I agree with most of what you say, but I have observed in the past that hoping a community remains "small" is not a healthy mindset. If we are achieving our aims of an open and free place of discussion, naturally the community is going to grow. A feeling of the 'old guard' being unwelcoming towards new users quickly spoils the conversation, and is it itself just another way of stifling free discussion, eventually resulting in the dreaded groupthink that has been a key factor in our move here.
What is of vital importance is to uphold all of the principles that make the community great in the first place, and welcome those who share our vision for the future.
On a fundamental level I agree with you. Nothing is worse than trying to join a community you just found and would really like but being turned away because you werent a member for a long time.
However the basis of reddit and voat having karma means that once a community expands, you have the well documented phenomena of the community moving towards fluff content. In my mind, this is an even worse fate than what you described in your post. hence I'm a fan of keeping the community small or the barrier of entry high, only to filter out trolls. Yes I do realise it will also filter out the speed of lower-effort individuals but in my opinion that's okay as a trade off.
[–] Rubashov 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
I agree with most of what you say, but I have observed in the past that hoping a community remains "small" is not a healthy mindset. If we are achieving our aims of an open and free place of discussion, naturally the community is going to grow. A feeling of the 'old guard' being unwelcoming towards new users quickly spoils the conversation, and is it itself just another way of stifling free discussion, eventually resulting in the dreaded groupthink that has been a key factor in our move here.
What is of vital importance is to uphold all of the principles that make the community great in the first place, and welcome those who share our vision for the future.
Also hi guys, nice to find you all.
[–] poppysquash [S] ago
On a fundamental level I agree with you. Nothing is worse than trying to join a community you just found and would really like but being turned away because you werent a member for a long time.
However the basis of reddit and voat having karma means that once a community expands, you have the well documented phenomena of the community moving towards fluff content. In my mind, this is an even worse fate than what you described in your post. hence I'm a fan of keeping the community small or the barrier of entry high, only to filter out trolls. Yes I do realise it will also filter out the speed of lower-effort individuals but in my opinion that's okay as a trade off.
TLDR: removing karma would be a great experiment.