of MAINTAINER set to ports@ (i.e. orphaned). Adopting ones you actually use puts your name on the official `Mk` records and into `pkg info` output for every user. Permanent dossier.
- **Execute**: `https://www.freshports.org/` lists ports by maintainer. Find ones flagged "ports@" that you use. Email portmgr with a request to adopt. Submit a polished update as your first PR.
- **Failure mode**: Adopt too many, can't keep up. Counter: 3-5 max, all software you actually run.
- **Timeline**: Listed by month 3.

### Move 2.3: Found bsdpapers.org (the BSD equivalent of plan9papers.org)
- **Cost**: ~$12/year. **Available** as of 2026-05-20.
- **Why it works**: Each BSD has scattered docs. There is no unified, citation-quality BSD bibliography (FreeBSD Handbook is a manual; openbsd.org/papers is a stub; NetBSD has wiki pages). A unified curated index by subsystem is a 20-year asset.
- **Execute**: Same model as plan9papers.org. Sections per BSD + cross-cutting (TCP/IP, scheduler, jails, capsicum, pledge).
- **Failure mode**: Looks like FreeBSD Foundation's territory. Counter: publish in their direction, offer to donate later.
- **Timeline**: Top SEO in 18 months.

### Move 2.4: Build openbsdjournal.org as a community-driven monthly
- **Cost**: ~$12/year. **Available**. Domain to register.
- **Why it works**: Undeadly.org exists but updates sporadically. A reliably-monthly OpenBSD-focused news + diff digest fills a real gap. NOTE: Coordinate with undeadly.org maintainers first; don't be the person who forked the community by accident.
- **Execute**: Email Peter Hessler / undeadly editors to offer collaboration first. If they decline, build openbsdjournal as a complement, not competitor.
- **Failure mode**: Splits the community. Counter: collaboration before launch.
- **Timeline**: 6 months to first issue, 24 to canonical status.

### Move 2.5: Run a public BSD CI farm
- **Cost**: $200-1000/year electricity + ~$2000 hardware (used Xeons or 2nd-hand workstations) OR free on STARGATE if rack space allows.
- **Why it works**: BSDs lack the CI infrastructure that Linux has via 0day. A public CI farm running NetBSD ATF, FreeBSD's testsuite, OpenBSD release builds, posting reports daily, is the kind of contribution that gets you formally thanked in release notes.
- **Execute**: Start with one BSD (NetBSD is most receptive). Get on tech-pkg@ or similar list. Coordinate hosting with NetBSD Foundation.
- **Failure mode**: Hardware dies mid-build for weeks. Counter: redundancy from day 1.
- **Timeline**: Recognition in 12-18 months. Multi-BSD farm in 3 years.

### Move 2.6: Speak at vBSDcon, EuroBSDcon, or AsiaBSDCon
- **Cost**: $200-1500 travel.
- **Why it works**: BSD conferences have under-supplied speaker pools (typical CFPs have 30-50 submissions for ~25 slots). A first-time speaker with a real technical contribution gets in. Speaking at one is a permanent talk page on the conference site.
- **Execute**: Submit to vBSDCon first (smallest, friendliest). Topic: a port story, a CI farm writeup, a deep-dive into one subsystem. Avoid: "Why BSD is great" talks.
- **Failure mode**: Pitch too broad. Counter: extreme specificity.
- **Timeline**: Talk accepted in 6 months, recording up forever.

### Move 2.7: Become NetBSD pkgsrc maintainer for 5-10 packages
- **Cost**: zero.
- **Why it works**: pkgsrc has the lowest barrier to entry of any BSD contribution. Maintainers are listed in package definitions, indexed in pkg-historica, and your email is in every user's `make show-maintainer` output.
- **Execute**: Read pkgsrc-users mailing list. Apply for the wip CVS account. Submit a clean import.
- **Failure mode**: Pick a package that's actively-broken in upstream. Counter: pick stable ones first.
- **Timeline**: First commit 3-6 months.

### Move 2.8: Write the "X for ex-Linux developers" series
- **Cost**: zero, time.
- **Why it works**: Every BSD has a non-trivial onboarding cost from Linux. A clear, technically deep series (e.g. "rcctl is not systemd: a mental model"; "pf vs iptables for network engineers"; "ZFS on FreeBSD: what your Linux ZFS habits don't transfer") becomes the de facto onboarding doc and gets you cited.
- **Execute**: Publish on krisyotam.com primary, mirror to bsdjournal-equivalent.
- **Failure mode**: Sounds patronizing. Counter: write from "I migrated and here's what hurt" stance, not lecture.
- **Timeline**: One viral post = 12 months payoff.

## 3. Linux

Linux is the most crowded community. The status moves are harder and the obvious slots are taken. Asymmetry only exists in niches with low bus factor.

