The Awkward Silence

apaul

12:10 AM

@IntrovertedMetaMan. better late than never.

@Catija @HDE226868 Any thoughts from the "no fun" gallery?

user15026

Considering it was posted just an hour ago...give them time?

2

apaul

That wouldn't be any fun.

user15026

You just said they were no fun

user15026

so, you know ;)

Catija

Also... And I can't really stress this enough... We aren't here to make decisions for this site. The mods are here to help keep the site in shape when the users can't... but we're not all-knowing magicians who have all of the answers. If we have something to say, we'll say it... but... You all ... you're the site. Don't wait on us.

3

apaul

12:18 AM

Ya'know some people use humor to relate in an attempt to form group cohesion...

user15026

@Catija This! If the community needs mods to make all their decisions, there is such a big red flag there

apaul

12:30 AM

@Catija Hmm... Guess I can skip the step of pretending to value moderator opinions? :P Seriously though, I was looking for input from our moderation team because sometimes you all see things that we don't, have access to info that we may not, or have related experience from moderating other sites that may have tried something similar in the past.

Same team, right?

Catija

Of course... but I'm tired. I'm really tired. And I'd like to see the users of this site stand on their own... show us that they can.

user15026

12:46 AM

@apaul Which is all well and fair, but like...give them time to respond, to think it over, to give the community a bunch of time to mull it over and discuss it between themselves

user15026

Because the flip side of this is if mods step in and say stuff right away, the community often goes "oh the mods know best" and they stop trying

2

user15026

and that's a super super super not good place for a community to get to

apaul

1:00 AM

@Ash "oh the mods know best" is pretty high on the list of things I've never said, but I suppose that's a fair point.

We seem to be running short of people who care as of late... The community is still here, but it seems to feel a lot less like a community lately.

user15026

@apaul you might not have said it explicitly, but trust me, the community will trend towards saying it/implying it

user15026

@apaul Then thats what needs work, and part of that is learning how to get that without the mods having to swoop in

apaul

Also helps not to be so accusatory...

user15026

I'm not accusing anyone of anything, I'm just working on my past experiences with various betas and sites

user15026

And you're saying "the community is broken", so then you gotta do that first and that can't come from just the mods

user15026

1:04 AM

They can help, they're useful tools, but you gotta build teh community together

apaul

Two tangentially related thoughts. Not many people who seem motivated to care about this place. Mods seem somewhat less involved as well.

user15026

Mods are exception handlers, and all that good stuff

user15026

@apaul Maybe that's because they've had to be super involved to the point of just needing a break, like @Catija mentioned?

user15026

At some point, a community has to stand up on it's many feets

user15026

And either it falls or it figures out motion

apaul

1:07 AM

Right.

Any plans for that?

user15026

What do you mean?

user15026

Plans for what?

user15026

Do you mean do I have plans to fix it? Nope.

user15026

I can't singlehandedly tell you what to do here

user15026

I'm not even that high rep here

user15026

1:09 AM

There's lots of how this site works that I don't know

user15026

So I can't say "do this" because each community is going to have to sort out what sort of success they want and what that looks like

user15026

It's not really a universal thing

user15026

And it is going to take a lot of time

user15026

And you likely won't ever be "done".

user15026

Even big established sites change ideas and policies and such over time.

user15026

1:11 AM

Basically, teh big challenge seems to be kinda twofold here - how do you get people engaged and staying so, and how do you get people posting good content

Mithrandir

@apaul give it time

The site is still relatively new

user15026

Oh yeah, this site is just an itty baby! All hope is far from lost

Mithrandir

As it grows and gets new actual users, the pool of those willing to help out will grow

user15026

Basically, you're playing a really long game here.

Mithrandir

The voting on this site can give the impression that the site is much bigger than it actually is

user15026

1:13 AM

@Mithrandir Especially on IPS, where you can get those controversial bits so easily

Mithrandir

But that's mostly from HNQ. The dedicated user base is still actually really small

@Ash yeah, exactly

user15026

COntroversy draws temporary eyes. So maybe another question could be "is tehre a way to get those people to stick around and be good users instead of drive by looky-loos?"

user15026

(I have no silver bullets here)

apaul

I know, was more making a note of a troubling trend. The core users that used to be here on the regular kicking things along seem to be getting a bit fed up lately. May just be me, but I'm pretty sure I'm noticing a pattern.

user15026

It's like the mod exhaustion problem, but larger - if you can't get a community to grow enough that the same 5 people aren't VTCing all the time or whatever, then people are going to burn out :(

Mithrandir

1:17 AM

I know that I've slacked off a bit from my regular participation here because I've been stretched like silly putty in real life the last bit.

The HNQ brings lots of attention and inflates the amount of work the regulars have to do by a much higher margin than I've seen anywhere else.

You're bringing in a ton of crap and the site is actually still really small and not well equipped to handle it.

IPS has actually dealt with it fairly well, all things considered.

But what needs to happen is getting more dedicated users.

^take everything I say here with a grain of salt, these are my 3:20AM-with-a-cold thoughts

apaul

HNQ has been the source of an awful lot of issues... Hey look a bandwagon! I think I'll hop on, or join the mob attempting to tip it over.

user15026

1:32 AM

@Mithrandir they're good thoughts.

HDE 226868

@apaul There have been a lot of days - like today, actually - where things have gone on behind the scenes beyond even stuff like handling flags, stuff that we can't share or talk about. We always try to be as engaged and transparent as possible; the ideal mod isn't removed from the community, but is a firm part of it. But we can't always be interacting with the users on a variety of topics . . . and like @Ash and @Catija said, the community has to be independent.

4

Mithrandir

flag-pls, del-pls | VLQ | How to convey to a person that I am not interested in talking to him? | (review link)

sphennings

1:54 AM

@apaul I was trying to highlight a potential abuse vector. Not imply that I think that you would abuse it. I'm sorry if you felt singled out.

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