I'm going to answer all these questions. I'm going to come across negative. There's no downgoats here bitches, deal.

1. What do we think of an influx of users?

a) Content has...well, here, I'll phrase this another way: all of a sudden my feed is positively flooded with #askhubski. Some of these asks seem redundant, but they've succeeded even though to me, they look redundant. This seems indicative of a problem I'm afraid is going to happen here on Hubski that I'm going to address below. I'm not a fan of all these asks, nor do I think they are as truly "deep" as they could be. Some of them seem like gratuitous "ask Reddit" questions that, by the way, you Reddit users, have been asked a million times on Reddit and you'll find great answers to your questions...over there. I sound like a jerk who doesn't want these new users here.

You know what? Maybe I am and maybe that's how I feel.

2. How do we expect it to affect us?

b) It's already affecting us. I'm worried that what's going to happen is we have this large influx of users from Reddit that see the community, jump in, and start participating. They don't really realize it but they change the content and topics discussed on Hubski. However, because the community is still smaller and more personable than Reddit, it still feels great... to them. We notice a change because we've been here longer but they notice a change as well because they're coming from the seething behemoth of the internet, mostly inane, sometimes made-up, that is Reddit. They like the change and they continue to feed the different topics/content because it's still different to them! The old guard becomes a minority. I stop recognizing usernames. Eventually I stop paying attention to usernames because, guess what, community is big enough that I don't think I'll see most of these people again in other comment threads, and the interpersonal communication gets lost. kleinbl00 says, just ignore users. Trust me, I'm going to give this a bit of time and see but then yeah I'm probably going to start laying that hammer down. I don't like it, but I also don't like the changes I'm seeing. They're not terrible, no, but as soon as I see a pun thread, pure image posts, or novelty accounts, I'm going to punch my screen.

And I'm waiting for that day.

Then I'm going to reach through the screen and strangle whoever it is propagating it.

3. How do we feel about a larger community?

c) Makes things harder. Makes it harder to care. Gives people more anonymity. I valued Reddit for its anonymity, I value(d) Hubski for its people. Don't get me wrong I'm not throwing in the towel. I'm very trepidatious. Pluses: generates more content. Downsides: Doesn't necessarily generate more quality content. Plus: Broadens the range of topics. Also a downside. There seems to be an influx of gamers/technies, which is fine, but Hubski never had that as a solid base as opposed to Reddit back in the day. I can't relate so much to that. Plus: potentially more original content. Downside: Potentially more trolls, people making up stories for attention, and potentially LOTS more SHITTY original content.

4. How do we feel about being linked? Should it be selective or not?

d) Hate it. Wish we could make it so it didn't happen. Not a fan of getting all this traffic from Reddit, there's a reason (lots of reasons) I'm not on Reddit any more. Way back a while ago some user, I think syncretic, kept promoting the #reddit tag and also the subreddit r/hubski on Reddit. I pointed out, why would I ever go to Reddit to see updates from Hubski? I'm on Hubski because I want to be on Hubski. I don't want to cross-pollinate. Moreover, r/hubski just drove traffic away from Hubski which didn't make sense to me. Don't know if it's still active. Haven't seen syncretic around and he didn't reply to my post with my rebuttals to "why isn't this cross-pollination successful" or what-have-you. That's fine, I had pretty salient points and I could understand if he didn't like them, since he seemed on the opposite end of the spectrum as I am (he says "Combine all the things!" and I say "Compartmentalize all the things!")

4a. There have also been chatterings in the past of invite-only. Thoughts?

e) Is it hypocritical if I don't like this because then it makes this site an elite snobby club? I don't mind new users finding us. I mind a huge flood of new users coming over from AskReddit. It wasn't so bad when we got the flood from theoryofreddit because let's be honest, that's a relatively smaller subreddit that has a focus on intellectual conversation and navel-gazing. AskReddit, however, is the dregs of the internet, full of trolls, liars, people looking to "game" you just for attention. It is full of a very wide spectrum of people and typically has very low quality of content. Moreover, most of those top comments are extreme, ridiculous, and (if I'm being kind with my words) dubious. Yes, sometimes there are touching stories. And then sometimes those touching stories are lies. I don't mind being told a good story but I mind being told a good story that masquerades as truth but isn't. I don't mind being told a good story but I mind when people decide they want to start up a fund for someone who they think is dying of cancer when that person isn't. Let's not feed into Internet Munchausen syndrome. Let's not feed attention whores.

