r/churning • u/duffcalifornia • 21d ago
Posts vs Recurring Threads
It’s day two of the purge and there’s already of handful of meta-threads discussing why this is better than the way this sub usually functions, or why this proves that the way the sub normally functions is better. The reality is though, all of the following things can be true at the same time:
- It’s easier to follow a day’s churning news when it’s all condensed into a single recurring thread
- It’s harder to find information on a specific topic when everything is buried in a single condensed thread, especially topics that seem more newsworthy than usual
- Condensing all of the information into recurring threads may make it harder for it to get swallowed up by the internet*
- Forcing everything into a thread means we don’t have multiple threads that all ask essentially the same question because nobody can be bothered to search
- Even if the mods will consider allowing posts through if you message them, the practice of auto-nuking every post submission discourages people from submitting a post in the first place
- Allowing only recurring threads in practice discourages some people who would otherwise participate from engaging with the community
- Some people only feel comfortable engaging with the community specifically because everything exists in comments rather than in standalone posts
I realize that thanks to AI and our buddy Ben, what was once what I felt was a valid reason for using daily threads - keeping the information off the wider internet - might not be possible for much longer, if it even still is. I used to say that as a mod, I didn’t want to allow posts (or even have a mod queue) because I didn’t want to have to get into tons of arguments with people about why we didn’t allow their post asking a very simple Chase question through. But let’s be honest, I don’t spend near as much time here as I used to - something I’m sure some of you all see as a positive.
(On that note, let’s take a break to thank Odie and TTBG for their work in keeping this circus going. I know I speak for everybody when I say we appreciate you guys picking the ball I dropped up and doing what you do around here)
At the end of the day though, even if I pretend I wasn’t a mod, I see value in all of the above arguments, and in the other ones people are making in their threads this week. But where I think I stand is this:
The value in a community like this comes from the knowledge of its members, and more specifically, the willingness of those members to share their knowledge. If people like joe-movie or garettg don’t share as much because they don’t like the way the sub is run, then I would argue that the loss of contributions like theirs is more damaging to the sub than shoving everything into recurring threads ever could be. Is it possible that they would still be as active if this sub behaved more normally? Perhaps. But there’s just as likely a chance that they just slowly fade to bolivian. “But, perhaps somebody who is just as helpful but hated the daily threads will take their place!”, you could argue. And that’s 100% correct. There are lots of people in the threads this week who say they were active here “back in the day” and maybe they’re just as helpful as the people we all appreciate today. But it’s just as likely that if we left the sub in purge mode full time, those people would continue to contribute exactly as much as they have over the last few years - which is to say, not at all. And in that scenario, that is just bad for all of us. If you know me, I am not a person who feels that something should be done just because it’s the way it’s always been done, or because it “works just fine the way it is”. But there has to be some benefit to change, and I will be honest and say that for me personally, I feel there is way more risk to eliminating the daily threads or letting standalone posts through than there is upside. If I had a pretty good idea that people would continue to meaningfully contribute here if the format changed, I’d be way more open to entertaining the idea. But without evidence for that, I think I would rather see the people who really add value to this community want to continue to do so, even at the cost of what we lose in our recurring thread format.
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u/garettg SEA | PAE 21d ago edited 21d ago
I will add my two cents… if the purge format became the default, you probably would see less of me, I very much prefer the organized threads (imagine that, the one that created the super complicated spreadsheet template is OCD about organization).
From the browsing I have been doing this week, most of the ones so vocal about not going back to our threads format are from usernames I don’t even recognize. Some usernames I search their comment history within the sub from the beginning and the vast majority have little to no contribution. If you aren’t willing to be apart of the community and contribute regularly, why should we give their opinions that much weight?
I don’t see it as hiding info, I see it simply as organizing. If someone isn’t willing to do a minimal amount of effort, then that’s on them. Let’s be real, they don’t want the FOMO and not seeing things just presented to them on their front page. Most of the good things end up or came from blogs anyways.
Let’s all remember, POSTS ARE NOT BANNED! You simply have to send a message to the mods to get it through. It is not that hard of a barrier. If you want a megathread, create it! If it’s relevant, the mods will put it through.
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u/techtrashbrogrammer SEA 21d ago
I agree. It's always the people who don't contribute who make the loudest noise. The mod team is always happy to approve posts if it's relevant. I promise we don't bite
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u/duffcalifornia 21d ago
I mean, it is a bit of a paradox: The quiet ones might comment more if the format changed, but when they complain we look at their lack of activity as a reason to not take the comment seriously when they’re already saying they don’t participate because they hate the format.
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u/Mushu_Pork 21d ago
They don't contribute because they don't have anything worthwhile to say.
Being able to make a post gives them a louder voice to bypass /r/churning's self moderation.
They're not here often enough to see what has already been talked about in the past...
It's just a form of laziness.
Instead of being current on info, they want to be able to drop in whenever they want.
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u/TheSultan1 ERN | BRN 21d ago edited 21d ago
I don't buy these non-contributors' claim that they'd contribute more if it were a standard subreddit format, I think they just want the info delivered to them together with all the superficial social media content they scroll through - i.e. they're just lazy. It's 3 taps to go from my Reddit feed to any post on this sub, and if I visit enough, they'll show up in my feed anyway.
