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If we don’t want this site to be run by content-aggregation bots, it’s up to us to aggregate.

I checked it out, and tbh I think that the post requirements are pretty restrictive, especially considering that Lemmy is relatively new and doesn’t yet have a critical mass of contributing users.

Assuming that the axiom that states that only about 10-20% of users actually post is true, you’re already facing an uphill battle in terms of growing your subscriber base. On top of that, the community theme (art with no context) sounds like an interesting endeavor, but it’s also pretty niche. It’s gonna be hard to find the community organically. Or for your community to find you, organically.

Also, by requiring that the post be a non-flash photograph of the work of art as displayed, you’ve placed additional barriers in front of those 10-20% of content contributors. I mean, how often does the average person go to the museum? Also, does the poster have to have taken the image themselves, or is finding and posting an image you found online (that is a non-flash photo of an artwork as-is and adheres to the community rules and post guidelines) acceptable? The last sentence that reads, “Mods reserve the right to ask where you’ve taken the photo of the art.” seems to imply that the image in the post needs to have been taken by the person posting it.

I enjoy the premise/theme of the community, but I feel that you’re either going to have to lower the barrier to participate/contribute, or you’re going to just have to accept that it’s gonna take a fair amount of time before your community grows into a self-sustaining body. It’s like you’re taking care of a newborn pet, and, at least in the beginning, you’re gonna have to feed your community/pet with fresh posts pretty often. You’re also probably going to have to advertise your community when it’s relevant.

Remember that at the start, even Reddit went out of their way to populate their front page with posts from various dummy accounts to create the illusion of activity. Anyway, best of luck with your community, I sincerely hope you’re able to retain and grow the community you’re looking for.

For those that want to check it out: !no_context_art@thelemmy.club

Thanks! :)

Best of luck growing the community! I wish you all the success. :)

I agree - my level of engagement on Reddit dwindled with every unpopular decision Reddit forced on its users, and towards the end I had stopped engaging entirely, because it just felt like I would be interacting mainly with bots and hostile users. You’d constantly see bots steal others’ comments, people calling them out to no avail, and knowing that Reddit didn’t give a shit cuz it was engagement numbers to them either way really discouraged any chance of healthy discourse.

Rage-baiting might be a good short-term solution for boosting engagement, but allowing or maintaining that level of hostility across the site just tires people out and drives them away.

Honestly, I think that best thing to do is just pick one or two communities that you really care about and invest a bit of your time. Make a post or two, have some back-and-forth with a friendly person in the comments. You don’t have to be a moderator to help build a community. Even just taking 30 seconds to make one post would be good enough, and might encourage someone else to make a post.

I was always more of a lurker on Reddit, but I don’t think that’s really gonna be enough if we want this place to at least get to critical mass.

I thought he said that the logo was a transitional one? Or maybe it’s just because he’s got the money to spend?