5. Do we have a damage control plan in case a large number of new users don't... follow the rules, explicit or implied. Is banning going to need to come in?

f) As I said above kleinbl00 would say the ignore button. I've never used it and I don't like that I'm going to have to - I feel like I should give people a chance - but oh, I am thinking about it. Banhammer? I feel like people would need to be really egregious before anyone would be willing to banhammer. After all, our second-most popular poster is ahametals with 0 followers because all he posts is self-promoting spam. He's not banned. We all just ignore him. Most people I don't think even know he exists.

6. How do we attend to keeping this a person-oriented third place?

g) Well first of all the surge is going to have to die down and we're going to have to see who sticks around and who doesn't. It's going to be a lot harder now. The more people, the harder it is to get to know each of them, recognize their names, etc. If I'm at a party and I meet 10 new people I'm good if I remember all their names at the end of the night. If I'm at a party or a bar and I meet one or two I can remember their names and have a good conversation with them, maybe exchange phone numbers, maybe forge a real connection.

Addendum: I literally came in to work early today so I could get on this thread. I care about Hubski and really love it and the people I've met through here and I'm just worried about many of the aspects of the site that are, inevitably, going to degrade. I suppose "degrade" is a strong word and if I was being nice I could just say "change." Change isn't always bad. But I'm also kind of frustrated by the fact that I keep getting 502 bad gateway errors when I try to access this site and basically all these new people are standing in between me and the place I want to be (inside the club having a good time). It's like - my favorite bar is in a college town. During the summer the whole town empties out and the bar is empty except for regulars and townies and it's wonderful and lonely and nice. Now all the college kids are in (and yes, I know about Eternal September ) and all of a sudden I'm in the back of the line jostling to get into a place where, damn it, I should be able to get in without getting carded and I should be able to sit down, grab a drink and start up conversations with the regulars, except I can't find the regulars for all the loud kids who aren't going to stay and aren't going to bring value, and the bartenders are running all over the place busy as fuck.

After that, I don't freaking know.

To the new people who have submitted quality comments or content: Yes. I acknowledge that you exist and I'm interested to see what you bring to the site. I don't unilaterally hate you all. But it also irritates me when people are like "OMG Hubski is so young!" or whatever. It's like, seriously, do your due diligence. Hubski's been around for a few years at this point, it's just new to you.

Maybe we could make it so that you can't submit a post until you have a full hubwheel from comments. I saw that you can't submit a community tag until you have a full hubwheel and I kind of liked that. But again, I have a really hard time saying flat-out "we should just make it hard for people to participate in Hubski." To be clear, that's not what I want. I don't want inanity, superficiality, trolls, or Reddit's influence.

1) We think they need a better tutorial so they can figure shit out, and we think they need to lurk moar. Unfortunately the Reddit DDOS made search non-functional and they were left groping in the dark without a flashlight. As a consequence I've unsubbed from askhubski, and had to fight the instinct to call it /r/askhubski.

2) We expect to have to adapt to ignore them until they a) figure it out or b) grow bored and leave. As per usual, it will take approximately a week.

3) We're totally cool with a larger community, so long as it's a larger community gradually acquired.

4) We think that in the future, new accounts in one day past a certain number should automagically be thrown into READ ONLY MODE so that the functionality of the site for the rest of us isn't crippled. This probably reeks of classism. Hey - I've been here two years. I know what I'm doing. If the new kidz have to watch me for a day or two before they can shout at me, it's good for everyone.

4a) FUCK EVERYTHING ABOUT THAT.

5) You ignore them. Bet you didn't realize that half of the Archangelles wandered over here last time. The time before that, most of the CIRCLEJERKERS. Culling the chaff from the wheat is much easier on Hubski, almost as if it were designed that way.

