I think any similar thread-based system will lend itself eventually to that kind of in-joke circlejerk when it's popular enough. If snapzu becomes as "mainstream" as reddit was, then I feel like it would be an issue here too. I kind of hope not though. It'll be interesting to watch and see.
It's sort of difficult because on one hand I'd like to have lots of content, but I also want thoughtful discussions; often you need a lot of people for the former, but a more exclusive group for the latter. (I'm grossly generalizing here but you get the picture)
Well, yeah, but I'm fearful that that's an exclusive thing, like either you can have consistently good quality content or a massive user base, but not both. Reddit's problem was that it's so big that it's in eternal september, where there's so many new users that they overwhelm the existing culture before getting assimilated.
And yeah, if Snapzu sticks around and grows the culture will eventually form its own inside jokes - honestly I think that's part of the fun of having a community. Reddit totally went too far with it, though, once people saw there was acres of karma to be had parroting the same used-to-be-funny bs back at each other.
At the end of the day, in-jokes are great if and ONLY if you're part of the in-group making them. The main problem with memification (is that a word?) on the internet is that it's a lot harder to be part of the "in-group" unless said group is both relatively small (>150 people) and includes a fairly regular communication setup. Diluted amongst tens of thousands, memes turn into "small talk," where instead of actual inside jokes and jargon, they're just the way we know how to talk to strangers without having serious discussion.
There's a few groups I used to belong to on reddit- I left most of them due to time constraints over the last year - that have private Skype rooms and IRC chats, and while they're as circle-jerk-ish as the rest to an outsider, the vibe I wound up with at the time was that of a group of friends just hanging out. We've all done that in real life, where our clique has old stories and references and buzzwords that make no sense to anybody else. It's a form of bonding. But that doesn't seem to scale on Reddit.
Thanks for the wiki article, I hadn't heard of that before.
Yeah I agree. I'm hoping that, in its interactions and general user feeling, snapzu ends up becoming more like a forum than.. well, reddit. I like the reddit style of letting the community decide what gets promoted or demoted, but I also like the more close-knit, forum-like environment. In my experience, people tend to put more thought into their posts when it's in a forum context. And if it's a small forum -- kind of like how the smaller subreddits ended up becoming -- users actually get to know each other and recognize each other. Which is also a very nice thing.
I know reddit technically is a kind of forum but I can't for the life of me find words to make my meaning clearer.
I'm also curious to see how the gamified karma system on snapzu works out. I don't know if it will just be a fun thing to encourage thoughtful discussion, or if it'll become this.. major contest, like reddit. Even though reddit's karma was totally meaningless. I don't know if snapzu's karma will end up encouraging or discouraging thoughtless doing-it-for-the-upvotes comments.
I think any similar thread-based system will lend itself eventually to that kind of in-joke circlejerk when it's popular enough. If snapzu becomes as "mainstream" as reddit was, then I feel like it would be an issue here too. I kind of hope not though. It'll be interesting to watch and see.
It's sort of difficult because on one hand I'd like to have lots of content, but I also want thoughtful discussions; often you need a lot of people for the former, but a more exclusive group for the latter. (I'm grossly generalizing here but you get the picture)
Well, yeah, but I'm fearful that that's an exclusive thing, like either you can have consistently good quality content or a massive user base, but not both. Reddit's problem was that it's so big that it's in eternal september, where there's so many new users that they overwhelm the existing culture before getting assimilated.
And yeah, if Snapzu sticks around and grows the culture will eventually form its own inside jokes - honestly I think that's part of the fun of having a community. Reddit totally went too far with it, though, once people saw there was acres of karma to be had parroting the same used-to-be-funny bs back at each other.
At the end of the day, in-jokes are great if and ONLY if you're part of the in-group making them. The main problem with memification (is that a word?) on the internet is that it's a lot harder to be part of the "in-group" unless said group is both relatively small (>150 people) and includes a fairly regular communication setup. Diluted amongst tens of thousands, memes turn into "small talk," where instead of actual inside jokes and jargon, they're just the way we know how to talk to strangers without having serious discussion.
There's a few groups I used to belong to on reddit- I left most of them due to time constraints over the last year - that have private Skype rooms and IRC chats, and while they're as circle-jerk-ish as the rest to an outsider, the vibe I wound up with at the time was that of a group of friends just hanging out. We've all done that in real life, where our clique has old stories and references and buzzwords that make no sense to anybody else. It's a form of bonding. But that doesn't seem to scale on Reddit.
Thanks for the wiki article, I hadn't heard of that before.
Yeah I agree. I'm hoping that, in its interactions and general user feeling, snapzu ends up becoming more like a forum than.. well, reddit. I like the reddit style of letting the community decide what gets promoted or demoted, but I also like the more close-knit, forum-like environment. In my experience, people tend to put more thought into their posts when it's in a forum context. And if it's a small forum -- kind of like how the smaller subreddits ended up becoming -- users actually get to know each other and recognize each other. Which is also a very nice thing.
I know reddit technically is a kind of forum but I can't for the life of me find words to make my meaning clearer.
I'm also curious to see how the gamified karma system on snapzu works out. I don't know if it will just be a fun thing to encourage thoughtful discussion, or if it'll become this.. major contest, like reddit. Even though reddit's karma was totally meaningless. I don't know if snapzu's karma will end up encouraging or discouraging thoughtless doing-it-for-the-upvotes comments.
Should be interesting.