All these idiot cable channels/companies keep starting paid streamers doomed to flounder or fail. Meanwhile any one of them has the funds to ramp up a viable Youtube competitor where the content is free to them plus they can rake in more of the ad dollars that they already monetize their services with on tv. Freaking dinosaurs.
I've mentioned to Cicero that when users post external links here, clicking those links will take the users off of Mainchain because they load in the current tab. That kills engagement because people are far more likely not to hit the back button on their browser to return to the site and comment on the link post than to just close out the tab and forget they were ever here. The simple fix for this is making sure all links created by the comment editor include a target="_blank" attribute. That would ensure links open in a separate tab every time. Meaning when the user closes the tab of the linked article they'll still have Mainchan open to the post they were on. Would make it more likely these link posts get some comment traction. It seems like a super easy fix, dunno why it hasn't been implemented yet. Maybe the HTML this comment editor injects is harder to update than I'm guessing.
Disabling linking is a non starter. This site is aimed at being a viable Reddit alternative as Reddit slowly censors and authoritarians itself out of relevance. That means the site is a content aggregation platform. Disabling link posts disables the ability to aggregate content from around the web, killing the site's primary function.
In any event I think we see so many link posts because most of us that are trying to attract engagement and help the site grow have been posting links like crazy hoping that leads to discussion on them. Given how poorly that's working for me (I mod the s/StarTrek sub that is a wealth of links with almost zero comments under them) I've taken to carpet bombing the link posts I find interesting with comments in hopes of getting people talking more.
I just wish they had saved at least a CSV record of what was in people's Google Music account when they deleted that service. I lost track of a massive music collection I had built up because Google loves killing off their products.
I wouldn't think you could find enough content here yet to be on Mainchan all day. I feel like I've seen almost everything here already and can breeze through any new posts in a few minutes when I do the daily check in. If I'm going around posting I can get through that in under an hour easy. How are you on here all day?
A group called The Coalition for Independent Technology Research has started a campaign to try and fight the API change. Knowing Reddit nothing will come of it however if anyone cares here's their post about it: Reddit Has Cut off Historical Data Access. Help us Document the Impact.
I think Cicero is doing some new things in the way the site is set up to handle free speech. The tagging system for users to self moderate their feeds is a very interesting idea to de-emphasize the need for overbearing moderators and I'm very interested to see if it can hold up at scale and under stress.
Also the user content monetization plan seems like a stellar idea that I want to see in action as well.
Beyond that I think this site will become what we make of it. If we keep aggregating content we find interesting, and making sure to leave substantive comments (and upvote) where we can that creates a sort of gravity to pull in new users.
So you want a reddit alternative that is nothing like Reddit?
Me I just want Reddit without the censorship, political bias, and mod abuse, the way the site used to be before they went corpo, anti-user, authoritarian and whatnot. The conversations will come, people are already starting to comment more, including on link/aggregation posts. When we first got started it was about populating the site with content, any content just to get past the "empty restaurant syndrome" phase. I think we're nearing the end of that phase now. There's customers at the tables now, enough that we're starting to talk to each other more.
There's more that is needed though. Cicero needs to implement a few things (making offsite links open in a new tab (SO important), a listing of all subs on the site, auto-linking subs mentioned in comments, showing users their karma in the top bar, live preview under the comment box, adding more spacing between paragraphs so long comments don't look like walls of text, etc.) and we as users need to do our part to comment more. BTW I don't think this whole calling people "normies" thing is very productive. Reeks of tribalism and sets up an "us vs them" dynamic we could do without but hey that's just my opinion.
Anyway, we have a ton of content now that we can start conversations around. I think discoverability is an issue though. I only find new subs by viewing people's profile and realizing they've been posting in subs I've never seen on the home page or on s/all. That's a problem. No way folks are going to comment on posts they never see and can only find by backtracking through user profiles.
In any event I think one part in your greentext example highlights exactly the engagement problem you're lamenting:
>finally a nice post
>create account
>go to s/random
>click on create a post button
This person found a post that interested them, by your implication, a comment post with replies. Then, instead of adding to the conversation in that post, they immediately go to create a new post that may or may not get the same traction as the one that initially caught their eye. Why? Because making a top-level link/aggregation post is usually a whole lot easier than making a text post or a reply comment. For top level link/aggregation posts just find something you think is cool, post the link or image, make a title, hit submit... super easy. Reading through a linked article or user post and coming up with a cogent, relevant reply or coming up with a compelling top level text post often takes time and effort. I mean look at this novel I'm writing here. I've been at this for like a half an hour, it's the second draft because I originally went off on a tangent listing all the crazy fucked-up subs Reddit used to allow in it's wild west days to grow their users.
We do need more subs that encourage text posts. Subs like Reddit's r/askreddit would be helpful here. Right now most of our subs encourage aggregation posts, like few people are going to be making top level text posts in a sub like s/science or s/memes. But an s/askmainchan type sub would encourage conversation. So yeah I guess that's my recommendation, aside from us making efforts to leave more comments, we should start more subs that invite users to converse.
It's likely the same reason website owners care about analytics, it's an engagement metric, let's you take the temperature of how your content is being received.
All these idiot cable channels/companies keep starting paid streamers doomed to flounder or fail. Meanwhile any one of them has the funds to ramp up a viable Youtube competitor where the content is free to them plus they can rake in more of the ad dollars that they already monetize their services with on tv. Freaking dinosaurs.
