What will it take.......
9
What will it take to reinvigorate this community?
Deny it if you will (or put your head in the sand), but things are not going well here. I remember when the threads on the front page constantly changed. Now the same threads linger for daysssssss. I remember when the community page was constantly changing with new posts. Now I find this page can sit idle for quite some time.
We have many of the old guard holding this community together (and I love you), but if this community is to survive we need for new users to come forth and play, or old users to return.
It’s just not the same around this little town.
Any ideas?
- 22 comments, 119 replies
- Comment
We’re always working on new features and tweaks, but I’m very interested in hearing ideas from you all as well.
I’ve mentioned this elsewhere, but the holiday slam pulled a few of us staffers out of the forum more than we’d have liked. We’re slowly getting through the backlog and should hopefully be able to be participating some more. That said, I think it’s more about you all than about us.
(I have to say I’ve not sensed a huge shift in activity here, but I take your word for it if it’s feeling slower to you.)
@dave It really has. I am glad to hear that there will be more staff participation, and I have noticed that lately. And you are right it is about us. It is how do we pull some of the meh buyers who are here every night to participate more in the forums.
(I also apologize if I somehow scare them away.)
@dave
But Meh got a @Deshaun who we (the mehmbers) don’t know anything about.
@ilovehollboll
@Deshaun Is that Secret Squirrel?!
@Deshaun
Who are you and what do you do at Meh/ A Mediocre Company
@ilovehollboll I am the User Experience Designer.
@Matthew
You seem to have a monopoly on Meh daily videos.
We need a new Let’s Meet… video featuring @Deshaun.
Meeting buyers is interesting, but some of us want to meet other mediocre/Mediocre people.
@ilovehollboll OK!
@matthew
You’re not just saying that to get me to be quiet. Right? Right?!?
@ilovehollboll
@matthew
Why is Hyram your avatar? Does he know?
@Dave - Thanks.
Wait a second @galmaegi is on vacation? Explains some stuff…
Oh, I guess that is Hyram. I assumed it was a composite of features assembled by a random avatar generator.
@matthew There’s still plenty of people at Mediocre we haven’t met or seen in videos yet- the HR people, one of the accountants, and one of your sellers to start.
@matthew
Care to share Hyrams’ username?
@dashcloud
You mean Kelly?
I blame @JonT for leaving. It was obviously his magic that made things sparkle.
@cinoclav I agree. He is missed.
@mfladd
Blaming him for a month could be quite an event.
@f00l hmmmmm…
@mfladd Is that the L.A. Chargers?
@lisaviolet LA has football?
(I do suppose that @jbartus gets an unblame in that the Rams didn’t finish off the season with the absolute worst record.)
@narfcake I don’t follow football (the NFL beatification of Michael Vick ended my love for it) and I’m just hoping this is the end of it. Go, Chargers. Just go.
@cinoclav @mfladd - awww thanks y’all. Warms my heart to hear that, and I do hope the community keeps growing. I’ll try to drop in more (especially when tagged).
@lisaviolet
/giphy how dare you
@JonT
dude! i can only handle so much vodka. how many drunk threads do you want from me!??!?!
but yeah, i get what you’re saying. i’d definitely like to see new members (or lurkers) get into the community more. it keeps it fresh. you never know who’ll be the next @mfladd+@KittySprinkles duo.
@carl669 And we appreciate you sacrificing your liver for the betterment of our community.
@mfladd it’s ok. i’ve got an extra liver in the fridge.
@carl669
@pitamuffin We need more pitamuffin!
@carl669
Ok then. Sacrifice fucking faster, pls.
@carl669 I’m that half-lurker who likes to read these posts and occasionally responds to some…that’s about it.
Why a tribute version of the song?
(This is a good thread)
@f00l I don’t know
closed caption subscribers?
We have a few problems. First as a society the majority of all conversations right now are about politics. Whatever you think about politics going on right now and the new president none of it fits the light-hearted absurdity for which we love meh. So you want to reinvigorate the community come up with a funny entertaining conversation topic. Post that stay active in that conversation. A day or two later come up with another second funny witty silly conversation topic post that repeat.
@CaptAmehrican
This is a good. Thx.
@CaptAmehrican Agreed. Once a topic goes political I quit reading it. This is a supposed to be a fun place. Yes, I have my opinions about politics but I do not wish to go that way here. Again, strictly my opinion. I know some people think it should be discussed everywhere. I would not mind and likely continue reading if it remained civil. I was hoping after November things would level off. If anything it seems worse.
@CaptAmehrican @Riot Demon The only thing I’m good at is trolling @jbartus & @f00l. Sigh…
@speediedelivery Amen.
@speediedelivery @CaptAmehrican I couldn’t agree more. I’ve certainly been contributing lately in threads that are unabashedly political but it seems like people can’t help but dredge it up in every single thread, related or otherwise, and it really puts a damper on my desire to read the thread.
@compunaut
I Commend Thee To Troll forth!
