Practically nobody in the mainstream had ever really heard of the ideology before said conman adopted it and tried to make it popular. Who are the most influential backers of it right now? Convince me it's worth doing some searching on and I will, but if you tell anyone outside of small circles that you are affiliated with the movement, you are going to be on the defensive side for the foreseeable future.
(disclaimer: no idea what effective altruism is about)
You seem to believe that "truly good" causes have a requirement to have "influential backers" behind them in order for you to consider doing them. That seems like a pretty silly way to decide what things are good/bad to do -- People did the same thing with FTX when Matt Damon's commercial aired, and look how that ended up for them. Maybe just research concepts for yourself and decide what's a good idea rather than waiting for a celebrity or rich person to tell you it's worth doing. Chances are, things celebrities tell you to do are the things LEAST worth doing.
It's not that "truly good" causes need an "influential backer," it's that I don't want to have to get into an argument with someone in real life who decides I am some kind of scammer due to being affiliated with a movement that has been getting nothing but bad press thanks to one individual. Time is precious, just like I can't spend time researching every single tool that gets posted on HN for production viability, I can't spend time researching every relatively obscure social movement out there to adopt for myself. I ignored the crypto craze due to listening to the right people, just like I can ignore EA by listening to the same ones.