I've mentioned to Cicero that when users post external links here, clicking those links will take the users off of Mainchain because they load in the current tab. That kills engagement because people are far more likely not to hit the back button on their browser to return to the site and comment on the link post than to just close out the tab and forget they were ever here. The simple fix for this is making sure all links created by the comment editor include a target="_blank" attribute. That would ensure links open in a separate tab every time. Meaning when the user closes the tab of the linked article they'll still have Mainchan open to the post they were on. Would make it more likely these link posts get some comment traction. It seems like a super easy fix, dunno why it hasn't been implemented yet. Maybe the HTML this comment editor injects is harder to update than I'm guessing.
Voted over, but under if haz cat.
Disabling linking is a non starter. This site is aimed at being a viable Reddit alternative as Reddit slowly censors and authoritarians itself out of relevance. That means the site is a content aggregation platform. Disabling link posts disables the ability to aggregate content from around the web, killing the site's primary function.
In any event I think we see so many link posts because most of us that are trying to attract engagement and help the site grow have been posting links like crazy hoping that leads to discussion on them. Given how poorly that's working for me (I mod the s/StarTrek sub that is a wealth of links with almost zero comments under them) I've taken to carpet bombing the link posts I find interesting with comments in hopes of getting people talking more.
I just wish they had saved at least a CSV record of what was in people's Google Music account when they deleted that service. I lost track of a massive music collection I had built up because Google loves killing off their products.
I wouldn't think you could find enough content here yet to be on Mainchan all day. I feel like I've seen almost everything here already and can breeze through any new posts in a few minutes when I do the daily check in. If I'm going around posting I can get through that in under an hour easy. How are you on here all day?
Pi pie
Had it all saved on a work PC but I didn't take it with me when I lost that job. Big mistake.
https://mainchan.com/s/announcements/2072/Mainchan-Minor-update-Reworking-vote-calculation
Could be related.
A group called The Coalition for Independent Technology Research has started a campaign to try and fight the API change. Knowing Reddit nothing will come of it however if anyone cares here's their post about it: Reddit Has Cut off Historical Data Access. Help us Document the Impact.
Of these options TPB, but rarbg is the first stop if I'm using a public tracker.
Much aggreed.
I think Cicero is doing some new things in the way the site is set up to handle free speech. The tagging system for users to self moderate their feeds is a very interesting idea to de-emphasize the need for overbearing moderators and I'm very interested to see if it can hold up at scale and under stress.
Also the user content monetization plan seems like a stellar idea that I want to see in action as well.
Beyond that I think this site will become what we make of it. If we keep aggregating content we find interesting, and making sure to leave substantive comments (and upvote) where we can that creates a sort of gravity to pull in new users.
Just a matter of time and persistence.
So you want a reddit alternative that is nothing like Reddit?
Me I just want Reddit without the censorship, political bias, and mod abuse, the way the site used to be before they went corpo, anti-user, authoritarian and whatnot. The conversations will come, people are already starting to comment more, including on link/aggregation posts. When we first got started it was about populating the site with content, any content just to get past the "empty restaurant syndrome" phase. I think we're nearing the end of that phase now. There's customers at the tables now, enough that we're starting to talk to each other more.
There's more that is needed though. Cicero needs to implement a few things (making offsite links open in a new tab (SO important), a listing of all subs on the site, auto-linking subs mentioned in comments, showing users their karma in the top bar, live preview under the comment box, adding more spacing between paragraphs so long comments don't look like walls of text, etc.) and we as users need to do our part to comment more. BTW I don't think this whole calling people "normies" thing is very productive. Reeks of tribalism and sets up an "us vs them" dynamic we could do without but hey that's just my opinion.
Anyway, we have a ton of content now that we can start conversations around. I think discoverability is an issue though. I only find new subs by viewing people's profile and realizing they've been posting in subs I've never seen on the home page or on s/all. That's a problem. No way folks are going to comment on posts they never see and can only find by backtracking through user profiles.
In any event I think one part in your greentext example highlights exactly the engagement problem you're lamenting:
>finally a nice post
>create account
>go to s/random
>click on create a post button
This person found a post that interested them, by your implication, a comment post with replies. Then, instead of adding to the conversation in that post, they immediately go to create a new post that may or may not get the same traction as the one that initially caught their eye. Why? Because making a top-level link/aggregation post is usually a whole lot easier than making a text post or a reply comment. For top level link/aggregation posts just find something you think is cool, post the link or image, make a title, hit submit... super easy. Reading through a linked article or user post and coming up with a cogent, relevant reply or coming up with a compelling top level text post often takes time and effort. I mean look at this novel I'm writing here. I've been at this for like a half an hour, it's the second draft because I originally went off on a tangent listing all the crazy fucked-up subs Reddit used to allow in it's wild west days to grow their users.
We do need more subs that encourage text posts. Subs like Reddit's r/askreddit would be helpful here. Right now most of our subs encourage aggregation posts, like few people are going to be making top level text posts in a sub like s/science or s/memes. But an s/askmainchan type sub would encourage conversation. So yeah I guess that's my recommendation, aside from us making efforts to leave more comments, we should start more subs that invite users to converse.
Only for being ugly.
It's likely the same reason website owners care about analytics, it's an engagement metric, let's you take the temperature of how your content is being received.