#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.