There are a fair number of totally empty magazines created during rexit, with no threads, yet a fair number of subscribers (because the name matches a popular sub from Reddit). I clicked on one this morning, because I saw it in random magazines side bar section. No threads. Created a month ago by a user who hasn’t posted a single thread or comment on Kbin.
This is like obvious scammers during a gold rush. Some people just wanted to reserve magazine names with no intention of doing anything helpful. Maybe they just wanted bragging rights by claiming to be a moderator. Maybe they think they can sell control of the magazine later. It doesn’t matter to me. I just think an admin should delete these sorts of magazines. Anyone who starts a magazine should at least post a few threads. Absolute ‘no effort at all’ owners contribute nothing.
I just think Kbin would seem more functional and positive if the magazines that exist actually had some content.
Edit: based on a comment below, it seems that Ernest has a tentative plan in place for this sort of situation, which is great :)
This was discussed a while ago; here’s what Ernest said about it:
With additional tools for moderators, a system for taking over abandoned magazines will be created. I want to automate this, but it will take some time. I am in the process of finalizing the last formalities. I will soon post a status update.
That seems totally fine. Great :)
Maybe instead you cold post to it?
Lots of these magazines don’t even have a sidebar explanation of what they’re about, so you can’t tell what’s appropriate to post.
Try it and find out.
I occasionally do it on reddit.
I created a magazine hoping that people who migrated from Reddit would find a new home. I intended to moderate the magazine, just to help the community grow.
It turns out there just aren’t enough participants. It would be pointless if the moderator is the only person contributing to the community.
I don’t see anything worth bragging about being a moderator. I do hope there is a way to “free” the magazine name so someone else can manage it.
I mean if you have a magazine description and logo, and at least 1 post (even a pinned introduction post)… that’s much better than what OP is talking about where the only substance there is the community name.
Yeah I feel similarly. I created a magazine and was excited about moderating it even, but I’m not very much of a poster, more a lurker and commenter. But yeah it has a few subscribers now so I should probably just make some posts as a start at least
It would be pointless if the moderator is the only person contributing to the community.
I feel personally attacked ha ha ha. :-D
Seriously though, if you believe there is a need for a community keep it, if not Ernest is building the mechanism.
I’m in the same position but I’m trying to post some content to try to induce some.people.to participate. I’m going to give it a few months where it can be my personal link farm and I’ll rethink after that if it gains no traction.
I feel you. I made a couple of communities I’d like to help grow and develop, but they don’t seem to attract much activity from other users since they’re rather niche (1, 2, 3, in case anyone’s interested). I hope they might increase in size organically over time, since I don’t want to flood them with my own posts, but I’m not sure what timelines to expect or if it’s ever going to happen.
By the way, have you tried posting to new communities?
Your jewelry design magazine is what I would hope for and expect from people who create mags. You have a logo, and have personally seeded it with over half a dozen posts. It’s a bit niche, so I’m not surprised that you don’t have many subscribers yet, but you seem to have done your part to establish it. Thanks.
I subbed to your mag Urban Details. Seems right up my alley, and I notice that a couple of folks have also been posting there. That seems promising.
Bookmarked this comment so I can sub when I’m back on desktop. I’m actually happy to see an industrial design group!
For the jewellery one, is that intended for professional jewellery designers or is it also for the craft hobbyists?
@PositiveNoise I understand where you’re coming from, and when I first joined kbin I felt a bit disappointed two of the big (thousands of subscribers) magazines I joined were owned by an absentee mod.
I posted heaps in one for a bit to help get it active, and then when the mod finally showed up they just said post anything and left.
But, it seems to me that at this stage, it’s probably better for us to concentrate our energy on positively supporting the fediverse and creating content ourselves rather than focus on telling people what not to do.
I ended up making my own magazine with rules I like better. It has hardly anyone in it but that’s okay. I think we need to move away from the whole reddit culture of karmawhores and power mods.
Are you asking for control of the magazine yourself, are you intending to create content for these empty magazines, or are you just complaining?
None of the above. I just want a slight improvement to Kbin.
I just think Kbin would seem more functional and positive if the magazines that exist actually had some content
Then add some content to them?
I’m with you. Content is great. I also loath when people do what your describe.
I’m just wondering if you intended to make content but don’t want to do so on zombie mags, or if you have no intention to make posts to these empty mags but are angry at other people for also not posting to them.
Well, I would be hesitant to post to a mag that had no effort put into it at all, but I wasn’t planning to post on the mag I came across this morning. To help out the Fediverse a bit, I’ve been commenting much more than usual since joining Kbin/the Fediverse, and recently I’ve been posting every couple of days to a community elsewhere (a smaller lemmy instance) to help it grow. I currently don’t have plans to set up or moderate any mags/communities. It seems like there are plenty in the Fediverse already, including tons where the person who set them up seeded them with a few posts to help get them started.
I’ve started 1 magazine. Mostly because as far as I knew, nothing like it existed at the time (might still be the case now that there’s none like it on other instances), but also because something I wanted to post wouldn’t fit elsewhere.
So far, my post is the only one in there, but I don’t have more posts that would fit (it’s about sharing a specific kind of experiences/memories). I didn’t go to the trouble of coming up with an icon, but I did write down a list of rules.
Would that make you consider me part of the problem?
Would that make you consider me part of the problem?
Not at all. Your situation is completely different. I mostly think it’s problem when a mag duplicates the name of a popular subreddit, yet has no effort put into it, especially if the creator basically is not even a member of the Kbin community. Your mag ‘harmless pranks’ I think is more a case where it’s probably more suited to just being a single thread somewhere, rather than a whole magazine, given the small population of Kbin and the Fediverse overall. If I was you, I might consider deleting the mag at some point, if more people don’t post to it.
You were not trying to game the system or trying to leech off of something popular that existed earlier.
