Hello users of Hexbear, there have been many changes and some drama the past few months.
The recent changes we've been making have been an attempt to create a more safe and welcoming environment for many demographics that have been overlooked in the past.
For any of our comrades that have been unintentionally hurt in this process, we apologise and hope to find a solution that accommodates as many people as possible while still meeting the needs of the marginalised groups who need a space like this the most.
The intent of this post is to provide a space for all users to air grievances with regard to the site. As well as provide suggestions for specific things that could be changed to address your grievance. Comments insulting the mod team or those without a specific means to address your problem may be removed. No commenter will be sitebanned, unless it clearly breaks the code of conduct.
I think that posting outside of megathreads should be encouraged. I don't really engage with them much because I think it's a bad format for discussion, though I understand that other people like it, but a lot of posts really should be posted in communities as posts I think.
If thousands of posts are instead comments, we look a lot less active as a website.
Yeah apart from the news mega (and even that one is only neutral to me) I do not understand the drive towards megathreads at all. It's just discord but with extra steps and if I wanted to be in a discord, then I'd be in a discord. I wanted a leftist redditclone, that's why I came here.
It's at least mellowed out a bit, but there has been a lot of push towards those in the past. It's extra odd to me because the site seems to have a vibe of wanting to create agitprop and, at the very least, affecting the wider fediverse, but we want to discourage posting for some reason.
I don't think we should get rid of them. Some people like them and they're a part of site culture now, but I never understood the push for them.
I like journalposting in the mega because honestly I just don't want my venting about my job or living situation to be on the front page of the website. It feels more intimate I guess?
IMHO news mega sucks the most of all of them. I would like to see posts about news because then I can more easily know what's happening in the world. News mega obscures a lot and everyone talking in shorthand I don't understand.
And if you visit c/news it is a big collection of old pinned posts. Can only assume that is some kind of joke.
Yes the news mega sucks all the air out of the room and makes it very easy to lose track of current events if hexbear is your primary social media
Well it's one I would trust more to give me a certain kind of perspective, and be selecting better quality links than others, if the others are concerned with general news at all.
But if most of the people who have the wherewithall to do that enjoy posting in the mega style, I don't see much to do about it.
I find the megathreads vague and confusing in all communities. There can be so much dissonance between when people are yapping about their day and talking about deep subjects literally on the same post. It's like we're all just screaming in a hotel lobby.
Commenting on posts feels more like I'm exploring. Sitting in the megathread feels like a more passive way to engage with the site
This isn't really something thay we can or should try to enforce though, it's just a matter of preference. I personally like how you can just hop on the mega (for me the trans mega) and just post a positive comment about your day and walk alway without a bunch of engagement.
YES exactly it's like our own little tiny microblog
1000%
longtime (20+ yrs) mega thread hater here.
they are stupid, yet people love them, so I am wrong I guess.
I just like the format of
SUBJECT: ________ BODY: ________ ________ ________ ________ URL: ________ IMAGE:________ COMMUNITY: /c/________Probably due to being too email brained
I think the megas should just be a chat window, since functionally that seems to be how they work (just shoe-horned into the reddit format)
I like it more than traditional chat software, the thread style makes it so much easier to keep up with the conversation
I just really don't like having to avoid thr thread as the deadline comes up :(
Not quite a chat, because those move a lot faster. And there is internal threading more so in the megas for people to reply to each other. I'd prefer a mega to a chat.
I think its microblogging. But not sure it would be technically trivial to integrate a feature like that into the site.
Their feed-like look make them an easy transition for bsky refugees at least.
I read the general megathread daily and you should try reading it, because I don't you would say the same thing if you actually read it, it's mostly people talking about their day or their lives which I don't think would benefit from being their own posts and most people would not want to post about their day directly to the rest of lemmy we're federated with, I can see it if you mean the news thread should just post the news updates as posts because at least that's more applicable to anyone.
Why does it matter if the site looks less active than it is? It’s not like there would actually be a difference in the amount of activity if someone made a post in the trans community vs a comment in the trans mega, and the megas themselves are pinned to the top of the feed so I think they would be tough to miss. Personally, if posting in the megas were discouraged I would just post less, because I don’t feel the sort of things I comment in the megas would make good standalone posts. They are more like light chats or just talking about some stuff that happened that day, things like that.
The news mega would be the exception in my opinion, I do think that there’s often stuff posted in there that would be worth it’s own post, but I also don’t think it’s a big enough problem to warrant mods intervening.
I think I agree . I use the general megathread a lot, but could it just be c/chat? Maybe. I feel like the news thread could definitely just be c/news. The megathreads for communities I’m not a part of I couldn’t speak to. I think it would definitely be a huge drama to take away the mthreads
on a personal note I really appreciate @thelastaxolotl@hexbear.net megathreads and reading the post bodies which would be lost if relegated to /c/chat
This is where I think it could be a cool idea to have those posted in their respective comms as they are, but cross-posted to effortpost, then every day a new effortpost coud be pinned. I remember in this last big upset that people were saying the effortpost comm was all but dead, and I think if the community itself could be pinned, or something like my other suggestion could happen, it could get a lot more visibility/activity.
True that