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SN thoughts: the most immediate risks to stackerz community
34 sats \ 9 comments \ @k00b 29 Sep 2021 meta
This is how I see them. Feel free to suggest others. There are obviously other kinds of risks we'll have, but these are the most immediate.
  1. not enough content - we're doing okay here
  2. not enough comments - this is where we are maybe weakest ... I've been too busy to comment but I think I should probably lead by example here so I'll try to spend 1-2 hours/day when my schedule clears up some
  3. I don't ship improvements fast enough - doing my best but could be better
  4. some channel for finding new users to make up for users that churn - also weak
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97 sats \ 2 replies \ @abetusk 30 Sep 2021
Some response:
  • 1 - I agree, plenty of content
  • 2 - This is the big one I think could be worked on. I often go directly to the comments section on HN because the comments have much more nuance and analysis than the actual article. I don't know how to increase comments (and comment quality) but through more users.
  • 3 - I think this is actually of minor importance. The features are rich enough that the site can be used for it's primary purpose. I would like to see a 'referral' type of functionality so I can spend some money to add some friends, should they want it, but otherwise minor tweaks with loading speed, bios etc. are nice but not going to make an appreciable difference. Personally, I would prioritize on features based on user growth potential (referral, etc.) but, regardless, I think key functionality and functionality shipping speed is good.
  • 4 - You did a 'where did you find SN' question a little while ago and I was surprised at the diversity of channels that people found this site. Though anecdotal, I would take that to mean there are many different avenues into SN, so casting a wide net and advertising in many different internet venues is valid, at this point.
Though a little tangential, and very low priority, I would like to see a kind of "state of SN", displaying user growth, current number of users, where users heard of SN, etc. etc. Maybe this could be done quarterly or yearly? Not critical or anything but it would be nice to see how many other lurkers like me are on here and to get a general sense of how many people are involved.
Just a random thought, there's some "web monetization" folks that essentially allow you to 'tip' the websites you go to (maybe by buying coins through some host and then going to a site with a referral link or other identifier?). Maybe there's some way to provide a 'tip website' feature for sites, links or people that support it, so that you can not only tip the person who submitted the link but also tip the creator of the content as well? Though potentially ripe for abuse, this might help drive users by a kind of word of mouth advertising.
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1 sat \ 1 reply \ @k00b OP 30 Sep 2021
I think you're right. I should be focusing on user growth. It's easy to get distracted with nice to haves. I'm currently deploying SSR which is more of a selfish experience thing. The next thing I'll work on is a referral system.
Nice suggestions all around.
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1 sat \ 0 replies \ @rheedi0 30 Sep 2021
I think the small (but growing) installed user base for Lightning will be a big challenge in these early days. It's a bit of chicken and egg problem: not enough users around to grow usage of LN apps, but also not enough LN apps to help grow the number of LN users. It's a pickle!
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33 sats \ 2 replies \ @g4ala 30 Sep 2021
It's very early days, but SN has made a very positive start. I saw a comment a while back about how you were considering a kind of 'readdit' styling with sub sections. I think that would be a great improvement which talks to point 3. I also think we need some kind of a pinned mission statement so that visitors know what we're about. I agree that comments are lacking, but then again, does the content (for the most part) encourage comments? What would one be commenting on, the content of a link, or the fact of the link having been posted? There's a lack of original content, rather a collection of links to external content, which is fine, if that's the SN mission, but without any organisation, the non-news content soon becomes buried; the news content is by its very nature time sensitive and as such old news will get buried, which is fine. The work that's been done thus far is very good and I know how time consuming this must be, so I hope I don't come across as over critical. I'm guessing that you have some way, in the backend, of gathering visitor stats, so you have a good idea of how many core users we have vs how many simply come and go. My point is that attracting new visitors is all well and good, but we want them to come back, so maybe addressing the first 3 points, needs to be done well before point 4. Users need a reason to come back. For me that reason is that I really don't like the toxic nature of the so called 'Social Media' platforms and I feel that here is the start of a community that (so far) is not of a toxic nature and is more about shearing what we find, with other like minded users, without having to defend what we share.
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2 sats \ 1 reply \ @gmd 30 Sep 2021
I wonder if an /r/bitcoin style "daily discussion thread" might stimulate more conversation and community. I wonder if the higher level technical posts here are intimidating to other users who may want a place to discuss some stuff completely off topic (latest MMA/boxing over the weekend, ask rando off-topic questions of the community).
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2 sats \ 0 replies \ @g4ala 30 Sep 2021
I'd be very interested to learn what OPs think about 'off topic content'.
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24 sats \ 0 replies \ @cozy 30 Sep 2021
  1. this and 2 are related to 4. More users -> more posts -> more comments. Have you tried to get the word out more on PlebNet other sites. I think I saw this on HN, but I don't know how many Bitcoiners look at HN.
  2. Is crucial, too. But demand for this, and then desire to do it, will also increase with users. It's all about finding that community.
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14 sats \ 1 reply \ @ThrillerX_ 29 Sep 2021
I think its going fantastic. Keep up the fantastic work!
Only serious risk I see is number 3 but I think once you get funding this will help tremendously.
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1 sat \ 0 replies \ @gmd 30 Sep 2021
Not sure features are a big hurdle... I don't spend much time on hacker news but they have a pretty active community with a pretty bare bone set of features. I would be curious what their secret sauce is that stimulates so much engagement (other than ycombinator mystique).
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