6) Get used to ignoring and muting people. Louts with no audience quickly leave. Contributors with no audience sulk and get plaintive. And hey - if you give them a few days, they might even figure it out on their own.

This is the fourth time this has happened in my memory. The only thing that I've noticed changing is the staffing level.

Speaking as someone who has publicly and verbosely lamented the fall of Reddit, allow me to say for the record: I'm unconcerned.

1. I have yet to solidify an opinion. So far, it seems like there are more users in this wave that have a hand in the creative side of things and have original content to share. I think that's great, as long as it doesn't turn into "LOOK AT MY SHIT, YO". So far, I've seen some nice back and forth between users and content creators. Hopefully it stays that way.

2. Honestly, I expect to be a bit annoyed for a week or so as people decide whether or not they like the hubski experience and figure out what the site culture is like. There has been an unnerving amount of "redditspeak" and users that are concerned about karma, followers, power users and a whole lot of other bullshit. Most users that have been using the site for a while were/are also on reddit, though might not identify as "redditors." Because of that, reddit is mentioned with some regularity, but the relative volume of redditspeak has been low.

As _refugee_ noted, #askhubski has exploded. I know it's a tag that I have often used, especially when starting out. I expect that its use will go down a bit as things settle. Also, yes, there have been A LOT of redundant posts, which I guess is understandable because there are so many new users, many of whom seem to have posted something before selecting more users/tags to follow.

3. In general, a larger community seems fine. Then again, I joined when it was smaller and have been able to rub elbows with users I really enjoy for a longer amount of time. However, due to the volume of new posts, my feed is showing less content from people I follow, but that's because I have to manage the tags I follow (I follow way too many it seems). Not to draw lines in the sand or anything, but I am glad that I already follow and/or have been followed by the users I most regularly interact with.

4. I don't really care for the link, now that I've seen what a wave (of mutilation) of new users can do. The site was overwhelmed and tough to get on for a bit and when I was able to get on during that period, the posts were mostly about how people had come from reddit. Boo.

As for the question, "should it be selective", well, I don't want to be an elitist on the internet, (even if I may be one in real life) as I don't know that I'd pass muster. Right now, a user needs a full hubwheel to give badges and add community tags. I think that's good. I also think that the idea of perhaps limiting posts until a certain comment threshold might be beneficial for cutting down on #askhubski posts, or perhaps could be used to give users the incentive to introduce themselves and comment on already active comment threads to get a feel for the place. Although, shitty users might just flood active threads with unrelated questions, simply to meet that threshold.

4a. How would the invites go out? That seems like a lot more work and might work against the vitality and adaptability of the site.

5. Ignore, mute, ignore, mute, etc., as far as I know. Maybe mk, forwardslash, thenewgreen or insomniasexx can shed light on that. We could always invite a bunch of magical caribou to do a Reaping. Or . . . Thunderdome!

6. I think the way to do this is to make the effort to interact with users one enjoys interacting with, or whose posts/original content one enjoys. A lot of the existing users seem like they don't much care to go on tangents within threads, which does indeed help foster focused, intelligent discussion, but I love going off on those tangents with users. For example, I learned entirely too much about porcupine mating habits by going off on a tangent with insomniasexx one time.

I also don't like that users are seemingly treating hubski as "better reddit". I like hubski for hubski.

I just started to read this thread. I've been working on the backend, trying to prevent that kind of downtime again.

I do want to say that my number one priority is that Hubski feels like the place you want to hang out at and have good conversation. We are always learning, and we are always going to keep at it. I started Hubski for a reason, and the whole crew buys into it.

I can't really answer the first few questions, seeing as I'm one of the new users from the recent reddit "flood".

6. How do we attend to keeping this a person-oriented third place? Many, many people in that thread complained about the focus on persons and relationships on our site.

