Skip Navigation
Remote View
Lemmy.World Announcements @lemmy.world
j4k3 @lemmy.world

Hello! Can we normalize a few things?

Don't be a vote connoisseur here please. Redefine how you think about voting and participating.

Do you miss your communities from elsewhere. Well guess what, you are that core community now. If you want it back, the only thing holding you back is you. Don't wait on someone else to start posting. You don't need to worry about the perfect polished quality of your content or if it has been done before elsewhere. The current bar is, umm, poorly defined. No one is judging you. Call it practice. EVERY time you see something interesting, get in the habit of posting it please. Maybe go out of your way to grab a reference or two and post them.

Along these lines, think of how unsure and uncomfortable this may seem to most of us former lurker connoisseurs. You can play hard and thick skinned all you want, but you know exactly what post or comment you posted elsewhere that got the most votes or interaction. Why? Because it matters to you. So upvote everything you can. It matters to someone else too. Don't upvote just for the value or interest you have in the content. Do it just to say "hey, thanks for making the effort to participate and make this place a few lines longer." Please rethink how you handle voting, at least for now, think of a down vote as FU for participating, no votes as I wish you weren't here. We are all likely accustomed to a lot more interaction and validation in our own little niches. This is really an underpinning value of social media, we are here to engage with people, so tell people who are new and unsure about a new and different place, "hey, thanks for participating." You may not know or really appreciate their interests, but you can help us grow a core that can evolve into your favorite niches as the community grows. You are the core community. We can all make it grow if we make it a place people want to be.

168 comments

  • I think putting effort into actively participating is also the best way to truly quit reddit.

    I mean, now everyone is angry because of what's happening and we're flooding alternatives with enthusiasm because of this particular moment, but will it last?

    When you're so angry about something it's because you deeply care, and as long as we care there's always the risk of going back to it when the "anger moment" will pass, because let's be honest, it will pass sooner or later.

    So we need to stop caring, and the best way to do it IMO is being involved as much as possible here, find new people, make new connections, create/participate in new communities, so there's no chance we'll miss anything of what's "on the other side".

  • Yeah, we just need a bit more of a push. I think some people may be a bit too fixated on reaching Reddit's numbers; we really don't need to. I don't care if the top comment has 50 upvotes instead of 50,000, what I want is more comments, more posts, more experts in a field sharing their invaluable opinions.

    Obviously it will take some time to reach the level of granularity some subreddits have. Like, we have a design sub, a good design sub, an ashole design sub, a crappy design sub (which is like asshole design, but unintentional), a design design sub (for awful designs that are also somehow aesthetic)... And all this without going into specific design subs (web design, brand design, structure design...). Yeah, we may not have all those for a while, we enthusiasts may all have to interact in a general Lemmy Design community, but guess what? That is how Reddit got where it is now.

    Personally, I am enjoying the process. I've been lurking Reddit for years, reading awesome posts, and informing myself on all kinds of topics from people I won't ever begin to compare to. But Lemmy, for the moment, feels more intimate to me, I am starting to recognize specific nametags, to interact with real human beings (not a sentient blob of like-minded thoughts). It feels like being at a bonfire enjoying the moment with a couple of people, and I think that by itself has it's own charm.

  • Well said! Im gonna try doing my part to make this place better one comment and upvote at a time.

  • Pioneering work is hard but very rewarding. Definitely a fun time which we all should use to really shape things how we would like them to be

  • Trying to do my part here too, looking forward to seeing how this all grows.

    Anyone found any good animal gif communities?

  • While I can appreciate wanting to help others feel good about posting, here are my concerns (and some solutions at the end to consider):

    1. If most posts were upvoted blindly, it would make post ratings meaningless as well as the Hot feature. I prefer "good" posts to rise to the top.
    2. If we upvote low quality/low effort posts, then that is what we are encouraging users to produce.
    3. Low quality posts especially from Help Vampires can be a huge drain on the community and moderators. E.g., No one wants to see the same question asked every few posts.
    4. New users may at first be drawn to seeing the number of posts...but if the first x number of posts are all garbage, we may lose potential users.

    Personally, I will not upvote posts just to make new people more confident. However, here are some alternative solutions:

    1. People can learn to feel comfortable posting in certain communities that are either smaller or where quality is less expected. E.g., if the future Arch Linux community is like their forum, they are very strict and you'll get worse than a down vote if you don't follow the guidelines in How To Ask Questions The Smart Way and had first RTFM (read the manual) and STFW (searched the web) and have put in great effort and be truly stuck before posting.
    2. Before downvoting, we could look at the user's profile and some of their posts and if they seem very new, we could cut them some slack and/or send them a PM instead of downvoting.

    • It is hard to see the context of the timeline that this was written in. There were less than 1300 total accounts on this instance and several hundred online at the time. I looked up several communities that only had 1-3 posts and almost no interaction. So I decided to pick an interest and make a couple posts. This felt like a dead end, I wasn't ready to give up, so I wrote this to hopefully help it feel a little more worthwhile grinding out some more posts. I had no way of knowing how much this place would grow in a few days.

      Positivity shouldn't be a rare thing. In regular analog life, social accountability to one's peers is a mask people wear to hide who they really are. The anonymity of this place is the only time people take off this mask. This is a perfect mirror, if the person is smart enough to recognize their own reflection. For that reason, everyone should want to be their best self here. This is who you really are when no one else is pressuring you in an otherwise accountable way. Why not make a positive impact with that.