### Move 3.1: Get published in LWN
- **Cost**: zero.
- **Why it works**: LWN.net pays freelancers (~$300-500/article based on community reports), and a byline there is the closest thing to peer review in the Linux kernel social space. Greg KH cites LWN. It's the only general-audience Linux publication taken seriously by the kernel community.
- **Execute**: Email Jon Corbet (corbet@lwn.net) with a pitch and one writing sample. Best pitch types: subsystem deep-dive, conference report, careful interview, historical analysis. Read 3 months of LWN before pitching to match tone.
- **Failure mode**: Pitch reads as content marketing. Counter: zero links to your own stuff in the pitch.
- **Timeline**: First byline within 6 months if pitches are strong.

### Move 3.2: Get a Linux kernel patch upstreamed (small but real)
- **Cost**: zero.
- **Why it works**: `git log --author='Kris Yotam'` in mainline is permanent. Even a single fix lands you in the kernel.org commit log forever. A handful of fixes in one subsystem builds "the X person" identity.
- **Execute**: Run a Coccinelle script on a subsystem you understand to find issues. Submit via the subsystem's `MAINTAINERS` list. Follow https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/process/submitting-patches.html religiously.
- **Failure mode**: Spam-patch territory (whitespace-only patches). Counter: every patch must fix something real you found.
- **Timeline**: First merge in 2-4 months.

### Move 3.3: Become an Alpine, Void, or NixOS maintainer
- **Cost**: zero.
- **Why it works**: Alpine and Void are small enough that becoming a maintainer in 6-12 months is realistic. Your name appears in every user's `apk info` or `xbps-query -R`. Much smaller bus factor than Arch's TU process. NixOS has perhaps the most active and prestigious packaging community right now.
- **Execute**: Alpine: read https://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/Aports_tree. Submit 5-10 clean aports. Void: same model. NixOS: become a nixpkgs committer, requires 30+ accepted PRs typically.
- **Failure mode**: Pick a distro you don't actually use. Counter: dogfood for 12 months first.
- **Timeline**: Maintainer status 9-15 months.

### Move 3.4: Found and run a kernel-subsystem testing farm
- **Cost**: ~$300-1000 hardware (or use STARGATE).
- **Why it works**: KernelCI and 0day cover broad coverage but specific subsystems (audio, exotic ARM platforms, specific NICs) have low coverage. A focused farm running one subsystem's selftests against linux-next nightly, posting reports to the relevant list, gets you into subsystem maintainer mind quickly.
- **Execute**: Pick a subsystem with active maintainers (Mauro for media, Takashi Iwai for sound, Drew Davenport for DRM). Coordinate with maintainer first. Use Lava if possible.
- **Failure mode**: Reports are noisy and ignored. Counter: regression-only reporting in year 1.
- **Timeline**: 12 months to recognition.

### Move 3.5: Get a CVE under your name
- **Cost**: zero, requires real vuln research.
- **Why it works**: A CVE in a major Linux subsystem is a permanent line. Pair with a proper writeup on your blog. Not asymmetric for a generalist but asymmetric for a mathematician who can find subtle bugs.
- **Execute**: Focus on subsystems with known historical issues: BPF, eBPF verifier (formal-methods-friendly for a mathematician), namespaces, io_uring. Or kernel crypto. Use syzkaller as starting point.
- **Failure mode**: Disclosure timing missteps. Counter: read https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/process/security-bugs.html before starting.
- **Timeline**: First CVE 12-24 months realistic.

### Move 3.6: Maintain a niche-but-active GitHub repo of kernel tooling
- **Cost**: zero.
- **Why it works**: Tools like `bpftrace`, `bcc`, `flamegraph` made Brendan Gregg famous. Smaller equivalents (a better `perf top`, a static checker for a subsystem, an eBPF helper library) compound. The bar is lower than people think.
- **Execute**: Build something you'd actually use yourself. README must be excellent. Submit to the relevant subsystem mailing list as "FYI, this exists."
- **Failure mode**: Abandonware after 6 months. Counter: commit to 24 months minimum.
- **Timeline**: First citations in another tool's docs within 12 months.

### Move 3.7: Run a Linux subsystem documentation rewrite
- **Cost**: zero.
- **Why it works**: `Documentation/` in the kernel tree is uneven. Some areas (Documentation/admin-guide/, Documentation/networking/) have stale or missing pages. Rewriting a subsystem's docs is welcomed, gets the documentation maintainer credit, and the byline is permanent.
- **Execute**: Pick a subsystem. Read existing docs. Get on the subsystem mailing list. Propose the rewrite scope. Submit chapter-by-chapter.
- **Failure mode**: Pick a contested subsystem. Counter: start with sound or media (active maintainers, doc-friendly).
- **Timeline**: First doc rewrite merged 3-6 months.

## 4. Hardware

Hardware status is the most documentable and the most photogenic. A photo of your custom board on Hackaday is the kind of artifact that lives forever.

