Do you read Unstuck but rarely or never post? If so please take moment to let us know why. The poll is anonymous so nobody will know who voted.
Why do you prefer to lurk instead of posting? (You can select more than one response)
I don’t have anything to add
I like reading the discussions
I use Unstuck as a curated news aggregator or source of information
I’m not comfortable posting on established forums where I’m the new person
I don’t like the tone of some of the discussions, or attitude of some of the posters
I find it intimidating
There is too much arguing
There is too much drama
I like reading the drama but don’t want to participate in it
Not enough moderation
Too much moderation
Other
0voters
If you have any comments or want to elaborate on “Other” please do. You can also add anonymous feedback or comments via this form that I will post for you.
I am not really sure whether I count as a lurker or a low-frequency poster, but often when I consider contributing a lot of the things that I would say have already been said.
More posts does not necessarily equal more quality. That is true for posters, but also for the forum as a whole.
Kind of like real life, I rarely feel like I have much to add to a conversation. That is, unless it pertains to an area of expertise of mine or I’ve had a couple of drinks.
I think there’s a lot of really good stuff here. I also think there is a lot of drama and outrage. Sadly, (and I seriously probably need therapy for this) I really think I’m addicted to the outrage. It’s the same for me on Facebook/Twitter. I wish that it wasn’t here, but I cannot seem to look away. I get a little jolt when About Moderation is near the top of my unreads. And that’s a problem. Sigh.
Every time a lurker says they get a guilty pleasure from the drama here I can’t stop laughing. I know I shouldn’t but it’s just so funny to think of ourselves as a Reality TV show.
I mean…the c word…the s word…bad faith posting…trolling…no you…reported!..bans…on my ignore list now…that’s it I’m leaving…right I’m back again
I’ve got actual tears rolling down my face now at the thought of people turning up with popcorn to enjoy this.
Hahahahahaha oh fuck, that image is too funny…the contrast between how seriously we take ourselves it and how we’re viewed. Oh god.
Mrs j just looked at me and asked wtf is going on and now she thinks it’s hilarious too.
I agree ! this guy’s posts (here and on 2p2) introduced me to the goat film meme Twitter account (Eric Allen hatch). Now I have added Twitter to my daily digital addictions, thanks buddy ! (unironically)
Thank you to the lurkers for the feedback and engagement in this poll. This is really good information. Thanks @anon46587892 for making this, good idea.
Some takeaways:
We should consider marketing ourselves as a news aggregator site as well as political discussion.
The fact that everyone except the child of a moderator found this place from 2p2 is surprising to me. Didn’t we have a twitter? Are we not trying to direct people here from there?
The arguing does not seem to bother the lurkers as much as the regs. This does not surprise me, because it is very easy to ignore if you are just reading and not participating.
Most of the reasons apply except the ones about moderation and tone. Honestly I’ve had to tolerate worse behavior IRL (which I don’t condone but such is life). My personal view is - moderators are doing a good job under the circumstances and the signal/noise ratio as well as substance/fluff ratio on posts is very good.
Yes, post election there has been drama and some posters have really gotten into it, but it’s only to be expected because:
with the big bad gone the internal differences between people get more in focus
pandemic fatigue is real! It’s no surprise that people aren’t on their best behavior especially online all the time.
some people want the people on this forum to be exemplary, but then again we are all only human. (Not saying it’s ok to degrade to the cesspool that is 2p2 politics though)
TLDR: forum very useful for learning about US current affairs from a people pov.
Forum drama and toxicity etc not bad under the circumstances.
Moderation decent.
May not last forever, but neither will any of us!
As a habitual lurker, you guys only getting users from 2p2 doesn’t shock me at all.
I found 2p2 in 2006 and read the politics forum since 2008 or so.
This place is great and when you split off, politics forum was the only reason I even ever logged into 2p2 anymore.
I can’t conceive a way I would as a new user be enticed to register here, though: I like that the place is small enough for me to ‘know’ some if not most of the posters, that is, their general POVs etc, because I have seen their screennames on and off for years (jmakin, we actually both got our first programming job at the same time, similar experiences, I became a developer mostly because of the programming forum).
To a total outsider, sorry this is a place where random dudes discuss the news and politics. Pretty sharp guys (well, some) and also a good aggregator as already mentioned. But not interesting enough to make random visitors stick around, just my 2c.
That being said I like this place a lot.
TLDR: A forum conversation’s characters add a lot of value to lurkers, but to unlock this for a new user you need to make them stick around for other reasons, first.
English is my first language and i butcher it. Should not let bad writing stop you and the more you post the better you get. Start small and work your way up. Try not to get in debates at first and just add in comments here and there. It would of been a struggle and took me forever to put this post together in the past but now things come out much quicker and easier.
When i was on 2p2 a longtime ago this is the reason i did not post often and just lurked for the most part. But i starting posting a little in the religious forum and even though i was causing the grammar nits to pull their hair out no one yelled at me to much. And now i can actually put a few paragraphs together with far less baldness caused to the nits.
Still cant spell worth a damn and use the word that way to much and in the wrong places. I got to figure out why that is. And to and too and a few others, err fu English. I’ll get there someday.
Anyway i dont think most people would be hard on bad writing here and there are other non English speakers who dont get roasted.
Edit: Dont worry about editing a lot it can help you learn to write better.
