Gathering Opinions

Just gathering opinions for a change that may or may not end up happening down the line.

What would everyone think if Lewd became more of a social network? Like, keeping the forums, but branching off into more features commonly seen on social networks; eg. A status feed, and Followers/Following.

If this were to happen, it would happen a long time from now; but would be possible when 2lewd is finished (we're making some progress, check it out in the #changelog channel of the discord).

But yeah, there's no promise that this would actually happen, I'm just thinking ahead for how we can continue to make the community better.

I think a different kind of forum like that would be a nice idea 🙂 But make it seamless, intregrate both the social media aspects and forum aspects seamlessly, same theme and everything so there isn't a separation between the two!

SkullCandyy wrote

I think a different kind of forum like that would be a nice idea 🙂 But make it seamless, intregrate both the social media aspects and forum aspects seamlessly, same theme and everything so there isn't a separation between the two!

ya, it'd still be the same site, but just with more features.

I'm happy with how it is right now between the forums and the Discord. I kind of feel like Discord is our social network, in a way.

I don't personally think that is a good idea, but don't let that stop you.

Camo Yoshi wrote

I'm happy with how it is right now between the forums and the Discord. I kind of feel like Discord is our social network, in a way.

discord is an activity leech :feelsbadman:

The concept of a message board is something that's getting less and less popular. While some provide pretty awesome environments, most just do not. They're not necessarily bad. They just don't have anything to offer. For instance, why would I post around here rather than just speak in the Discord? It has everything the site has, except people receive notifications and I'm more likely to get a response. A fast one, too.

Best of luck. Take the risk.

Modal wrote

The concept of a message board is something that's getting less and less popular. While some provide pretty awesome environments, most just do not. They're not necessarily bad. They just don't have anything to offer. For instance, why would I post around here rather than just speak in the Discord? It has everything the site has, except people receive notifications and I'm more likely to get a response. A fast one, too.

Best of luck. Take the risk.

Yeah, it's for that reason that I want to look for ways to make Lewd more interesting for everyone; while Lewd is pretty amazing as is, I'd love to make it a platform that more people can enjoy.

please don't make this another thebot.net,
imo the forum does need some improvements, but not that kind of improvements

Melancholy wrote
Modal wrote

The concept of a message board is something that's getting less and less popular. While some provide pretty awesome environments, most just do not. They're not necessarily bad. They just don't have anything to offer. For instance, why would I post around here rather than just speak in the Discord? It has everything the site has, except people receive notifications and I'm more likely to get a response. A fast one, too.

Best of luck. Take the risk.

Yeah, it's for that reason that I want to look for ways to make Lewd more interesting for everyone; while Lewd is pretty amazing as is, I'd love to make it a platform that more people can enjoy.

You know what must be done. Cut it before it does more damage. Remove it from the community. It is nothing but detrimental.

Don't listen to me

Modal wrote

For instance, why would I post around here rather than just speak in the Discord? It has everything the site has, except people receive notifications and I'm more likely to get a response. A fast one, too.

Ah, but here's the thing: What if you want to talk about something other than the current topic of discussion?

The major advantage of a forum is that it accomodates many conversations at once, albeit at a slower pace. This generally allows posts to be longer, better thought-out, and occasionally more cerebral. Further, it solves the problem of l'esprit de l'escalier, or the occurrence of thinking about the perfect thing to say only after the conversation is over. On forums, a conversation is never truly over, which allows one to take their time in crafting their response.

tn5421 wrote

I don't personally think that is a good idea, but don't let that stop you.

Personally, I disagree: This is a bad idea, and you should let that stop you.

Remember: Novelty is a precious commodity, and Lewd's novelty is being a comfy anime forum that isn't tied to a giant site like MAL or Hummingbird. It's a place to converse, a place to relax; similar to a group of good friends. Compare this to, say, the E-Hentai forums, which is like being in a room full of polite and friendly strangers. Yeah, you talk to each other, but it's two completely different scenarios.

Furthermore, the greatest problem with Facebook (as well as other sites) as a social network is that it fails at its job. Instead of uniting the community, Facebook's structure of status updates and newsfeeds have created an environment of superficial interaction; tiny one-line witticisms on pictures, in place of genuine discussion of interesting topics. If you're unpopular like me, the algorithm eventually secludes you on your very own "island", and thus you're left with very little incentive to keep contributing to the site.

Lemme put it this way: One of the chief reasons I was drawn to Lewd is because there's no real indicator of who's popular and who's not. Save the mods, everyone here is on an equal footing. Introduce machinery like "Followers" and public "Status Updates", and that appeal vanishes in the blink of an eye. And if some admin were actually foolish enough to make that content easier to access and consume than the regular forum posts, then, well... It's not really a forum anymore then, is it?