### Move 4.1: Publish a clean RISC-V core or peripheral in Verilog/SystemVerilog
- **Cost**: $0-2000 (FPGA dev board if you want to run it).
- **Why it works**: RISC-V is in the gold-rush phase. Clean published cores get cited, forked, and the author is interviewed. Even a small peripheral (a UART, a PWM controller, a SPI master with novel timing) gets traction if the code is exemplary.
- **Execute**: Publish on SourceHut + GitHub mirror. License Apache-2.0 + Hardware (CERN-OHL-W is the standard). Document with Markdown + Wavedrom diagrams. Submit to https://github.com/riscv/riscv-cores-list.
- **Failure mode**: One of 50 toy cores nobody uses. Counter: spec something specific (timing-deterministic, formally-verified, ultra-low-power).
- **Timeline**: 6-12 months to first community uses.

### Move 4.2: Run a sustained reverse-engineering project on a single chip
- **Cost**: $50-500 in chips + decapping or microscope time.
- **Why it works**: The visual6502, ken-shirriff, mistertv archetypes. A single sustained chip RE project becomes the canonical reference for that chip forever. The Z80 RE, the 8086 RE, ken's chip teardowns are permanent.
- **Execute**: Pick a chip with cultural value but underdocumented: a vintage modem (e.g. 56K modem chipsets), a calculator chip, an obscure ASIC. Set up a microscope. Publish progress as blog series.
- **Failure mode**: Chip too complex for your equipment. Counter: scope down to a single sub-block.
- **Timeline**: First substantive writeup in 6-12 months.

### Move 4.3: Hackaday Prize entry with sustained follow-through
- **Cost**: $50-500 BOM.
- **Why it works**: Hackaday Prize is an annual competition with serious community attention. Even non-winners get coverage. A project that wins a category becomes a permanent Hackaday tag.
- **Execute**: Submit on hackaday.io. Document weekly. Pick a niche with low entry count (often: bio-instrumentation, retrocomputing). Avoid trendy categories (current robotics).
- **Failure mode**: Project too ambitious for the timeline. Counter: a "1.0" should be done before submission.
- **Timeline**: 12 months from start to public coverage.

### Move 4.4: Crowd Supply or GroupGets campaign with your first board
- **Cost**: $2000-10000 in initial inventory.
- **Why it works**: Crowd Supply has a curated catalog and very high status in the open-hardware community. A successful campaign there means actual product to actual users; the photos are documented forever; you join a small list of "the X board person" in discussions on hardware-types.
- **Execute**: Start with a single-purpose board (e.g. a precise oscillator, a clock distribution board, a USB-PD power supply). Apply to https://www.crowdsupply.com/get-started.
- **Failure mode**: Production cost overruns. Counter: prototype 3+ times before applying.
- **Timeline**: 18-24 months from idea to shipping.

### Move 4.5: Found riscvpapers.org or opensiliconjournal.org
- **Cost**: $12/year per domain. **Both available** as of WHOIS check.
- **Why it works**: RISC-V has spec docs but no bibliography. Open silicon has no central publication. These are clear landlord slots.
- **Execute**: Same model as plan9papers.org. Tag by ISA extension, by application domain.
- **Failure mode**: RVI may launch their own. Counter: launch first, donate later if appropriate.
- **Timeline**: 18 months to SEO.

### Move 4.6: Contribute meaningfully to yosys / nextpnr / Verilator
- **Cost**: zero, real work.
- **Why it works**: The open-source FPGA toolchain is small (Claire Wolf / YosysHQ, David Shah for nextpnr, Wilson Snyder for Verilator). Becoming a known committer there positions you adjacent to all the open-silicon people. Smaller world than kernel; faster recognition.
- **Execute**: Build something using these tools first. Find a paper-cut. Send a PR.
- **Failure mode**: Drive-by PR ignored. Counter: 5+ PRs sustained.
- **Timeline**: Recognized contributor in 12 months.

### Move 4.7: Vintage Computer Federation membership + East exhibit
- **Cost**: ~$100 membership + travel to NJ.
- **Why it works**: VCF exhibits are real, photographed, and remembered. An exhibit on a chip-level restoration or a Plan 9 cluster running on vintage Sun hardware is the kind of thing that gets you written up.
- **Execute**: Apply to exhibit at VCF East. Prep starts 6 months in advance.
- **Failure mode**: First-time exhibitor anxiety. Counter: attend twice before exhibiting.
- **Timeline**: First exhibit year 2.

### Move 4.8: Write for Hackaday
- **Cost**: zero. Hackaday pays freelancers (~$50-100/article).
- **Why it works**: Hackaday has the largest reach of any maker-adjacent publication. Bylines there persist. Subject expertise + good writing + photography is the entry combination.
- **Execute**: Email tips@hackaday.com with a pitch. Easier: get your own project covered first to build relationship, then pitch other writeups.
- **Failure mode**: Pitch too generic. Counter: pitch tied to a specific project (yours or someone else's).
- **Timeline**: First piece in 3-6 months if pitch is sharp.

## 5. Effective Altruism

EA is the trickiest community for status moves. It is small, suspicious of self-promotion, and post-FTX has high reputational fragility. The valid moves all look like real contributions, not promotion.

