Also, we are adjusting the algorithm so that it is more reflective of activity than time of post.

This. I'm very new here, but I have studied online conversational spaces. And one of the biggest challenges for Hubski seems to be giving users the sensation that they aren't at a party by themselves.

If a subject is interesting, why wouldn't it be worth commenting on regardless of when it was posted?

I'm posting this now, but I am quite confident nobody but you will read this -- and if you don't respond, I will be writing into the vacuum that is the internet, so there will be no feedback loop for me. So I think you guys are on the right track as far as indicating the "activity" of a post. But I'm finding it very difficult to create a pleasant community experience here because, as a new user, I constantly feel like I'm in an empty room; my home page is the "feed" which is only populated if I follow people I dont know; the first page on "global" is the newest posts, where nobody has arrived to the party; clicking on "chatter" is just awkward for me because I don't actually know anyone there; and I can't follow tags to populate by feed, which means I can't find people to follow without going to "discover."

Anyway, I really want to like hubski and will continue to give it a chance!