This link was posted a while ago, so maybe my question will go unanswered, but I hope not. In that link, the numbers on the y-axis decrease as you go up. So it says that in that last year, the number of visitors went from 15k to 25k, but shows this as a downward trending line. WTF is up with that?
That’s the rank of the site. We’ve fallen from being approximately the 15,000th most popular website on the Internet, to being approximately the 25,000th most popular website on the Internet. The number one site is probably not any big surprise to anyone.
(Note that our rank could have decreased even if our traffic had actually increased, if other sites were increasing faster. Of course, if our traffic has decreased AND other sites’ traffic is increasing, we’ll fall even farther down the list of websites.)
It’s quite an admission to say that you post here because there’s no functioning feedback mechanism that prevents you from getting attention from people who dislike or disagree with you. Moderation here is broken.
Political discussion has killed this site.
These boards have distorted Cecil’s original intentions.
Although I enjoy and participate in a lot of the political threads, you may have a point.
You think it would be a better place if only popular opinions were allowed?
That’s not how subreddits work. You usually won’t be ignored for that. It just means your downvoted comments won’t be seen by those who don’t go slightly out of their way to do so and they will hurt your karma. For example on this post from today, nearly half of all replies are in response to two different downvoted comments.
I have also received a couple such PMs. One of which, however, mentioned that they were among a dozen or so posters who had quit over this issue.
You are well aware that I said nothing of the sort. You are well aware that “disallowed” and “downvoted” are mutually exclusive concepts (how can one downvote something that isn’t allowed?)
I can’t speak with certainty about what hypothetical policy changes would do. But yes, I feel like this board was more enjoyable before it was overrun by people who admit it’s their safe space from even the comically mild anonymous accountability that they might face on Reddit.
I know that isn’t remotely how it works. Earlier HurricaneDitka stated that he prefers to post here because exposure to Reddit-style downvotes might reduce the amount of attention he receives from making liberal-hostile posts in a (perceived) majority-liberal forum. That’s what I was speaking to.
IIRC, it was in the Top 1000 in 2002 or so.
LOL @ this being a “safe space” for me or any conservatives :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
ETA: (and I laugh at the idea that this board has been “overrun” by any group aside from liberals)
Try being left of center, a Democrat, but not toeing the line on every point of politically correct wokeness. The intolerance for that is almost greater, at least in ratio to the degree of apostasy.
You certainly don’t have to convince me that Dems don’t tolerate dissent very well. That was half the point of my first comment in this thread. The structure of this board doesn’t give them the option to silence dissent. I think that’s one of its more admirable attributes, and one of the reasons I hope it endures.
As a result of this thread, I got more PMs from posters saying that they don’t post here as much because of its misogyny problem and a perceived lack of moderation of aggressive trolls.
You’ve already stated you prefer posting here because the lack of even a mild anonymous reputational penalty allows you to get more attention from people that you annoy. Pray tell, how do you find this “unsafe” in any way? How could you possibly be more safe or coddled here? Would you need a personal moderator to protect you from slights, or what?
As another left-of-center Democrat, this. Not just on the SDMB, but many other online message boards. I think a lot of people are avoiding message boards because they now have to walk on eggshells for perceived “microaggressions”, or expressing a reasonable opinion (not alt-right lunacy) that’s contrary to the growing hive mind. tl;dr: message boards are among the victims of the culture wars.
Here I need to call out your repeated and emphatic dishonesty on the point of “silencing” and censorship or whatever. Tagging your post with a number is neither of those things. It’s a quantifiable metric on how your posts are received. It carries no force except that it lets people register a reputational opinion or ignore you, which I suspect is the at root of why you apparently fear it so.
Gentlemen-
We will not again go over thrice-tread ground about the leanings of the SDMB nor any of its individual posters. Should you feel a desperate need to do so the BBQ Pit in one short click away. Take it there.
Thanks for the explanation, MEBuckner!