/giphy troll
I don’t know how to help. I started a thread about vomit once, and that wasn’t appreciated by some, lol
@RiotDemon
/youtube family guy vomit
/youtube yug ylimaf vomit
@RiotDemon Please not again. Even looking at the word makes me
/giphy gag
@sammydog01 No, no, no, no, that gif does it too.
@sammydog01 ewwwwww, that gif is worse than anything in the thread I’m referring to. (I didn’t use the word!)
@ilovehollboll that episode brought me to tears of laughter.
@RiotDemon
First or second?
@ilovehollboll the first one mostly. The second one was still pretty damn funny.
We need more discussions about things like what qualifies as a salad.
@djslack There was a good debate on whether or not cereal is a soup.
@djslack
@conandlibrarian That’s the one I was trying to think of!
More spirited discussions about things of absolutely no consequence, please.
@ilovehollboll
We must rebel against our Google Overlords by forcing the meanings of common food words to mutate more quickly than Google can crawl the net.
@djslack @conandlibrarian @mfladd
There are three places for me where I have different mindsets.
• My mind (where I don’t always come out safely).
• Meh (where I can joke around with other people, or watch other people joke around with each other).
• Everywhere else (which is a scary place not necessarily defined by physical parameters or boundaries).
I like the 2nd place out of all 3.
@djslack Fine, as long as no one gets into tossing it.
I will try to post more about my love of @hollboll and @galmaegi.
@conandlibrarian
/giphy glare
@ilovehollboll
/giphy bring it
@conandlibrarian
There’s only one way to settle this one and for all…
@ilovehollboll
@conandlibrarian
By asking @Hollboll?
@f00l @conandlibrarian
Don’t be ridiculous.
A dance off.
@ilovehollboll @conandlibrarian @f00l
I win! Uh, what did I win?
@ilovehollboll @fool
/giphy dance off?
@DaveInSoCal
/giphy dance off fail
@Barney @f00l @conandlibrarian @hollboll
@ilovehollboll
@conandlibrarian
@Barney
I think you win @Hollboll.
@f00l What?!?!?! Why would I want HER?
Wait… Does she wash windows? Oh-- and the dog needs a bath, too!
@Barney
Why WOULDN’T you want her?
@Barney Ouch. Guess I’ll just stay out of the forums for a bit longer then.
@hollboll
/youtube Steven Universe mirror nooo
@hollboll Aha! I figured that would get you back to us at the forum. I’ll go get the Windex.
@Barney
@hollboll Phooey on @Barney! Let me take you away, we can do crafts and play with cats.
@Raider You win (and made me giggle). I’ll send @hollboll right over. Hmm, wonder how much postage she will cost?
@Barney
That depends on the shipping service.
Although I suppose you could use SurePost and let @hollboll see what it’s like.
@conandlibrarian Don’t forget @Thumperchick. We need to coax her back out of semi-retirement
@compunaut I guess you are volunteering to change diapers?
@Barney I can see I’m walking a dangerous line here
I can change diapers. I can wash soiled diapers (Went the whole ‘environmentally-friendly’ reusable diaper route). I’m pretty good at the whole taking-care-of-baby thing, if I do say so myself. But that was over 15yr ago - now I’d rather do other things.
Like mess around on Meh.
But in an emergency I could probably drive across town & help out the Humpers
@compunaut Hey, @Thumperchick, did you see this? Now we just have to define what an “emergency” is – eating dinner out and a movie?
@Barney
Emergency: Not in the mood!
That should be adequate.
@Barney Woohoo! I will anxiously await her arrival. Please remember to poke acouple of holes in the box, want to make sure @hollboll arrives in good shape!
@Raider Do you want the Windex too?
@Barney No you can hold onto that, but you could include a screwdriver so she can help me take apart some of those broken TV’s she sent me.
@Raider Nope, no can do. She might use it to escape from her box.
@compunaut @Barney - As the @PuppyCat gets older and a bit more independent, I am regaining some of my life balance back. I am trying to make it a point to be here more, but when there is a compromise to be made, I always pick her, family, etc. (By etc. I mean crafting or showering without interruption.)
I do miss you all, truly. I have some ideas I would like to try out to get some more people posting, too. I even have a few boxes of random stuff to put together and send to some unlucky mehmber.
Unfortunately, as I type this on my phone, sitting up on the couch at 2:40 am, it is because the kidlet is not feeling well and keeps waking herself up crying and the only way she will stay asleep is on me, sitting up.
Tiny Time Lords, babies. They eat and harness your free time like a black hole absorbs light.
@Thumperchick
No personal data. I have been told that if the caregiver gives up food, sleep, personality, memory, friends, thoughts, consciousness, emotions during that first year it goes a bit easier.
@Thumperchick That situation sounds awfully familiar. However, in our experience teenage years are far tougher.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@compunaut
/giphy halp
@conandlibrarian Thanks for my first cat video for this week.
I apologize for slacking off in posting in the cat thread, even though catshirtswoot has added many more catshirts.
Speaking of which, meh still hasn’t sold one yet. I blame
@jbartus@snapster for that.I’ve never created a topic. I just spent a couple minutes looking for the new topic button. That definitely doesn’t help.
