[Discussion Thread] How can we grow the /m/scifi community?
[Discussion Thread] How can we grow the /m/scifi community?
I have my own ideas about growing /m/scifi and extending our 'table' to include more scifi people. What are yours? I'm keen to learn
For one, we need to invite our friends. I've been waiting for kbin.social to stabilize a bit before asking friends who are less tolerant of glitches and rough edges.
Second, I think we need to be welcoming, kind, and open. Please be very sparing with downvotes/reduces and other "feels bad" signals that push people away from participating.
Finally, I don't like advertising in other communities, but if there is a thread here that is especially relevant in another community, consider politely linking to the thread as it may be interesting to those folks.
Those are my thoughts.
For one, we need to invite our friends. I've been waiting for kbin.social to stabilize a bit before asking friends who are less tolerant of glitches and rough edges.
We might want to see how tomorrow goes, LOL.
I will admit that I rather liked the subreddit distinction between 'scifi' and 'printsf'. My interest is almost wholly in books. Reiterating what the best SF movies of the last month/year/decade/century isn't really anything I'm interested in. I probably saw it. On the flip side, the 1000th recommendation of why Dune is amazing is also pretty old. I realize I'm coming at this after being an enthusiast for a long time and I don't want to deny anyone their entry point into the genre, so we need a balance of ideas.
I guess that's a long way from a recommendation of what to do. A currently reading weekly thread might be good though. I do like finding new authors -- new to authoring and older-but-new-to-me -- and maybe that would be a good way to get some traffic going. Could split it into a separate weekly "what are you seeing?" kind of thread too for those who are finding or revisiting shows on video.
Be the change you want to see in the world, my friend!. Even with 4000+ subscribers, this mag isn't overwhelming us with links and discussion posts. We're digital homesteaders in a way, so we're kind of stuck building our own sod houses (habitation domes?) and planting our own (hydroponic genetically altered?) crops. If you want a weekly book thread, just throw one up after you have your coffee on Fridays. People will come, or not, but if the thread is there, and has been there, that can only be a good thing.
I think the magazine's description is a good starting point. Content is probably our biggest challenge when building a new community. I have been thinking about that for a few niche interests I have found almost deserted magazines for. Post and make content feels like the only way. Comment as much as you are able, Have the conversation. Recovering redditors may need convincing to post. It was easy to just not say anything there and avoid getting downvoted into oblivion.
There are some recurring themes, maybe weekly threads that we can do aimed at getting more people to post or comment. What are you watching, reading or playing comes to mind. (Neil Stephenson's Anathema, Old Star Trek reruns and Elite Dangerous, in case it is of interest) Threads like that has always been as nice way to discover authors or content in past.
Another thing is to note that slow organic growth is a good thing. It allows us to engage more.
The magazine has the same issue as the rest of kbin; a lack of content.
How many unique users out of the roughly 4000 have posted "articles" here, and why is that number so low?
-Is it because figuring out how to make a post is less intuitive than other sites?
-Is there something about the community that isn't friendly?
-Is the community that we have just generally averse to posting?Just takes a bit of time for these things to get going, I think. Take it easy, post if you can, comment if you can - but low volume doesn't mean bad. I think trying to force conversation/activity is worse.
None of the related magazines in this community are listing this community in their related magazine section.
I'd advise expanding (and trimming) the related magazine section, plus messaging mods to ask if they'd like to add your magazine to their related section.
I really like magazine/community and even though I only was lurking for my time, the interactions I got from my one post was pretty amazing. The people are great and the Idea behind this magazin as it is right now is great. Content would be the issue I guess.