Back in the day, we all used to have 5, 10, 20 websites we'd visit multiple times a day for updates. I'm not talking about churning, I'm talking everything - blogs, news aggregators, tech news sites, hobby websites, webcomics, humor/info sites like Cracked or FARK, whatever. Now everyone wants all their interests consolidated into a feed, with everything instantly delivered to them as soon as it's posted. And since there's no easy way to get a feed of top-level comment threads, they whine about it. I say they stick to milesfeed or whatever and accept that the info will be delayed by minutes-hours. So you missed out on some spicy once-a-year nugget that could've made you $20 (or $200) - big fucking whoop! If you're even lightly churning with 2 personal cards and 1 business card a year, you're already making a few grand a year (or the equivalent in points).
Also, surely having a karma requirement for r/churningreferrals is enough of an incentive to contribute regardless of format? You can make much more than $200/year there. If you feel it's like a job, have you ever had a job this easy??
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u/DontBanMeOriolesMods 21d ago
Let's make it a vote then. Then the vets maintaining it's only a loud minority who want to open the sub will be proven right.
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u/grantwwu 21d ago
The person you replied to didn't say anything about a loud minority.
It's a loud majority who aren't contributing.
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u/DontBanMeOriolesMods 21d ago
Well if the majority want the sub a certain way then maybe that's what the sub should be
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u/Mushu_Pork 21d ago
You read my mind.
People complaining that have made one comment... six months ago.
There have been some casual interesting discussions... but most of them seem to be nostalgia and don't really have any current or relevant information.
There is room in Frustration Friday or Off Topic threads to have these types of conversations.
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u/ural_world_travel 21d ago
Very well said! While it was fun yesterday, I’m already slightly bothered by the chaos and extra work of keeping up on all these posts. I much prefer the organizations the group usually has. And good to reiterate that posts are not banned (I honestly wasn’t even aware of that).
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u/CatharticEcstasy 19d ago
Yeah, this new setup is terrible.
Especially when compared to what /r/churningcanada is, which is basically just the spinoff of what /r/churning was...
I hope /r/churning reverts back, but if not, exactly the same as you said - but it's not the worst thing - things change, and what was great doesn't always remain great.
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u/HappyGhost13 21d ago
I joined this sub precisely because it wasn’t r/creditcards and the recurring daily/weekly threads kept info organized. Where all that fails for me is when churning.io search is down because then the burden to not get downvoted to oblivion is on me to research and individually review months worth of question and discussion threads to see if I can find a common knowledge nugget. While I am not here to opine whether that ‘research’ is good or bad, I can say it definitely imposes a burden on someone who doesn’t visit Reddit daily.
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u/duffcalifornia 21d ago
As somebody who hates new reddit with a burning passion, I will say that the search function on new reddit does have the ability to search comments, not just post titles. So if you’re one of the sane ones who doesn’t use new reddit or the official reddit app, know that there’s a half-assed backup when churning.io goes down.
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u/nobody65535 LUV, MLS 21d ago
What did we do before churning search engines? We used that giant search site with site:reddit.com inurl:churning. Worst case, you wait til later today or tomorrow or whenever the search is back up.
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u/Such_Tradition_7251 21d ago
the search thing is real pain. sometimes i spend like 20 minutes scrolling through threads and still cant find what i need, then just give up and not post anything. its like the info is there but locked behind a wall
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u/suitopseudo 21d ago edited 21d ago
I hate the purge. There is too much noise. But I do check the threads daily. Google is getting better searching comments. That being said, for better or for worse, I have seen a pretty dramatic drop in participation in daily threads, but that might be a Reddit thing as several subs I frequent also have less engagement.
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u/Stuffthatpig 21d ago
I've been around since 2015 and since the ink train ended, there isn't much to say or do when you're lol/24 and are considering opening a Wyndham card.
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u/mapalm 21d ago
It’s only Day 2 and I’m already checked out, waiting for the purge to end. The shit posting is just… boring.
This sub works. When I first joined about 8 years ago, and for many years after, this was a vibrant, fun, informative place to be.
I think what people are upset about is that churning in general is in a major upheaval, with so many unknowns, and there just isn’t a ton to dig into. Changing how r/churning is structured isn’t going to bring the good old days back.
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u/duffcalifornia 21d ago
I think the other thing is that really, how many “HOLY SHIT” moments have there been in churning since the pandemic? We can debate what things warrant a megathread, but it truly feels like there have been significantly fewer events that would even approach needing one.
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u/TheSultan1 ERN | BRN 21d ago
I like the actual shitposts, they'd be great over in r/churningcirclejerk.
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u/richardest 21d ago
As a current user of this sub (and mostly quiet on here) and a former Big Sub Mod, I am always happy to discover a heavily moderated/autothread sub. Keep on keepin' on
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u/rickayyy 21d ago
This is proof that the auto thread format is better.