@AiliaBlue
Top right corner of main forum page. If you’re already in a thread though, it will say “add a comment” instead.
@ilovehollboll I found it eventually, sorry I didn’t clarify. But it is tiny and in the corner.
@AiliaBlue
Well… You could always ask the right people to either enlargen the text (since not everyone would wanna manually zoom in if on desktop) or implement an option which would make larger text optional.
@someRiverNoise
“What will it take to reinvigorate this community?” - uh, in my limited experience in “everything but woot” to shirt.woot to deals.woot fora, this is a recurring issue that i have never seen solved.
just sayin’.
The answer is simple, folks:
I found a picture of @mfladd
@thismyusername
More cowbell.
@justbuyit: @elimanningface beat you to it
There is some level of truth to those pointing back to the departure and resulting vacuum created by @JonT leaving. Having someone whose main focus as cultivating a culture and finding new ways to invite and engage users would go a long way, imo.
However, that’s not a silver bullet. A large drop-off occurred after that first year. The initial glitter wore off and as we grew as a forum, we also became a bit more selective as a group. This led some to leave and find a place more in line with their interests, views, etc.
There were also several instances of users straight up telling people they weren’t welcome here, a few of which were very premature. I know those instances intimidated some potential participants.
I think people get stuck on getting the early crowd back, when the real way to keep things moving and growing is to locate and engage new people, consistently. This would take more, I think, than mediocre is currently able (willing?) to invest in this little experiment; as evidenced by a lack of leadership for community development.
(I know some of you think I have insider knowledge here, I assure you I do not. This is just my personal observation.)
@Thumperchick I love new people. Most of them anyway.
This got rid of those dirty rings!
Want to know what’s really funny? In RL I am pretty sure I am perceived as a blatherer. I tell stories no one wants to hear for the 3rd time. I hardly ever answer yes/no to yes/no questions (I give assumptions or evidence for my decision). So I have to work at stopping myself from talking too long, or cut my emails down/put in a BLUF (bottom line up front) if it "has to be long."
And here you are asking why I don’t blather more here.
Sigh, I can’t win.
/giphy blather
@mollama
This is the place to blather.
Don’t lie, no one loves me.
Also bring back Drinking Terribly.
@DrunkCat I luv ya, bitch. Even if no one else does.
@DrunkCat We’ll love ya for sure if you buys us a beer.
@compunaut Best I can do is cider.
@DrunkCat Hard Cider? Woodchuck, Blackthorn, Strongbow
Or are we talking Martinelli’s
@DrunkCat
We all hate you.
Hate makes us feel strong, so keep posting.
@compunaut Crispin, Somersby, Smith&Forge
@DrunkCat Hmmm, maybe somebody can make a Haiku about hard cider. Somebody with experience
@compunaut
Poets sometimes need liquid inspiration.
@f00l
/giphy liquid inspiration
or
/image liquid inspiration
@compunaut
Plasma inspiration
@f00l @DrunkCat’s Gift (a haiku)
Hard cider: Strongbow,
Woodchuck, Blackthorn, Somersby,
Crispin, Smith and Forge
@compunaut
You busy in March?
I know that’s stupid but I have to not add extras into life for a month or two plus Feb I’m committed to some stuff that will eat me alive so prepping for it now.
@f00l Are we talking about Wed night Craft Beer Happy Hour at T&P Tavern? Or digging ditches?
@compunaut
the only ditch I’m in will be the one I fall in because I had too much to drink.
@f00l too busy for digging ditches. never too busy for craft beer happy hour. you gonna invite any o them mehmployees?
@compunaut
We could. But happy hour limits mean they gotta get from Dallas to FW pretty quick. Not always possible.
@f00l Wed Night Special @ T&P Tavern: $3.00 All Craft Draught Beer. This is in addition to Happy Hour prices.
In the past I went there after Ultimate (frisbee) league; 10pm-ish. $3 draft prices until close. But kitchen closes at 10p, so I’ve been known to bring my own food as reqd
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@compunaut
What is the League season?
@f00l Spring League 2017 starts in a couple weeks. Not sure if I’m signing up yet cuz intermittent pain in left ankle and haven’t made time to see doc.
if I can’t play any more.
You should bring back the livestreams, or maybe do a twitch stream with a party game like Jackbox so you can get some community participation.
@dashcloud Oh Oh Oh, I would love to own all of Meh staffers at any game on live stream.
ilyt @mfladd
@connorbush
Hey @mfladd
We all love you.
Wait a min. We do? Am I sure?
Yeah, I’m sure. We do.
/giphy crazy love
@f00l I guess I have to step up my game if I want to be hated more.
@mfladd
You’re one of those people who the more they try turning people against them, the more it works exactly the opposite.
@mfladd
I really really hate you.
/giphy hate
we just need to post a bunch of videos from https://www.thedodo.com/. that’s how facebook stays alive, right?
@katylava
What’s a “Facebook” ?
/giphy blank stare
