Over the past few months, the distribution of wealth here has gotten better and post quality may have improved. Development is coming along on multiple fronts. The one area we seem to be slacking is in engagement.
I used to get 20 meaningful comments on each post, even when I was making a fraction of what I make now. This is partially my fault because it's been really hard for me to be involved at the platform when I'm also starting my business and working on art projects. But it seems like this is not just something that's happening to me. Look at the posts on the trending page. Many of them have less than 10 comments, some have less than 5. The only posts that seem to generate any discussion are the ones that impact the whole platform or that get tagged in all of our feeds. We need to change this.
Those of you who know me know I am always throwing ideas out into the ether. I like to start rather casual initiatives that can move beyond me and my own methods of accomplishing them. Some of these initiatives catch on. Some do not. I hope this one does. #nobidbots and #deadpost were huge success and I hope this can be similar to #nobidbots. Just an idea to spread and encourage others to do the same.
#engagerage
A bit cheesy, I know, but whatever. It's just a tag
I joined The Beast over at Whaleshares, commenting ...what was it....25, 50 times a day? It was awesome but it was insane. I had to take a break for 2 months afterwards. I also do not see any reason why this should be a big production or need monetary rewards. This is a do-unto-others thing.
I think we should pledge to comment on a certain number of posts every day from users outside of the ones we check up on daily. Everyone can make their own pledge, the only thing I think we should agree on is that we read and comment with something somewhat meaningful or intelligent. Please use my pledge as a model if you like.
I'm personally going to pledge to comment on 5 posts a day from users that I have not commented on in a week or longer. Of these at least 2 will be users whose names I do not recognize. I'll try to go over this but this is my minimum average per day (I'll catch up when I miss a day).
The reason I chose 5 is that 0 comments makes me feel like crap, 1-3 comments makes me feel like I have awesome friends (@ryivhnn you rock!) but don't reach anyone else. 5 comments makes me feel like I exist outside of my tiny circle. 10-20 is ideal but not necessary! So I want to set the minimum at the number I feel will make me feel connected to the community.
It doesn't have to feel like work. Let it feel like a game. Just think, if we all start replying to 5 posts a day from a variety of users, the whole place will feel much more like a community!
Share your own pledges down in the comments,post using the #engagerage tag if you are participating, and lastly, and lastly, feel free to join and post in the Be Awesome community if the description resonates with you. At the very least I will read every post posted there.
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