It feels like it's dying. Just anecdotally it seems like there have been less threads lately, less quality threads, and less discussion overall. More anecdotally I feel like the last couple of federation / defederation slap fights ended with many users leaving as well. I can think of a few who left because we were federating, some who left because we then subsequently defederated from lots of the fediverse, and then even a few who said they would leave if we didn't defederate and then left anyway when we did.

I feel like mostly overall I have seen very few new posters, and have seen less and less of some certain power posters.

Is this just a illusion or is this really what's happening. What is to be done?

  • Infamousblt [any]
    ·
    8 months ago

    Makes sense. If you've got the data to support that we aren't shrinking or growing at an unhealthy rate (because I think both are possible) then it's probably not much to worry about.

      • Infamousblt [any]
        ·
        8 months ago

        So basically my impression is totally backwards, and actually we're growing, not shrinking. As is customary everyone please just ignore me I clearly have no idea what's going on michael-laugh

        • invalidusernamelol [he/him]
          ·
          8 months ago

          You are right though, that a lot of old power posters have either left or aren't posting as much.

          That happens though, and it's good that we're seeing growth as the "vanguard" is stepping back. That means the general culture of the site has been defined and growth is slow enough that it won't suddenly shift anytime soon.

          • DinosaurThussy [they/them]
            ·
            8 months ago

            It’s very rare to find someone who can post that hard for an extended period of time without becoming an asshole about it. User churn is good in a lot of ways. People should be taking breaks as they deem it healthy.

            • star_wraith [he/him]
              ·
              8 months ago

              Though keep in mind just because a user doesn’t post here, doesn’t mean the person themselves aren’t still here. After 7k comments I’m concerned about how much info I’ve posted, so I plan on not using this account anymore and using a new one. I know I’m not the only one, either.

                  • kristina [she/her]
                    ·
                    8 months ago

                    I'm actually a twink named Lube and I live on Liberal Mountain

                • PaX [comrade/them, they/them]
                  ·
                  8 months ago

                  There's way too much info on my account but I like my account and username agony-deep

                  Uhhh so is everyone's friend on here reusing their usual username on this site?

                  I wonder how bad of an idea it would be to have an "opsec service" on here where you could request people to look into your account and see how opsec-fucked you are

                  • DinosaurThussy [they/them]
                    ·
                    8 months ago

                    Reusing usernames between sites is one of the main ways that people get doxxed on forums like this, just fyi

                    • PaX [comrade/them, they/them]
                      ·
                      8 months ago

                      Yeahh my friend knows this they just enjoy having a unified internet presence

                      Idk, maybe I'll have to try doxxing my friend (without actually doxxing doxxing) and help to clean up their internet presence

                      • glans [it/its]
                        ·
                        8 months ago

                        my friend knows this they just enjoy having a unified internet presence

                        your friend should use shampoo on the inside and scrub that terrible idea out of their brain. nobody cares except that person and some fucking freak who may one day decide to go to personal, intimate war with them.

                        embrace the serially pseudonymous internet

                        i hope your friend is at least using a password manager so their passwords are not also shared amongst websites.

                        • PaX [comrade/them, they/them]
                          ·
                          8 months ago

                          Yeahh this friend has decent security practices (use of password manager, encryption, metadata deletion, lack of conventional social media at all lol, etc) otherwise but they really need to find the energy sometime to clean up their... "online footprint" and probably do need to get over that idea lol

                          I really do want to live in a world where people can be themselves if they want to without having to be prepared for some reactionary piece of shit hunting them down though

                          It seems like recycling online identities every few months would make finding and keeping friends more difficult

              • silent_water [she/her]
                ·
                8 months ago

                god I have 20k comments between a couple of accounts. you're reminding me I need to logout

                • Des [she/her, they/them]
                  ·
                  8 months ago

                  every time i think i've been too excessive on here i just check out another users posts/comment totals

                  lol i can probably keep this account as primary a bit longer

                • NewLeaf
                  ·
                  8 months ago

                  I do that. Not sure why.

            • kristina [she/her]
              ·
              8 months ago

              Smh I'm not an asshole I just type lol in response to every comment