MelonLand Discussion 2024 ~ Have your say here!

[grubbyfox]

Is the goal to increase engagement? Those are both goals that most companies would have; but they are not what the goal of MelonLand is! I don't want the forum to exist forever; I don't want high engagement. What I want is a collection of fragments of knowledge, inspiration and life that will still be interesting 100 years from now; long after the posting aspect of this forum is gone. The push for high quality posts is not about the forum; its about the value of whats being said and how that will hold up over time; e.g. the important part is what you say, not where you say it. This is utterly different from social media; and its easy to loose focus of, but its where our heart and soul needs to be. 

There's also a practicality that the forum exists as a forum for melon projects and I think that will be needed to a certain extent as long as there are melon projects!

That's actually completely fair and valid! I guess I sort of assumed underlying things, which is my bad!
I didnt think you necessarily wanted "high engagement" - but I see there's a pretty steady flow of new users, (at least from what I can tell / what I feel is a large number haha), and to me, that was a sign of a blooming and thriving forum!
Either way, it's of course on me to have assumed that on top (or at the bottom of) of it being a project, that it would also serve as a "typical" forum, if one could use that term. I guess that I automatically thought any type of slice of life you'd find on a forum would be the type of content that would fall under the umbrella. (Also I am sorry if I come off as sarcastic or not genuine, haha I keep reading it back to myself like jeez what's with the attitude, hah but I swear I dont mean it like that!!) I mean it in all honestly. I might not be completely caught up with the whole idea/project behind all this, and if so, forgive me.

I'll add that at least personally, I find that "most" things posted in old forgotten forums is of some historic value. Depending on who you ask/who is searching. Some might come across a dead forum and be thrilled to find a lot of amazing knowledge about so-and-so, while others might be excited to see what people in the year YYXX thought about, well anything, be it movies, shows, games, etc. Or they might find the banter and the convos to be dated and an interesting time capsule in itself.

You're of course well within your right to decide what you consider historic value in your forum! I'm not trying to step on any toes or like, force my opinions onto your project.

I'm just coming from the angle of this as a forum in the typical sense. Not a company needing high user amount or engagement, not a social media (like we know them today), and not as a project (again, which was my bad) but just as a communal hub where special interests gathered people - and the community itself kept people coming back to chat, be it about the shared interest, general topics, fandoms, whatever.

[Melooon]

I'll add that at least personally, I find that "most" things posted in old forgotten forums is of some historic value

This is a totally good point and its well worth discussing; I don't have an absolute answer! There are roles we take on in a space like this ~ what is my job? Am I a social moderator, or a publisher, or a curator, an artist or some mix of all these things. Are you an audience, or a collaborator, or a source of content, or an artwork, or simply a human presence?

To some extent we all take on aspects of these roles; I'm a source of content and a curator; you're a moderator and an audience. The fate of the forum, like all digital spaces, doesn't really depend on what we do; so much as how we act out these roles.

From a curators seat I would say that, yes everything has historic value; but if you try and look at everything you'll become overwhelmed and become unable to really engage with anything. You have to edit things down to keep the meaning clear. By asking people to expand on what they say; what I feel will happen is that people will edit themselves down; they will post less and say more ~ that process is the difference between art and noise.

I think people are so used to being told how to behave and what is right or wrong in a particular situation, that they expect the same when they come here; but that's not how this works! I cant tell you the right way to be a curator; only that you need to be a curator; as much as a member, as much as an artist, as much an artwork and as much as a moderator.

Like coding, its not easy; code asks people to be more than they were when they started to code; there is no correct path; there are elegant paths and there are messy paths and there are paths that people don't bother to take. I think the goal of everyone here should be to keep walking, and give others the push they need to keep going too, on whatever path that happens to be!

[grubbyfox]

To some extent we all take on aspects of these roles; I'm a source of content and a curator; you're a moderator and an audience. The fate of the forum, like all digital spaces, doesn't really depend on what we do; so much as how we act out these roles.

From a curators seat I would say that, yes everything has historic value; but if you try and look at everything you'll become overwhelmed and become unable to really engage with anything. You have to edit things down to keep the meaning clear. By asking people to expand on what they say; what I feel will happen is that people will edit themselves down; they will post less and say more ~ that process is the difference between art and noise.

I think people are so used to being told how to behave and what is right or wrong in a particular situation, that they expect the same when they come here; but that's not how this works! I cant tell you the right way to be a curator; only that you need to be a curator; as much as a member, as much as an artist, as much an artwork and as much as a moderator

I guess this is sort of where I was coming in at this from a different angle. I view/viewed myself as a member and a consumer of this place - as a forum and not much else (maybe also a hub/etc but basically a forum/website). I'm coming in from not considering my posts, or forum posts in general to be art nor noise. Which is why I just could not understand these "rules"/guidelines. Not saying I am opposed them as such, or that you're not well within your right to have any rules/guides you like.

Viewing it as your project / a community art/project or whichever term you feel fits best, of course changes it a bit.

I still stand by my post earlier - but I say that as viewing myself as a strictly forum user, because I honestly dont know what else I could be here in this project, ya know?

You've got a really cool thing going here, so it's all fine to keep on keeping on here. But well, the thread asked for my say, haha so, it's there I guess.

[Melooon]

but I say that as viewing myself as a strictly forum user

The root of my post though comes from the belief that you actually do take on all those roles, not just here, but in every online space you interact with, regardless of what you intend. By making a thread you are curating, by sharing an opinion you are moderating, by leaving any mark in the world at all you are an artist.

I don't mean to make you feel pushed into anything; but you do all those things regardless of what you believe The only difference with this forum is that I try to make that a focal point and encourage it; whereas other online spaces try to ignore and hide it.

I hope that has some hint of empowerment in it, rather than being overwhelming or asking you to be something your not comfortable with!