I have to admit I was a bit worried and curious about this focus. Turns out I actually ended up liking it. To me, it makes the site feel like a closer community, of which people are sharing information with each other, as they would IRL. Reddit didn't have this user focus, and everyone on the site just kind of became a reddity "entity". And there's a running joke on there about this too.

but I certainly don't want redditors to think this is simply "reddit with more content and less pictures", because we're a lot more than that.

That's certainly what I thought when I got here, since that's how it was introduced to me (from the reddit post). However, it quickly became apparent that isn't the case. And honestly, I think the people who will keep that opinion will probably leave after a little bit of trying out the site.

From what I noticed, there are two different types of redditors. The first, like myself, use reddit for news and discussion of news. That and just as a general forum for discussion of current or introduced topics. Much like how #askhubski is here. These users will probably find hubski to be exactly what they are looking for.

The second type of redditor is the type that likes memes, pun threads, pics, videos, etc and is there for media consumption. Granted, that's what I used reddit for for a long time, but I forced myself to gradually drift away from that type of usage. Which is why I like hubski, that nonsense isn't here. The users that do like that type of content are looking for the social acceptance and approval that reddit focuses on. Hubski doesn't focus on that either.

So naturally, I think that "wrong" new users isn't really going to be a problem. Sure, they'll come check out the site and see what it's about. But I'm willing to guess that they'll get bored and leave. Reddit is much more active and fast paced compared to Hubski. It's two entirely different attitudes toward the same idea.

So really, I think it's not a big problem. But this is coming from someone who's only been here for a day or so.

Everyone was a new user at some point.

I'm no more a redditor than I am a 4chaner or 2600er.

I'll remain lowkey by default - and chyme in only with amusing/enlightening intent.

kthx

If we want to avoid detrimental phenomena associated with a lack of person-oriented relationships, we need to disable features like tag-following that encourage that sort of thing.

or at least don't complain about the lack of quality if you go ahead and use them.

To answer your questions:

1. WELCOME! 2. More opportunities for interesting content and conversation 3. Do want 4. Great 4a. Nope. Hubksi's current size basically approximates invite-only as it is. 5. Yeah, -ignoring names/domains/tags 6. By being considered and thoughtful in who you follow and engage with. You create your own experience here to a large extent.

As an aside, the last time we had a large influx of users, there was definitely some low-brow, low caliber posting and users that wandered in. I only know this because of the global page and users I follow referring to it. Because the people I follow don't repost crap, it never really made it into my experience. If it did, it would have been quite easy to nip in the bud.

I also don't care about people talking about other sites like reddit and making comparisons. Everybody had to come from somewhere. While Hubski is it's own thing, let new users compare it and find that out out loud.

I'll say it again: WELCOME NEW USERS

I literally just joined this site. I've had it bookmarked for a while but haven't explored it, I can't remember if I found it on reddit or what.

For those of us who'd rather not fuck up this place, but want to take part it in, what are these "rules" and the general flow? I'm sure some of you vets who want to keep this place special would rather spread the stories than lose them.

I only really know the whole people-centric factor (which is awesome, because I never comment or anything on reddit due to my comment not even making a dent in anything).

A community is either defined by a strongly shared belief or by the demographic if such a belief is absent. Hubski, as you have said is about much more than just deeper content. I saw that within 5 minutes of pitching up here.

People who do not share the mindset of the community could, with a big enough influx of similarly minded people, create a beachhead of sorts where they share content amongst themselves. In this regard Reddit is Hubski's biggest ally. It acts as a lighting rod for the content and user interaction that doesn't fit with Hubski. As long as Reddit provides an easier more accessible way to share funny cat pictures, those pictures will stay on Reddit as the majority of the existing Hubski community simply won't give it the traction it needs.

Now Hubski will fracture and develop subcultures as it grows and this is normal and not necessarily a bad thing, but in order to completely upset the apple cart it would require an influx of users that out number the existing community and that becomes less feasible as Hubski grows.

As long as Hubski as a community takes the time to teach and foster a vision amongst its new users there is no reason to fear its future. The day you have to rely on tools, rules and restrictions to manage the community you have already lost.

As long as Hubski wants to remain Hubski it will.

Edit: I forgot to mention that I am one of the new blood.