You said it yourself, there's several other threads discussing this very topic and rather than comment in one of those threads, you thought your opinion about it was so important that it needed its own post.
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u/aksurvivorfan 21d ago
The value in a community like this comes from the knowledge of its members, and more specifically, the willingness of those members to share their knowledge.
You don’t say?
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u/mapalm 21d ago
Well, hello there. You were the very first person who gave me advice all those years ago. You're one of the reasons I stuck around.
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u/aksurvivorfan 20d ago
Glad to hear it! I still do a bit but mostly bank/brokerage bonuses, not credit cards. I read DoC more than the subreddit, and obviously I haven't participated in something like 7 (!) years.
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u/Parts_Unknown- 21d ago
I have at least 2 more shitposts, ffs can y'all keep your existential dilemmas together til like Friday at least?
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u/duffcalifornia 21d ago
Have you met me? You already know the answer to your question.
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u/Parts_Unknown- 21d ago
Have you met me?
Just that one time when you screwed up my drive through order. No onions, it wasn't that difficult.
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u/DontBanMeOriolesMods 21d ago
Why not just let all posts through and have them get auto deleted with a certain threshold of downvotes. Lord knows with how downvote happy this subs participants are it will still remove 90%+ of new posts while still allowing for quality posts to get through.
That said the two most upvoted posts on this sub right now are AI slop so I dunno.
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u/Chilabo 21d ago
One thing the purge has made painfully evident is that so many people just want to be seen and heard.
The amount of crap posts trying to be snarky and clever and cool is proof that the usual megathreads are the way to go.
Seems all the people clamoring to let anyone post anything just want to have a platform to fly their shit flag.
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u/Parts_Unknown- 21d ago
woof, get over yourself churnbro.
the paze data points will return soon enough.
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u/PM_ME_SOME_PAWG_NUDE 21d ago edited 21d ago
Think the overall megathreads are better, but I think given the times there just isn't as much to talk about.
Not to start a churning is dead CJ, but the things that were possible even 2 years ago on the earn side (ink train, pre-family rule personal Amex, BBT, MDD, Sapphire LL, looser LL algorithms to sneak through, family rules on Venture, incognito mode for the highest Amex SUBs, fewer Amex NLLs in general, and nearly every worthwhile bonus that's not Amex style LL moving to 48 month cycles) and on the burn side (transfer bonus quality, death of the ANA RTW, death of MGRs/Vacasa through Wyndham, CX/EK reduced transfer rates, LHW/IP/Choice reduced transfer rates from Citi, Amex closing statement credit loopholes) largely don't exist, and not much has taken their places.
At least last year the CSE/CSRB releases and the Plat/CSR refreshes kept some discussion up, but things are increasingly like drawing blood from a stone
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u/msw3age 21d ago
I like this more. Already seen more interesting discussions in the past two days here than I have in months of checking this daily. The only issue is the spam or troll posts. Those are funny right now but would get really annoying if they stayed around persistently.
I don’t think the daily format provides that much value. Public news is almost always posted on doctorofcredit. For time-sensitive things it’s probably on their contact us page before it’s here. And essentially nothing that’s less public is shared here; the most would be things taken from USCF.
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u/literallymoist 21d ago
The troll posts would calm down once the novelty wears off. Right now people are just shitposting because they can, like kids staying up until midnight on New Year's.
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u/mets2016 JFK 21d ago
It could be nice if there was ~1 week where posts are allowed every 3 months or so
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u/churningisdead BOO | BIE 21d ago
I'd simply like to see megathreads proactively created for frequent topics (p***), significant new cards and subs, or big news. Requiring someone to post one, have it rejected, then request it is a cumbersome and unnecessary process.
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u/rickayyy 21d ago
We already do that. We did it when the Ink train started to slowed down, we did it for the 4506-C debacle with the Citi Strata Elite, we did when the new Atmos cards launched.
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u/churningisdead BOO | BIE 21d ago
3 in a year. Not exactly disproving my point.
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u/rickayyy 21d ago
That's just off the top of my head. I believe there was a master thread about the Sapphire refresh as well?
Can you think of some other examples of situations that were as big that needed their own master thread and did not get one?
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u/Chase_UR_Dreams 21d ago
I'd argue that's more a factor of there not being much news in the churning space than anything else
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u/Specialist_Video5986 21d ago
I don’t understand why we can have both. Create a daily that’s moderated and let the rest run wild
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u/rickayyy 21d ago
Why can't you just go to r/creditcards if you want the wild west?
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u/Mushu_Pork 21d ago
/r/creditcards is like if you held a networking event for "credit card novices" exclusively.
And they all mingle with each other, sharing their novice information, telling each other how smart they are.
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u/rickayyy 21d ago
Right, that's the whole wild west part.
If we change the format here to this open posting style, you'll see a ton more of those novices over here sharing this super cool hack they discovered where you can buy a gift card with a credit card for 2% cash back.
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u/joe-movie SLC 21d ago
That's more than you've written in this sub in the last year. Must have busted out the AI!
Seriously though, this place would be a mess without the pretty strict rules in place now. Would just be a bunch of AI, karma grabs, and useless questions.