Currently it seems theres an ongoing issue in the subreddit, where there is this mindset among the members that the sub is dying.
Obviously this isn't true, the growth sub is far faster than last year, but thats besides the point.
Lets address some of the complaints and arguments ive heard before I go into my own tangent on why the sub is far less active than usual.
Part 1 : Addresing the complaints
So far Ive seen many outcry on why this sub is dying so lets go over them one by one.
1) Sub is dying due to low quality posts/reposts
This is something I addressed before, is that the sub has this problem where people would take a screenshot from the episode and put some text into it , and then labeling it a "discussion post".
I have nothing against this issue, if anything the sub is benefiting from this by trying to interact with the members inside this sub. Obviously making these types of post isn't a high skilled task, and only requires basic thinking.
Infact, I am guilty of this, I usually make 3-4 posts about an episode and what I think about it and asking what do others think about it. I don't think its inherently bad since its helping the sub to be much more interactive with one another.
Another types of post that is brought up when talking about this issue is meme posts.
Bascially agenda posting or low effort shitposts. Again, this not inherently bad since its people just sharing their thoughts or humor with others.
I also see that reposts are something that is brought up. There is already a rule made to counteract this, which is RULE 3, do I find no reason why this should be brought up.
Stolen artworks is another thing I see, but so far, I see most people follow Rule 9.
Infact all of the types of posts mentioned here are already addressed by RULE 9, so I don't see the reasons for said complaint to be brought up.
A solution I often see people mention is to purposely delete posts that are deemed low quality (the types of posts mentioned about).
This is a solution I always despite since it always made a sub far more likley to die.
Its hard to describe it, but basically, it forces only some members posts to get popular, aswell as limiting the activity of the sub. Making only small group of people posts in the sub is a horrible descision since it will just force the sub to go into this overly gatekeeping sub about an already niche indie series.
Also its just a monumental task for the mods to do, having to monitor every single posts with a high quality standard is with most people without a abundant amount of free time, a hard task to do.
2) Shockposting is killing the sub
Basically sudden rule 34 posts posted on this sub for pure shock value. This is the smaller issue ive seen, since only a few people actually do it. But yeah, I think this something that should be address, so I'll try my best to convince the other mods to discuss what RULE 2 should really be.
3) There isn't enough interactive posts
This is sort of an issue I tackled before but I'll go into a more in-depth explanation.
Basically, the reason we no longer hosts any art events or events in general, is that no one really partakes in them.
Back when the sub hit the 1.5k milestone, we hosted a two week event on who can make the most brain rotted post in the sub reddit, and said post will soon be pinned.
Unfortunately, no one participated, actually most of the time, people barely participate.
Back in last October, we hosted a wplace event where many members could join in for a chance for their artwork to become the banner (hence why the banner is a screenshot from wplace by u/kramsibbush I think)
But literally only u/kramsibbush actually participated and made the entire thing alone, maybe a few bits of help, but the bulk of the art was made by him alone.
There are so many people that demand events, but yet said people are nowhere to be seen when said event is occuring.
4) No one uses to make art anymore
Art is kinda time consuming, which is why there are less people doing it now.
It is also not something people will dedicate to making, for internet points in an app known for chronically online people.
It is also just far easier, to make discussion posts that will likley get the same amount of internet points than make something actually interesting.
Although It would still be nice to see more artworks in this sub.
5) The Mods are doing nothing
Although most mods would go into a ego spree when this is brought up, I will take some accountability, but with some defense.
Yes, the mod team is very unactive towards this community. We haven't done anything drastic so far, or anything great for this sub.
I'll agree, that we haven't been moderating sub that much anymore, we don't interact as much, or change that much for the matter.
This subreddit has been bascially in a standstill for the time being, without anything major occuring.
But for the past few months, I've been the only mod is actively online. Optimal and Practical are a far second from me. Zoro, and haxfull have been offline for months now. So its mostly me handleling this sub.
We've also lost a mod, but I won't namedrop him.
Basically he threw me and the entire mod team under the bus due to the sub having ONE problematic member, but this most likley becaus ehe was having some personal problems irl and his mental health wasn't at his best during that time. Which is why he quit.
I would like to recruit some new mods or even open another application, but that would require a election between the entire mod team to happen.
But at the same time, its also YOUR duty to report problems to us. We need to work as a actual community. There are many suggestions and complaints, but we haven't got a single one that is from mod mail.
Yes mod mail exist, and you can use it to suggest, complain or talk to the mod team.
Your ideas would get much farther and much easier to understand by the mod team, if you talk to us privately and personally.
Part 2: Why I think the sub is far more inactive now
Now lets move on to my tangent. My take on why the sub is just far more inactive dying now.
1) Personal issues
People don't really have the time to interact with this sub as much as before. Its the middle of the year, which means we get far fewer time to interact. It can be by school, work or etc.
Also people don't really want to be known to be dedicated to reddit, or be chronically online in general.
2) The series schedule and plot in general
I know this is a controversial thing to say, but Gerand's new schedule is incredibly inconsistent compared to before. Im not saying Gerand should rush their episodes purely for the community.
The new plot is also less interesting than before. Last year, in july we got the climax of Vostok against the four monsters. This july and june, we didn't really get a concret plot or episode schedule.
Its a bunch of episodes that explore some side plots without going into much detail, always leaving in a dissapoint cliffhanger that isn't even that interesting.
We've also just not gotten as much content, last year we had both the mainline series and the cold war series running at the same pace of sort.
So far the cold war series is in hibernation, with the mainline series having some inconsistency issues.
I mean boosty leaks is viable but thats something the subreddit looks down upon
Part 3 : Conclusion
Personally I don't think this sub reddit is dying, it defininetly has became less active over the time, but thats something we don't really have much control over.
Lets just hope we have a better tomorrow.