Metaculus hits 1M predictions and becomes a Public Benefit Corporation

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3 pointsddp263 comments

https://www.metaculus.com/about/

Pretty amazing: a b-corp in the reliable, trustworthy discourse space.

No hint of pricing. Reading their Privacy and Collection page, I'm left with the suspicion that their business model is not one that respects your privacy. Being a b-corp, they are not subject to the financial demands of investors (big +1 for that!), but still, it seems that their business model needs to be clearly articulated.

I'd love to find out I am wrong on that.

I don't think there is much of a business model :-). So far Metaculus has been producing public goods, and I don' think they've ever charged anyone for a forecast of any kind.

That, of course, is in evidence. They appear to be doing a good job. When you visit their About page [1], figure out an answer which explains how all those BOD members and advisors are paid. Ditto for the employees they plan to hire [1]. You don't get there, IMHO, without a serious business plan - and funding. They have a Wikipedia page [3] which says nothing about the business model. Why do I care about such matters? Because what they are doing is important, but it's hard for them to speak about Trust when they don't reveal their business model. OK, there is much more to learn by scanning their Medium account [4]. That's interesting.

[1] https://www.metaculus.com/about/

[2] https://apply.workable.com/metaculus/

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaculus

[4] https://metaculus.medium.com/

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