### Move 5.1: Publish on EA Forum until you hit Curated
- **Cost**: zero, ~30-100 hours per serious post.
- **Why it works**: forum.effectivealtruism.org has a small editorial curation function. Curated posts appear on the homepage permanently. ~50 posts/year hit Curated. Hitting it once is meaningful.
- **Execute**: Read 3 months of Curated posts first to match style. Post types that consistently hit: rigorous critique of an existing EA argument; novel cause-prioritization analysis; honest negative results from a personal attempted impact project. Avoid: low-information opinion takes, "you're all wrong about X."
- **Failure mode**: Mass-downvote on a first post sets tone. Counter: start with a comment record before posting.
- **Timeline**: First Curated in 9-18 months if persistent.

### Move 5.2: Take the GWWC pledge with public commitment
- **Cost**: 10 percent of income (the pledge itself). $0 reputation cost.
- **Why it works**: Giving What We Can keeps a public pledger list at https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/pledge. Being on it with a real name and a 10-year commit history is the most credible EA signal possible. Hauke Hillebrandt and others publish annual giving on their own sites; that's the next-level move.
- **Execute**: Pledge at https://www.givingwhatwecan.org. Publish a yearly giving page on krisyotam.com.
- **Failure mode**: Comes off as virtue signaling if you don't actually give. Counter: only do it if you'll give.
- **Timeline**: Reputation lift after year 2 of consistent giving.

### Move 5.3: Get to top 100 on Metaculus or top 50 on Manifold
- **Cost**: zero, ~3 hours/week sustained.
- **Why it works**: Forecasting is high-status in EA-adjacent communities (LessWrong, EA Forum, Forecasting Research Institute). Top-100 ranking on Metaculus is achievable in 18-24 months and is a permanent profile badge cited by other forecasters.
- **Execute**: Metaculus profile at https://www.metaculus.com. Focus on questions in your domain (math, AI, systems). Calibration matters more than volume.
- **Failure mode**: Streak chasing leads to careless predictions. Counter: only predict on questions where you have an edge.
- **Timeline**: Top 500 in 12 months, top 100 in 24-36.

### Move 5.4: Apply for Open Philanthropy Career Development or Worldview Investigations grants
- **Cost**: zero application, time for research output.
- **Why it works**: Being an Open Phil grantee is the strongest EA credential outside of working for them. Funding amounts are real ($50k-300k typical). Their grant database (https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/) lists every grantee permanently.
- **Execute**: Read their RFPs. The Worldview Investigations team funds rigorous moral-philosophy and decision-theoretic work, well-suited to a mathematician.
- **Failure mode**: Apply too early without published track record. Counter: 3-5 EA Forum posts before applying.
- **Timeline**: 24-month plan: build track record year 1, apply year 2.

### Move 5.5: Found ea-mathematician.org or effectivemath.org
- **Cost**: $12/year. **Both available** per WHOIS.
- **Why it works**: There is no EA-aligned mathematician hub. Quantitative cause prioritization, applied moral philosophy via formal methods, decision theory under uncertainty: all underclaimed niches. A site that hosts rigorous mathematical work on EA-relevant topics positions Kris uniquely.
- **Execute**: Register. Build out 5-10 cornerstone essays before public launch. Cite heavily but also produce original work (e.g. formal models of patient longtermism, moral uncertainty under axiology disagreement).
- **Failure mode**: Looks branded. Counter: Lead with content, brand is the URL.
- **Timeline**: 12 months to community recognition.

### Move 5.6: Get on the 80,000 Hours podcast or write a 80k-cited piece
- **Cost**: zero, requires existing track record.
- **Why it works**: 80,000 Hours podcast has perhaps the highest signal-to-noise in EA media. Guest selection is curated. Their problem-profiles and career-reviews cite specific researchers; being cited is the second-best outcome.
- **Execute**: Long game. Build EA Forum + Open Phil grant track record first. They'll find you, or you can pitch via a connection.
- **Failure mode**: Outreach without track record. Counter: 3-year horizon minimum.
- **Timeline**: 36 months.

### Move 5.7: Attend and present a lightning talk at EA Global
- **Cost**: $50-200 (subsidized for many attendees) + travel.
- **Why it works**: EAG application is selective. Acceptance is a credential. Lightning talks are how new people get on the field's radar.
- **Execute**: Apply at https://www.eaglobal.org. Strongest applications have a specific role-relevant goal. After admit, propose a lightning talk on your specific work.
- **Failure mode**: Treating EAG as networking-only. Counter: have actual contributions to talk about.
- **Timeline**: First EAG in 6-12 months.

### Move 5.8: Win the Open Philanthropy Worldviews Contest (when it runs) or similar essay contest
- **Cost**: zero, ~100 hours of writing.
- **Why it works**: OpenPhil and FHI-adjacent essay contests have small entry pools (~50-200) and prestigious judges. Winning or honorable-mention is a permanent CV line.
- **Execute**: Watch announcements. Submit rigorous, well-cited essays. Topic ideas for a mathematician: formal infinity-aversion, cluelessness under formal decision theory, axiology disagreement and convergence.
- **Failure mode**: Submit late or unrefined. Counter: 4-week pre-deadline draft cycle.
- **Timeline**: One submission cycle = 6 months. Recognition compounds.