I don't think I've explained my idea very well.

I definitely don't want to provide a way for people to appear more popular than other users; the idea of adding followers was simply so that if we did have a status feed, there'd be a way to show only posts made by people that you want to see. If we did have a following feature, I think it should be a hidden metric; as in, nobody can see who is following who.

>Facebook's structure of status updates and newsfeeds have created an environment of superficial interaction
I'm not basing my ideas of of how Facebook is structured. In my opinion Facebook isn't a good social network, a social network isn't very social if you're not interacting with anyone but people you already know.

I do have a fairly nice idea of how a status feed could work, while keeping true to the forum's atmosphere.

>It's not really a forum anymore then, is it?
The forum aspect of it would remain untouched; it'd simply have an extra feature added to the site. Sure, people could start calling the site a social network, or even as I call it, a community; but I don't see how what the site is, changes the community in the slightest.

[2:15 PM] Melancholy: hm, people seem to be against the idea of adding a feed and followers
[2:17 PM] Melancholy: maybe i should describe what my vision of a feed would entail
[2:17 PM] Melancholy: and i sort of agree about the followers thing
[2:18 PM] Melancholy: i basically wanted them as a way that people can customise which items they see in their feed
[2:18 PM] Melancholy: but i could do that with the friends system anyway
[2:23 PM] zey: read the posts

it's tough. it's hard to get a good balance. and maybe for Lewd the balance has been reached
[2:29 PM] Melancholy: idk, i just think lewd could be so much more
[2:31 PM] zey: the problem is while some of them are okay with changes like that I imagine, most are there for what Lewd is now. so you have to determine a middle ground that will appease the current users and also attract new users

I don't really know your userbase well enough, or at all, to help determine what that middle ground is =/
[2:32 PM] Melancholy: i mean, it wouldn't even be taking anything away
[2:32 PM] Melancholy: lewd would be the same, it'd just have more features, and i'd be able to market it as a social network for weebs
[2:38 PM] zey: some like the feeling of being able to know who most if not all of the community are. and I guess those are the people that like smaller communities. personally, I'm kind of one of them; I don't like larger communities as much, it's overwhelming for me. but, a social network for weebs would definitely be a larger community if done right

you need to really determine what features you want to bring in that would allow for that to be viewed in a good manner for those that like smaller communities, because the post you made doesn't go very in-depth. as a whole, those features seem fine (to me). but it depends what your goals further than that are, if any

but maybe you don't need to keep the users that like smaller communities, because that might not be your target audience

idk. just offering a bit of a view from both sides i guess
[2:38 PM] Melancholy: even in large communities, small communities can form
[2:39 PM] Melancholy: when you have things available like personal groups, it's easy to make a small community within a large one.(edited)
[2:39 PM] zey: well, again, it's very possible if you do it right. I think facebook did it wrong. discord is a kind of social network, and I think it did it right
[2:39 PM] Melancholy: the thing that facebook did wrong is they made it closed
[2:40 PM] Melancholy: a social network isn't very social if you're not interacting with anyone but people you already know.
[2:41 PM] zey: yeah. UX matters a lot here too. maybe it has changed in the few years since I used facebook, but I always found switching between groups annoying, and knowing what notifications I had for which. on discord, it's very easy
[2:42 PM] zey: idk if groups like that were part of your plan, but stuff like that would be important to do right. that's basically all i was saying, in a very very roundabout way
[2:47 PM] Melancholy: groups would work exactly the same way they do on lewd now
[2:50 PM] zey: I don't know how they work =/
[2:51 PM] Melancholy: anyone can make one, and when they do, they get their own private subforum and a different coloured name
[2:52 PM] zey: ah. I don't really see why it wouldn't work, then. just clarify what they're asking about and see what you get back from them ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
[2:52 PM] Melancholy: they just don't like change : 3
Melancholy wrote

The forum aspect of it would remain untouched; it'd simply have an extra feature added to the site. Sure, people could start calling the site a social network, or even as I call it, a community; but I don't see how what the site is, changes the community in the slightest.

Senpai, m8. You aren't thinking this through.

Communities don't simply spontaneously arise because of shared interests: They need to be facilitated by an environment that is conducive to interpersonal communication. And the environment often determines the nature of the interactions.

Saying that things won't change because the site us altered in a major way, is like saying you could hold a meaningful conversation with your best friends in the middle of Times Square during rush hour.

I get it: You're always looking to improve Lewd. And I certainly appreciate all the work you guys have been doing on 2Lewd. However, this is a remarkably awful idea that would ruin this site's uniquely comfortable atmosphere and surprisingly close-knit userbase.

It's a grand idea, man. Just not for Lewd.

