I want to take a moment to thank you, admins, for taking such an active role in the ongoing development of this community. Sometimes, I will admit, I have gotten annoyed with some of the changes made or being discussed, because in my head I am envisioning the problems that could occur with 50,000 or 100,000 users. However, after a moment I remember that how hubski functions right now is not necessarily how it will function when it has 50,000 users (as opposed to the 5,000+ here currently).
Thank you for continuing to tweak and change things as new features are suggested and the userbase continues to climb. This is just one of the many reasons I keep coming back to hubski on a daily basis.
Ha-ha, what? That's so funny! I've always said you were really, really funny. Oh man, I'm in this really weird spot right now with rent, and things are getting really tight, and I was just wondering if you could help out ...? We need a few bucks. And a car. And the car needs to lightly hover above the ground. Also, Hubski shouldn't be a website, it should be a hovercar. With a supermodel in it. A supermodel who is not gender-compliant, but is still attractive to people who are. Also, seriously, we need a few bucks.
I really feel like the admins at hubski want to make this as big as twitter or digg but want it to be better than both. I personally really like this site and end up going here instead of other social media more and more. With care and attention the only place to go is up
Well said syncretic. I can honestly say that of all of the communities that I have been a part of online, Hubski's admins are the most responsive. As the site grows I hope that the admins will grow as well, and be just as helpful. I know that this may be asking a lot, but I really feel at home here and I want to see it grow healthy.
From a different view, and feel free to point me out if I'm wrong, as I'm sure you know more about this than me, but I feel if anything, the UI of Hubski is somewhat designed to deter it from becoming 100,000 strong. As in, only those absolutely serious in looking for a place of intellectual discussion will take the time to learn what in essence is a smart design. Arguably the bloating that ruined Reddit, the hundreds of thousands that came for a "quick laugh" at all the "meme pics" aren't going to go through the text and encouragement of discussion Hubski has. That's what makes Hubski beautiful, at least in my opinion.
It's not a point lost on me. One could look at the Wall Street Journal [print] and make very viable criticisms about its UI. The WSJ could be much more 'user-friendly'. However, the WSJ's design is intrinsic to the service it provides. (Actually, I think the WSJ has slipped a bit here.) But the point is, Hubski needn't be user-friendly to Middle School students in order to be successful. IMHO the possibilities of aggregation have are even greater when geared towards a more intellectual audience. I've said it elsewhere, but People Magazine is not an argument for why the New Yorker should be more like People Magazine. The analogy isn't perfect, but we do have a compass for this journey we are on.
You know, I don't think that Hubski inclusiveness is an issue. I don't think that it comes off as snobbish or esoteric. The potential for memes and quick laughs are there, it's just that people have other websites for that. I think though, that what could really make Hubski unique (and partly what makes it dear to me now) is concentrating on the comments. I look at Hubski as kind of a localised, interactive TED talk. And you know what? I love that. I love looking at articles, and then being genuinely interested in everyone on this website's take on it. I think that, tag-centric vs. user-centric concerns aside, the mods and users should really focus on making this place about the comments. It's probably easy to overlook the potential of this-- I think that, because so many Hubski users come from Reddit (myself included), there is an emphasis on high-quality content. We tend to focus on the links, maybe because Reddit is focused on the links, or because it's easy to compare Hubski to other aggregate sites. But I think that Hubski's power is in conversation-- our take on things. For every link we click, in the comments, I look forward to a wealth of information. The mods could really capitalize on this. Maybe come up with some etiquette-- links, links everywhere backing up your claims. Loose word count standards, as a courtesy. Widespread academic articles which give us perspective on the latest Slate or CNN article. I said this in my last post: examples of 1st tier comments in each profile, rather than links posted. A user-centric, intellectual, comment-oriented, inclusive environment. I'm with the OP, too. It's evident that they put a lot of work into this place, and care deeply about the community.
Good observation gordonz88. People do have to invest time in order to figure out some of the workings of Hubski. We are aware of this and for the reasons you mentioned, we don't necessarily find it problematic. This is not to say that many things could be improved upon... they can. But, you can't really come to Hubski for a quick fix unless you know how it works. This has served us well thus far. If you're interested enough to figure out how it functions, chances are you will have something interesting to contribute.
Exactly! It's a perfectly designed niche. It'll turn some people off, but those aren't the people this site was designed for anyways! And as such, I've already found and shared lots and lots of memorable thoughts, ideas, videos, pictures, knowledge, articles, philosophy, technology, and the list goes on and on. I'm really cynical, so deep down I want things to stay this way, but I understand change is inevitable. I'm definitely cherishing what Hubski currently is though.
You know, Hubski has changed a lot since its inception but at the same time it's really quite similar still. Sometime we will have to make an evolution of Hubski post. I know we have some old screenshots.
reddit's UI in 2006 wasn't much better (interestingly enough, note the lack of a comments page). As responsive as mk and the gang are to the needs and growth of this website, I would be very surprised if the UI didn't get a major overhaul within the next couple of years, or at the very least a series of substantial changes that will redesign the website gradually over time.
Yes, I'm aware, and super important to note with your comment, Reddit's community in 2006 was also much different. It was very comparable to Hubski now. A site aggregator, that aggregated community and tech and philosophy. What happened? (rhetorical question)
Oh, believe me, I know. I still frequent Reddit just to remain a part of small true niche subreddits. You know, the ones where it isn't over 50% imgur links. Where discussion is still very real. Where the comments aren't reaction GIFs. I'm even a prominent figure in some, haha.
It's working well for Hubski, but I see how it makes sense for Reddit. Hubski has users share ideas and philosphies, and write poems and short stories. Reddit was also very intellectual (keyword: 'was') but it was centered originally more around technology and, and it's main purpose was aggregating. Of course, that has very little in itself to do with the decline. It simply enabled the decline. Hear me out here, as comments were added it opened the site up to a wider audience. And as it bloated, it became a dying star of huge numbers, and huge impurities. At this point, a majority of Reddit doesn't know** the history of Reddit, hell I bet they wouldn't react if I said "Alexis Ohanian" "Steve Huffman" or "Aaron Swartz". In fact, I don't need to bet. I know this. In my school, to most students, Reddit is "that site with the memes". It's no longer that site where people support each other to grow intellectually, and there's no longer a sense of community. It's too big for community, and there's a quote I read on Reddit a year or two ago: "The IQ of the group is the lowest IQ of a member of the group divided by the number of people in the group."** and Reddit is a prime example.
That only serves to illustrate one of the fundamental differences between reddit and hubski - hubski was created with an emphasis on users and comments, reddit was created with an emphasis on submissions and topics. I don't think success will be the same curse for hubski as it was for reddit.
It's odd to think that we're only a community of 5000. On Reddit I rarely feel the impression(other than when the god damn servers go down) that there are literally ~100,000 people browsing along with myself. I think it has to do with: 1. Tighter community. 2. Active Users. I'm not sure I've seen a more active community for its' size. Of course, that might be a little bit more easy for me to see, considering the site is based around power users.
On Reddit, I remember when a net vote of 500-600+ would get you to the frontpage. Go there now, the frontpage posts on default subreddits literally have a net of 3000-4000 upvotes! Even with Reddit's auto-downvote averaging! I just had to get out, and I'm luck to have done so when I did. I got to watch Hubski grow!