👁️ Mbladra
It's true though - social media in general seems to aim for growth, at the expense of community quality. The larger it gets the more work it is to moderate, and you start to wonder why you got on in the first place..
🧔 Justin
Right. It would be interesting to know what exactly causes an eternal September type situation. Is it purely numbers? Maybe the lack of popularity pushes out those might low the quality?
Peter Clarkson
As far as I can tell, very active moderation is pretty much the only reliable way to achieve community quality - r/askhistorians is a good example. Or there's another site called hubski.com that has a small community, but it has a $5 one-off joining fee which seems to just add that little barrier to entry that makes people feel invested in the community. I absolutely love the aesthetic of this site by the way.
Peter Clarkson
Well it's certainly worked for hubski, but I think a small fledgling community would never get off the ground nowadays if you did. I would certainly pay a small joining fee for a decent online community, or even a small subscription. Moderation is work, and it needs to be paid for somehow.