So I'll give some constructive criticism of this site:
- You don't have enough members for a sustainable forum. Currently the top 20 accounts represent almost 50% of the current total posts. That's accounts, not members given the existence of alts, and doesn't include Deleted Member 1, whose posts count towards the total but doesn't show up in the rankings anymore. This indicates an incredibly small pool of active posters.
The most active SB spinoff after SV & QQ. Sure, growth is going to slow but it is still beating any of them save SB, SV & QQ for new members.
- You have many factors that will inhibit your growth. You have a complete lack of defined identity, you distrust outsiders because of fears of an "invasion", and you have someone that seems to view it as a fiefdom for vanity posting. Outrage at SB for perceived slights can only take you so far and the answer seems to be "this far". There is absolutely nothing here to bring in new members.
The free and frank exchange of ideas is TS's identity. As for distrusting outsiders, that is a joke considering that a number of users and staff had nothing to do with the SB PM's. The only distrust of outsiders that exists is distrust of those who are actively attacking the site and/or joining for no reason save to sow discord.
- Your moderation and administration is a mess. Don't get riled up at that, even though I know you want to, because the longer it takes you to figure that out, the worse you'll do. I know many people on your staff have experience running a forum and at least one has experience starting an SB offshoot in the past, but you wouldn't actually know it. Complete lack of identity and all the complete missteps related to a certain staff member are a part of this. You're trying to manage issues on your own forum but can't because you're still too salty at some random asshole from another site.
New board and everyone is still settling into their roles.
- You have had a continuous stream of optics problems and own-goals. This really ties in with the above, but it feels like at every level you don't realize how stuff comes off or how much harder you are making things for you. So you had a staff member say they're a fascist. That's a bad move right off the bat, but then you decided to delete the account and edit the posts. Then you can't keep your stories straight about whether or not that was a staff member. This would have been all bad enough without them having their own subforum that's filled with posts by "Deleted Member 1" and their current alt. This is a pretty minor crisis but you managed to make it oh so much worse, and that's just one little item.
Yes,
@Zoe fucked up. She cared about optics and gave into the idiocy brigade; in the process making things worse. Was her fuckup understandable? Yes. Was it excusable in light of what else was occurring at the time? Yes.
As for optics; we really don't care. This site was made, and exists, to promote and foster free speech and the free exchange of ideas. The content of those ideas is almost entirely immaterial to TS. Are people, including staff, likely to post things that are going to be seen as harmful or "bad optics" by many others (especially those inclined to already take issue with TS)? Yes, undoubtedly.
Do we care? No, not really.
@Zoe 's mistake was caring; not the post that started this whole bout of idiocy.
- Alts are a bad idea, alts are a bad idea, alts are a bad idea. The reasons given for having them were pretty subpar and show a lack of professionalism or in some cases, basic levels of caring about the forum. Plus, now every ostentatious female poster that seems a bit full of themselves is going to be assumed to be all the same person.
Alts are a necessity if you are remotely security conscious or sane. Linking identities, even pseudonymous ones, across platforms is a horrible idea unless you go out of your way to prevent issues. In addition, we support (as both a matter of principal and policy) anonymity and privacy. The only reason that we don't allow the general user base to make alternate accounts is that they will primarily be used to get around bans and are virtually impossible to effectively police (if allowed) under the XF software. Neither is a concern with Admin alts.
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Bluntly speaking; if you don't like how the site is managed/run or its purpose then why are you here? While we (the staff) like and desire a large user base, you as individuals are pretty much utterly irrelevant. Especially those who haven't/aren't helping to fund the site.
I don't see anyone with a subscriber banner bitching, do you?