## 6. AI Alignment / AI Safety

A community of perhaps 1000-2000 active people that doubles every 18-24 months. Reputation can compound fast. Factional landscape matters: MIRI-style (theoretical, agent foundations), Paul Christiano / ARC-style (prosaic alignment, scalable oversight), Anthropic-style (RLHF + interpretability), Redwood-style (empirical safety), evals-aligned (METR, Apollo). Identify which factions resonate with your math background before posting.

### Move 6.1: Get a curated LessWrong / Alignment Forum post
- **Cost**: zero, ~50-200 hours per post.
- **Why it works**: Alignment Forum is the most concentrated venue. ~200 posts/year hit "Curated." A curated post from a non-MATS, non-org affiliated researcher is rare and remembered.
- **Execute**: Read existing curated posts. Best post types: a careful technical writeup of an empirical experiment with reproducible code; a formal-methods or math-flavored analysis of a popular alignment proposal; a thoughtful critique that engages charitably with the strongest version of an opponent's view. Avoid: hot takes on training run news, restatements of established arguments.
- **Failure mode**: First post downvoted to negative. Counter: comment 10+ times first to learn the room.
- **Timeline**: First curated 9-18 months.

### Move 6.2: Apply to and complete MATS or ARENA
- **Cost**: zero, ~3 months full-time.
- **Why it works**: MATS (https://www.matsprogram.org) and ARENA are the most prestigious AI safety bootcamps. Alumni are tracked, get jobs at Anthropic/OpenAI/DeepMind/Redwood/Apollo/METR at high rates. Alumni status is permanent.
- **Execute**: Apply during open cycles. Strong applications require: 2-3 alignment-related projects on GitHub, evidence of engagement (LW posts), a clear mentor preference.
- **Failure mode**: Apply too generally; pick mentor mismatch. Counter: research mentors deeply first.
- **Timeline**: Acceptance to a single cohort = 18 months minimum from start.

### Move 6.3: Reproduce a popular alignment paper, publish results
- **Cost**: $200-2000 in compute (Modal, Vast, Lambda) for non-frontier reproductions.
- **Why it works**: ML reproductions are scarce, valuable, and frequently disconfirmed surprisingly. A clean reproduction (or refutation) of a popular alignment paper is the kind of work that goes top-of-Alignment-Forum.
- **Execute**: Pick a paper where reproduction is doable (small model, public code). Anthropic's interpretability papers, METR evals work, Apollo's deception evals are all good targets. Reproduce, publish methodology, post results.
- **Failure mode**: Pick a paper too big to reproduce. Counter: scope down to one figure or one claim.
- **Timeline**: First reproduction in 3-6 months.

### Move 6.4: Run a public alignment-eval harness on small models
- **Cost**: $500-5000 in compute, ongoing.
- **Why it works**: METR, Apollo, and the broader evals community would actively cite a maintained public eval harness for small models. Lower-cost than frontier model evals but still useful for alignment-theory.
- **Execute**: Build on Inspect (UK AISI's framework) or harness from scratch. Run weekly on a set of small models. Publish dashboards.
- **Failure mode**: Compute costs blow up. Counter: budget cap from day 1.
- **Timeline**: First citations in 6-12 months.

### Move 6.5: Write the "things alignment people get wrong about [math topic]" essay
- **Cost**: zero, ~40-80 hours.
- **Why it works**: LW/AF rewards careful, mathematically grounded essays that challenge sloppy framings. A mathematician explaining (e.g.) what measure-theoretic concerns mean for solomonoff induction, or what algebraic geometry has to say about agent foundations, can go viral inside the community.
- **Execute**: Pick a specific sloppy framing, engage charitably, present the correct framing, derive implications.
- **Failure mode**: Reads as gotcha. Counter: positive framing, no called-out person.
- **Timeline**: One viral essay = 6 months payoff.

### Move 6.6: Post an arxiv paper on a tractable alignment subproblem
- **Cost**: $0 (arxiv is free) + compute as above.
- **Why it works**: An arxiv paper with reproducible code, even from an independent researcher, gets read in alignment circles. Submit to NeurIPS Safety Workshop, ICLR ML Safety Workshop, or AISafety@AAAI.
- **Execute**: Pick a subproblem with a measurable signal. Interpretability circuits, scalable oversight benchmarks, deception elicitation eval design.
- **Failure mode**: Reviewer disconnect, paper dies. Counter: pre-circulate among 3-5 alignment researchers.
- **Timeline**: First arxiv preprint 6-9 months.

### Move 6.7: Become a paid METR / Apollo contractor evaluator
- **Cost**: zero, application required.
- **Why it works**: METR and Apollo hire contractors for red-teaming and eval design. Even a small engagement is a CV line with the most respected eval orgs in the field.
- **Execute**: Watch their job pages and Twitter. Get a referral if possible. Engage in their public eval discussions first.
- **Failure mode**: Apply cold, get filtered. Counter: build LW track record first.
- **Timeline**: 12-18 months.

