Yes I want the Poal community to expand, but there are very few potential new users who are made of the right stuff to be here and be good for the community. Most new accounts are clearly here to fuck shit up and the initiation process weeds them out quickly. No real loss because they were never going to fit in, but we just don't get good new users.
I don't see a way to fix this. Many of us have already recommended people we trust who can handle Poal and they've already joined when the initiation was less rigorous. Vouching for someone new helps, but I think we've exhausted our pool of candidates from our friends and family lists. Basically we're left with random chance a good user will come along and pass the smell test.
I don't have any real answers here, but I don't think anyone else on Poal does either. I'd like to be wrong on that, but it's a sad truth. We're more likely to shrink than grow and that's very unfortunate. I'd like to be proven wrong though.
Many of the people I know have too thin of a skin to handle it here. I think it is pathetic.
They are still friends but they only ever get to know so much. It is sad how weak people have become.
Many of the people I know have too thin of a skin to handle it here.
Are you sure about that?
I often wonder how many people share similar views, but choose to hide them and go along with the crowd.
I also wonder if NPC Theory could be correct, and most people are incapable of thought that is substantially different from the crowd they are in.
What do you think?
Oh I know. I drop little hints or "spicy" stuff from time to time and sometimes they get all butt hurt about it. I laugh at them and say "Can't you take a joke?". It's sad.
The NPC thing is real. I have (and do) work with many of them. It is shocking how little someone can think on a daily basis and still be somewhat functional.
Thanks for the response Morbo, but I would like to question you further on a couple of points you made:
but there are very few potential new users who are made of the right stuff to be here and be good for the community.
What is the right stuff they should be made out of?
Most new accounts are clearly here to fuck shit up and the initiation process weeds them out quickly. No real loss because they were never going to fit in, but we just don't get good new users.
I would agree that some new accounts are here to fuck shit up, but honestly, the initiation process weeds out way too many people, by demanding they agree with certain ideas.
The initiation process is something I specifically dealt with around ~1.5 years ago, when I was travelling, and, for whatever reason, Poal demanded my password after I had fucked up the Captcha several times.
Poal is weirdly brutal when it comes to new user hazing (other than demanding they write a poem), and kind of demands you agree with people before you join the club. It honestly seems like we inherited a weird ritual from Voat, which was useful for that website, but probably isn't as useful for this website, given its declining user-ship.
Any thoughts on my thoughts?
(post is archived)