      • Agreed, being positive shouldn't be a rare thing for sure. However what people view as being positively impactful is different.

        To me it is not helpful or desired to essentially lie to people by patting them all on the head with an upvote which is the equivalent of saying 'good post' even if the post added no value or worse sucked. While upvotes may provide a burst of dopamine to each user, it won't do them any favours in the long run. And once they realise everyone is getting upvoted regardless of content, the upvotes will come to be viewed as meaningless anyway.

        Furthermore, upvoting is the lowest effort and lowest impact option -- If one wants to be more positively impactful and take more effort than just blindly upvoting every post, they could reply or PM to welcome new members to the community, direct them to helpful FAQs/resources, etc.

        Furthermore there will be many communities which will all have their own values and expectations so if I'm in a community where mods put a rule to upvote every post, then sure if I want to participate in that community then I will do that. And if on the other end of the spectrum, if I'm in a community where mods have a rule for no low effort/value posts, if I want to stay in that community I will certainly only upvote posts that meet that rule. And of course those are both extreme cases and most communities will fall somewhere in the middle.

        Anyway regardless of everything I've said, in the end how we add value to this platform is based on our unique values and preferences. It sounds like you are more connection-focused and I am more education/knowledge-focused. There is nothing wrong with either as there is nothing wrong with you upvoting all posts and inspiring others to join you. While I may have a different philosophy, I am also a huge fan of the need and benefit of diversity of thought and so I am quite glad you are a part of the community and that you want to make Lemmy a welcoming place -- your kindness and care will help make the community better.

  • Sometimes it can be very difficult to create a community and start posting stuff. I'm talking about meme content or comic content, like those in r/polandball, r/funny, etc.

    Obviously it's a beginning, and all beginnings can be tough. But lacking creativity is tougher.

    Although I appreciate your support, and you're absolutely right. Anything is better than lurking.

    • Look on the bright side: Now nothing is a repost. That folder of dumb meme PNGs you had? None of them have been posted.

      • OMG! You are right. It’s my time to shine!

      • To be honest, I've never created any meme. I'm creatively and artistically too dumb. I don't know where people create those memes either, like old rage comics or the bearded guy and the bald guy.

    • Think of this like your new bookmarks.

      Like I have a bunch of stuff saved on Infinity and elsewhere. I just need to weed through what I want to save, extract the reference and post them here.

      You could do the same with memes; put together a collection of your favorites and post them here to get started. Don't flood anywhere with a bunch of stuff in a day or self promotion nonsense linking to proprietary sites that pay you when you should post to peertube or odysee, (evil glance at others in a small room).

      I assume people are still browsing all of Lemmy from time to time when their subscriptions lack new interesting content. If you post a lot in a short time it will annoy people. Habitually posting 1-3 items a day would be enough to motivate others to eventually follow in kind.

      If you think about it like a bookmarking, max-browser-open-tabs-tester type, just keeping up with the latest and saving them here once in awhile, you'll be lurking in your own community creation aftermath in no time.

  • Hell yeah! Ask questions, introduce yourself, make a post about things you like or seem interesting to you.

  • Well put, I think the next few weeks are going to be really crucial to drawing in more of a user base.

  • Please keep in mind this is something I've written in regards to all of these various social platforms, not just kbin...

    Hiding Voting Metrics:
    Voting metrics inadvertently lead to conformity and discourage users from expressing genuine opinions. Users should feel more comfortable sharing their thoughts and perspectives without fear of judgment or backlash.

    Removing Emoji-Based Reactions:
    The current practice of using emoji reactions as a means of interaction lacks depth and context. These reactions do not provide any insight into why a user liked, disliked, or loved a post... This change would promote more genuine interaction and create a space for nuanced conversations.

    Discouraging Clout Chasing Behaviors:
    Platforms can implement measures that limit the emphasis on popularity metrics. Introduce alternative ways to measure influence and impact (insightful comments, fostering discussions, valuable contributions). By shifting the focus from superficial metrics to meaningful engagement, platforms can create an environment that encourages authentic participation.

    Promoting Content Quality and Relevance:
    Hiding voting metrics and mitigating clout chasing behaviors allows platforms to prioritize quality and relevance. Engagement, interactions, relevance, and authenticity is used to determine the visibility of content. This approach ensures that valuable and meaningful content receives recognition, while reducing the emphasis on arbitrary popularity metrics.

    Recognizing the Limitations of Memes:
    While memes can be entertaining and lighthearted, they often lack the depth. Memes, while humorous, rarely foster in-depth discussions or promote the exchange of diverse perspectives. By highlighting the limitations of relying on meme-based content, platforms can encourage users to move beyond superficial engagement and embrace more substantive interactions.

    This approach optimizes content organization by utilizing horizontal space before continuing vertically. This method ensures that users can browse through a larger number of posts allowing users to quickly scan and explore popular posts while maintaining a clear overview of the content available. Reorganizing the UX of platforms by adopting a mass display approach for content organization brings numerous benefits. It optimizes content visibility, promotes content diversity, and streamlines content organization. By presenting the most interacted-with content side-by-side (instead of most popular on top) and utilizing horizontal space effectively, platforms create a dynamic and engaging user experience.

    This reimagined platform design enhances content discoverability, improves user engagement, and fosters a thriving online community that values quality and relevance.

    There are tons of other aspects of this to discuss but I won't bother diving into them (new and unpopular posts receiving recognition, front page content dying off due to less interaction based on time decay, etc etc)

168 comments