### Move 6.8: Found alignmentpapers.org or alignment-newspaper.org
- **Cost**: $12/year per. **Both available** per WHOIS.
- **Why it works**: Alignment has https://www.alignmentforum.org for discussion but no canonical bibliography. https://stampy.ai is question-driven, not paper-driven. A clean, citation-quality, tagged bibliography of all alignment work is the next decade's default reference.
- **Execute**: Same model as plan9papers.org. Tag by: theoretical/empirical, agent-foundations/prosaic, sub-area (interpretability, evals, RLHF, scalable oversight, etc.).
- **Failure mode**: alignmentforum or MIRI launches one first. Counter: launch first, donate later.
- **Timeline**: 12 months to SEO.

### Move 6.9: Cultivate a faction-neutral posture publicly
- **Cost**: zero, attention.
- **Why it works**: AI alignment factions can pull new members hard. The mathematician who publishes good work across factions (MIRI-adjacent posts AND Anthropic-style empirical posts AND METR-style eval posts) becomes a connector. Connectors get invited to retreats.
- **Execute**: Mix post types intentionally. Don't reflexively criticize one faction in service of another.
- **Failure mode**: Mistaken for waffling. Counter: have strong takes on object-level questions, even when factionally neutral on social ones.
- **Timeline**: 24 months.

## Cross-community moves

These hit multiple communities and exploit Kris's unique cross-section.

### Cross 1: Build an open-source alignment-eval harness that runs on BSD or Plan 9
- **Cost**: ~$0, time.
- **Why it works**: Nobody is doing alignment-relevant work on BSD or Plan 9. A clean implementation of (e.g.) METR's task suite running natively on FreeBSD with no Docker dependency is unusual enough to get coverage in both communities.
- **Execute**: Pick a known eval. Port deps. Document. Publish.
- **Timeline**: 12 months.

### Cross 2: A personal site with serious essays — frame what amplifies status on krisyotam.com
- **Cost**: zero (already exists).
- **Why it works**: Gwern's archetype. Status compounds on the personal site. Specific moves:
  - Publish reproducible technical essays with proper citations.
  - Maintain a curated bibliography page per community.
  - Annual "what I changed my mind about" post (Gwern, Scott Alexander, Tyler Cowen all do this).
  - Yearly giving disclosure (EA signal).
  - Long-term sequence (e.g. one math+alignment essay per month for 5 years).
- **Failure mode**: Becoming a content aggregator. Counter: keep ratio of original work to curation at 3:1.
- **Timeline**: Permanent compounding.

### Cross 3: Speak at a non-obvious cross-community venue
- **Cost**: ~$200-1500 travel.
- **Why it works**: Talks like "Plan 9 as a substrate for AI agent isolation" or "Formally-verified BSD subsystems and what alignment can learn" pull from both pools and place you in the intersection.
- **Execute**: BSDCan or RISC-V Summit are easiest cross-venues. Submit a deliberately cross-topical talk.
- **Timeline**: 12 months.

### Cross 4: A newsletter on a deliberately weird intersection
- **Cost**: domain + time.
- **Why it works**: Newsletters in any single field are crowded. A newsletter on "systems thinking for alignment researchers" or "formal methods for AI safety" is unique. Less than 10 percent of newsletters cover such intersections.
- **Execute**: Start as a Substack or self-hosted, weekly cadence, 12-month commit before evaluating.
- **Timeline**: 18 months to community recognition.

### Cross 5: Annual conference proceedings, deliberately small
- **Cost**: ~$300-1000.
- **Why it works**: Host a one-day virtual symposium with 5-8 talks on a deliberately niche cross-section ("Formal Methods in Independent AI Safety," "Retrocomputing as Systems Pedagogy"). Publish proceedings. Year 2 attendance triples.
- **Timeline**: Year 1 small, year 3 referenced.

## Domain availability audit

WHOIS performed 2026-05-20. Status legend:
- AVAIL: domain not registered, register now
- TAKEN-ACTIVE: in use by real operator, skip
- TAKEN-PARKED: registered but undeveloped, possibly negotiable
- BACKORDER: expires soon, worth setting a watch

