Falling engagement but rising numbers, what is the deal (with airline food?) ― A moderator announcement!

8 comments

1. I think the main reason for low activity on the sub is that it usually takes hours for people’s posts to show up. People (including me) are simply discouraged from posting because we can’t predict if our post will show up now, 10 minutes later, or 8 hours later. Just… have everything people post here show up. Then feel free to delete whatever you want.

2. > what does the community think about this development? Do you all have any theories? Any ideas? What could be causing this development?

   Tbh, I don’t have an answer but I have noticed it in other subs I am moderating (under a different username).

   I believe that the *growing* number can be answered by reddit’s design. The more subscribers you already have the higher up you sub will show in the suggestions (eg when people are searching for a sub). So growth is kind of exponential.

   However, many of those are ‘non-serious’ users who might subscribe but then never contribute.

   I moderate a sub where the number of users has risen by 1700% (after we got it linked from larger sub) but no change in average number of upvotes occurred. I am pretty baffled myself what the exact mechanics of this are.

   In /r/AskEurope I *feel* like posts are getting more upvotes now – am I right?

   Why there are *fewer* comments now I have no idea. Maybe the repeditiveness of questions but what can you do? With an influx of new users similar questions are bound to come up again, and personally I don’t even mind it.

3. Quite frankly : I think you underestimated how absolutely shitty and patronized the cool down period thing makes people feel, especially if it’s for answers.

4. I love this sub, but I do sometimes feel it’s…a bit dry and overly serious at times? I think what puts some people off is that the quality of answers required is a little overly intellectual, it’s good that people give high-quality answers to serious questions but at the same time, some people just want to have a bit of fun and banter. I’m not saying we should turn this into a meme sub, I think there is a balance to be had between making sure the sub isn’t overwhelmed by shitposts (*cough* MapPorn *cough*) while still having space for slightly more frivolous posts and discussion. Some of the other country/region subs (e.g. r/AskUK or r/AskBalkans) seem to maintain that balance quite well.

5. I think when it comes to the repetitiveness of questions, it isn’t as bad imo because we might get to see different cohort of people answering than the previous batch. I feel that those who answered similar questions before usually refrain from answering yet again but new people have a chance to express their opinions.

   In the current model, we can only search previous answers but there’s no way to engage as posts are dead. And some of the questions are so specific that only a small pool of users can actually contribute to the conversation.

   Of course I don’t mean let people ask daily the same questions like “Europeans of Reddit, what type of sex toys do you use on Wednesdays” but I don’t mind if certain topics are repeated more often as new people may want to express their opinions too.

   I get that from the point of view of mods this must be very tiring, reading the same answers daily. But most users pop in on a thread, read it, leave a comment or two and bye bye, we’ll never see each other again.

   I would maybe introduce a grace period for questions of lesser quality (not trash quality like the example above) in team’s opinion, let’s say 1-2h and past 70 comments for starters. This way you could see what sticks, what genartes engagement. If an engaging conversation has developed, consider letting the question stay, if not then remove.

   Lastly, I just want to thank the mod team for creating this great sub and the community for being super cool. I’ve been here for 3 years and had the greatest laughs, enlightening conversation, learned a lot and generally spent a good time.

6. I agree with the changes.Though personally I’d take it further.

   I don’t see any problems with ‘overdone topics’.

   If a topic is good,it is good.If people don’t want to answer the same kind of topic they answered yesterday then they can ignore it.

   Different people can ask very similar questions, and different people can answer them too.

   I appreciate this means more work for mods (I am also a mod on a different Reddit sub, and have been moderating on other sites for 20 years or so).

   But if there are currently too few questions and answers,I don’t see this as a major issue.

7. BTW…I think generally this is a very good sub

   The vast majority of the posts are of some interest, nearly all discussions are civil and most posters are worth reading.And the moderation is sensible and effective.

   There are a hell of a lot of worse subs on Reddit…

8. I remember once I asked a question that was supposedly on the overdone topics list (on anther profile) and was rejected. I did a search and the last posts on said topic were from 3 or 4 years ago. And sometimes the questions asked were not exactly what I was after, even if the topic was the same.

   Things change after 4 years, and those answers may not apply anymore. And people now may have a different opinion on a topic than they did av few years ago.

   Also sometimes you ask a question and it doesn’t even show up. And you hear nothing about. All rejected posts should get an explanation as to why it’s rejected.

   The criteria for questions is just far too strict and too much censorship.