Backlash wrote
Melancholy wrote

The forum aspect of it would remain untouched; it'd simply have an extra feature added to the site. Sure, people could start calling the site a social network, or even as I call it, a community; but I don't see how what the site is, changes the community in the slightest.

Senpai, m8. You aren't thinking this through.

I am, and have.

Communities don't simply spontaneously arise because of shared interests: They need to be facilitated by an environment that is conducive to interpersonal communication. And the environment often determines the nature of the interactions.

Of course, and if adding a feed makes it easier to have interactions, would the community not grow? What makes lewd different to any other anime forum? Apart from the community?

Saying that things won't change because the site us altered in a major way, is like saying you could hold a meaningful conversation with your best friends in the middle of Times Square during rush hour.

Adding one (arguably small in comparison to other features) features is hardly going to alter the site in a major way.

>is like saying you could hold a meaningful conversation with your best friends in the middle of Times Square during rush hour.
you'd be able to if you were provided with your own personal booth to converse in, as is done via the groups system.

I get it: You're always looking to improve Lewd. And I certainly appreciate all the work you guys have been doing on 2Lewd.

The inclusion of the feature would open up more pathways for what we can do for Lewd; there's only so much you can build onto a forum before you can't add anything new.

However, this is a remarkably awful idea that would ruin this site's uniquely comfortable atmosphere and surprisingly close-knit userbase.

A few people here seem to hate the idea that the site might grow too large and become non-comfy or less tight-knit; but no matter how large the community grows, there will always be avenues to make friends in a tight knight manner.

groups
niche threads
hell, on one social network I used to use; the groups system was pretty shit, so we all hung out and talked on one post.

I'll admit that when I first heard the idea my first thought was "So we're going to be a second Hummingbird, just without the anime lists." But, you described it as a player.me, but with an anime focus. That isn't really attractive. I got bored of player.me within a week or two, and I imagine most people do. It's probably why it isn't exactly the most active social network.

I think expanding on the features lewd has to provide for its users is wonderful. Wanting to grow the userbase, and active amount of users per day is also something I'm happy you actively seek out. I'm hesitant on the LewdBook idea though. As it stands I don't think it's that great of an addition.

@[deleted] has more or less already articulated my vfeelings on this subject but I still have some things I'd like to say myself.

Melancholy wrote

while Lewd is pretty amazing as is, I'd love to make it a platform that more people can enjoy.

Personally speaking, what made me attracted to Lewd in the first place when I initially stumbled across it was that it filled a particular niche. That it was aimed at a very specific demographic of people on a very specific platform of discussion. I'm not opposed to trying to get more people involved with the site; the merge with Weeb worked out pretty nicely and I'd say we're all the better for it but that's because Weeb was already a pretty similar forum. To me, if you try to attract more users by broadening the appeal you lose that niche and the unique atmosphere that comes with it.

Melancholy wrote

there's only so much you can build onto a forum before you can't add anything new.

Who says you have to keep adding on to the forum in the first place? Or even to spur growth? I imagine there are several forums out there that have been running on Simple Machines Forum or phpBB for years and have carried on perfectly well during that time. If it ain't broke don't fix it, as they say.

I don't mind if you want to setup a social networking site (whatever that means) for anime lovers, gamers and programmers as well as the various mixtures of the three; I just ask that you leave Lewd the way that it is as I think it's optimal already.

Melancholy wrote

[2:31 PM] zey: the problem is while some of them are okay with changes like that I imagine, most are there for what Lewd is now.

^
there's twitter, fb, discord and even fucking hummingbird, there's no need to have people blogging their shit everywhere
of course you can say "if you don't like it, don't use it!" but the way forums work is that it'll siphon some activity (just like discord is doing), leaving this community dead if you don't use it yourself
either that or nobody will use it
bad idea
downvoted

I remembered when Aiba has shit ideas.
Social Media sucks.
But seriosuly I wouldn't mind it.

In general I agree with @[deleted] and @"All In One" that this is a pretty bad idea. When adding features it's best to consider it's applicability to the current users of the site, not aim it at new people. If you aim new features at people who aren't part of the community, it attracts people who don't fit into the community. And lewd is not a website, it's a community: the website (and discord) just happen to be where we converse. There is a certain multiple of our current users at which I will say "nope" and just leave, because the community will no longer feel tight-knit and whole. Lewd's groups are hardly ever used because the main community is so small it's got room for almost everything.

Melancholy wrote
Camo Yoshi wrote

I'm happy with how it is right now between the forums and the Discord. I kind of feel like Discord is our social network, in a way.

discord is an activity leech :feelsbadman:

I disagree, but maybe we should persue integrating discord and lewd more heavilly.