### Plan 9

| Domain | Status | Notes / Recommendation |
|---|---|---|
| ninetimes.org | OWNED (Kris) | The anchor. |
| plan9papers.org | **AVAIL** | **REGISTER NOW**. Highest-leverage Plan 9 grab after ninetimes. |
| drawterm.org | **AVAIL** | **REGISTER**. Single-page tool reference. |
| acme-editor.org | **AVAIL** | **REGISTER**. Acme has no canonical landing page. |
| sam-editor.org | **AVAIL** | **REGISTER**. |
| rio-wm.org | **AVAIL** | **REGISTER**. |
| fossil-fs.org | **AVAIL** | **REGISTER**. Single-page reference for fossil. |
| venti-fs.org | **AVAIL** | **REGISTER**. Single-page reference for venti. |
| plan9bibliography.org | **AVAIL** | Backup name for plan9papers.org. |
| plan9biblio.org | **AVAIL** | Alternate spelling. |
| plan9news.org | **AVAIL** | Useful redirect to ninetimes.org. |
| plan9-weekly.org | **AVAIL** | Useful redirect. |
| plan9digest.org | **AVAIL** | Useful redirect. |
| plan9wiki.org | **AVAIL** | Could be a 9front-friendly wiki host. |
| plan9book.org | **AVAIL** | Reserve for the reference-book project. |
| cat-v-papers.org | **AVAIL** | Coordinate with cat-v.org maintainers before claiming. |
| inferno-os-papers.org | **AVAIL** | Niche but useful. |
| 9front-papers.org | **AVAIL** | Coordinate with 9front before launching. |
| acmedigest.org | **AVAIL** | Possible newsletter brand. |
| plan9papers.net | **AVAIL** | Defensive register alongside .org. |
| drawterm.net | **AVAIL** | Defensive. |
| acme-editor.net | **AVAIL** | Defensive. |
| sam-editor.net | **AVAIL** | Defensive. |
| rio-wm.net | **AVAIL** | Defensive. |
| glenda.org | TAKEN-PARKED | buydomains.com NS, for-sale broker, expensive. |
| glenda.net | TAKEN-PARKED | GoDaddy parked, likely brokerage. |
| factotum.org | TAKEN-PARKED | afternic NS, for sale. |
| 9grid.org | TAKEN-ACTIVE | Cloudflare NS, looks alive. Skip. |
| 9grid.net | TAKEN-ACTIVE | NameCheap, skip. |
| 9-net.org | TAKEN-ACTIVE | Registered 2025-11-07. Skip. |
| 9news.org | TAKEN-ACTIVE | Denver TV station. Skip. |
| 9weekly.org | TAKEN-PARKED | Dynadot 2021. Skip. |

### BSD

| Domain | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| bsdpapers.org | **AVAIL** | **REGISTER**. BSD-wide bibliography hub. |
| bsdnewsletter.org | **AVAIL** | **REGISTER**. Cross-BSD newsletter brand. |
| openbsdjournal.org | **AVAIL** | **REGISTER**. Coordinate with undeadly. |
| netbsdjournal.org | **AVAIL** | **REGISTER**. NetBSD has even less news than OpenBSD. |
| dragonflybsd-papers.org | **AVAIL** | Small community, niche. |
| lwn-bsd.org | **AVAIL** | Defensively register. |
| bsdci.org | **AVAIL** | **REGISTER**. Pair with the CI farm move. |
| openbsd-ports.org | **AVAIL** | Coordinate with ports@. |
| freebsdjournal.org | TAKEN | Gandi-registered 2015. Likely a real FreeBSD-aligned holder. |
| bsdjournal.org | TAKEN | Tucows 2021. |

### Linux

| Domain | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| kernelpapers.org | **AVAIL** | **REGISTER**. Pair with Linux subsystem bibliography. |
| drm-papers.org | **AVAIL** | DRM (graphics) niche bibliography. |
| linux-graphics-papers.org | **AVAIL** | Same niche. |
| systems-papers.org | **AVAIL** | Broader scope, possibly cross-OS bibliography. |
| filesystempapers.org | **AVAIL** | Strong niche (btrfs/bcachefs/zfs/xfs). |
| sysctlweekly.org | **AVAIL** | Niche newsletter brand. |
| linuxpapers.org | TAKEN-PARKED | Onamae 2011. Possibly negotiable. |

### Hardware

| Domain | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| riscvjournal.org | **AVAIL** | **REGISTER**. Strong candidate. |
| opensiliconjournal.org | **AVAIL** | **REGISTER**. Broader open-silicon scope. |
| openhardwarejournal.org | **AVAIL** | **REGISTER**. |
| riscvpapers.org | **AVAIL** | **REGISTER**. Bibliography hub. |
| fpgapapers.org | **AVAIL** | Niche FPGA bibliography. |
| silicon-papers.org | **AVAIL** | Backup name. |
| retropapers.org | **AVAIL** | Retrocomputing bibliography. |
| chipreversing.org | **AVAIL** | Strong niche for the chip-RE move. |
| open-silicon.org | **AVAIL** | **REGISTER**. |
| hardwarepapers.org | TAKEN-PARKED | SafeNames 2016. Possibly available via broker. |

### EA

| Domain | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| ea-mathematician.org | **AVAIL** | **REGISTER**. Unique math-EA niche. |
| effective-mathematics.org | **AVAIL** | Backup. |
| ea-math.org | **AVAIL** | Backup. |
| effectivemath.org | **AVAIL** | **REGISTER**. Cleanest spelling. |
| effectivealtruismpapers.org | **AVAIL** | Bibliography hub. |
| longtermism-papers.org | **AVAIL** | Specific subset. |
| ea-forecasting.org | **AVAIL** | Manifold/Metaculus EA-adjacent. |
| longtermism.org | TAKEN-PARKED | GoDaddy 2021. Likely brokerable. |
| neartermism.org | TAKEN-PARKED | GoDaddy 2022. Possibly negotiable. |
| ea-journal.org | TAKEN-PARKED | GoDaddy 2008. Old hold. |

### AI Alignment

| Domain | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| alignment-newspaper.org | **AVAIL** | **REGISTER**. Direct ninetimes-analog. |
| safety-papers.org | **AVAIL** | **REGISTER**. Bibliography hub. |
| alignmentpapers.org | **AVAIL** | **REGISTER**. Primary candidate. |
| ai-safety-papers.org | **AVAIL** | Backup. |
| alignment-digest.org | **AVAIL** | **REGISTER**. Newsletter brand. |
| alignmentdigest.org | **AVAIL** | Backup (no hyphen). |
| aisafetyjournal.org | **AVAIL** | **REGISTER**. |
| alignment-weekly.org | **AVAIL** | Newsletter. |
| safetypapers.org | **AVAIL** | Backup. |
| safetyweekly.org | **AVAIL** | Backup. |
| aisafetynews.org | **AVAIL** | **REGISTER**. |
| alignmentnews.org | **AVAIL** | Backup. |
| alignment-papers.org | **AVAIL** | Backup. |
| aisafety-digest.org | **AVAIL** | Backup. |
| evals-papers.org | **AVAIL** | Niche, evals-focused. |
| alignmentbibliography.org | **AVAIL** | Backup. |
| aisafetypapers.org | TAKEN-ACTIVE | Porkbun 2025. Skip; someone is actively claiming this lane. |
| alignmentjournal.org | TAKEN-ACTIVE | Cloudflare, registered 2026-01-25 — very recent. Watch for development. |

## Anti-moves (don't do)

- Buy 30 domains, develop 1. Looks like squatting and undermines all other moves.
- Cross-post the same essay across LW, EA Forum, HN, lobste.rs. Looks like content marketing.
- "Effective Altruism Approaches to Linux Kernel Maintenance" type forced-fusion posts. They read as keyword salad.
- Adopt a guru posture before you have a track record. Twitter threads about "why most alignment researchers are wrong" before publishing alignment work is anti-status.
- Beg for follows. Skip Twitter/X follower campaigns entirely.
- Pick fights with named individuals in any of these communities. Especially OpenBSD and EA - reputational radioactive.
- Run a Patreon before there's a publication people would actually pay for. Patreon-first looks desperate.
- Publish AI-generated essays. The alignment and EA communities will detect it and trust evaporates.
- Use the words "asymmetric" or "leverage" in actual published essays. Smells like a status move.
- Auto-DM new community members. Permanent reputation damage.

## Top 10 ranked picks for Kris (next 12 months)

1. **Register plan9papers.org and 5 subsystem domains (drawterm/sam/acme/rio/fossil/venti) now**. Total cost ~$80/year. Builds out from ninetimes.org. Single afternoon of work to register and stand up minimal landing pages.

2. **Register alignmentpapers.org + alignment-digest.org + safety-papers.org**. AI alignment is the fastest-growing of the six communities. Owning the canonical bibliography slot is the highest-leverage move available right now. ~$36/year.

3. **Publish ninetimes weekly for 12 months without missing an issue**. This is what cements the move that's already been made. Consistency over brilliance.

4. **Get a curated post on LessWrong / Alignment Forum**. One careful, mathematically-grounded essay on a sloppy alignment framing, written by a mathematician, can compound for years. Aim for one publication-quality post within 6 months.

5. **Take the GWWC pledge and publish yearly giving on krisyotam.com**. Lowest-cost EA signal that compounds for life. The annual giving page becomes one of the most-linked parts of the personal site.

6. **Submit a first OpenBSD man page patch via tech@**. Cheapest BSD entry point, fastest feedback loop, gets you on the OpenBSD culture radar with minimum risk.

7. **Register ea-mathematician.org or effectivemath.org**. The math-EA niche is genuinely underclaimed. A handful of rigorous essays on quantitative cause prioritization positions Kris uniquely in EA without forcing the fusion in his bio.

8. **Begin a Metaculus track record now**. 18-month plan to hit top-500. Forecasting credentials compound across both EA and alignment communities and are recognized in adjacent quantitative-finance spaces.

9. **Pick one Linux subsystem and submit 3-5 patches over 12 months**. The math-friendly choice is the eBPF verifier or kernel crypto. Permanent commit log line, useful for systems credibility across all six communities.

10. **Register bsdpapers.org and openbsdjournal.org defensively even if not building them year 1**. Both available right now, defensive registrations preserve future optionality at $24/year total. Decide in year 2 whether to develop.

The pattern across all 10: cost is mostly under $100 for year 1 in domain fees, plus sustained writing/coding work that should already be happening. The compounding starts immediately on registration; only ninetimes-style sustained publication will turn registrations into status.