Why isn't The Straight Dope very popular?

[Ukulele_Ike]

Dick jokes, also too.

[BigT]

@Dewey_Finn

Every time this question arises, I compare this site to Reddit, which is vastly larger but also much younger; it was founded in 2005. Now I’m not on Reddit, so I may be incorrect but the site seems to allow subreddits to be created freely. Contrast that with the SDMB where new subforums are created only rarely, especially under previous management. (Which is why I was surprised that The Quarantine Zone was created so quickly.) And Reddit deploys new software and features as needed or desired, again, not something that happens here. (We’ve known for years that the vBulletin software was inadequate but nothing was ever done about it.)

You’re not wrong, but there’s a reason for that. Reddit isn’t trying to be a forum like the SDMB. It’s more like a forum host, like, say, ProBoards. The idea of Reddit is that different people set up their own subreddits, select their own moderators, etc. The SDMB would be closer to a subreddit than it is to Reddit itself. Then the administrators just collect the most popular ones and put them on the “front page.”

And, as for software updates–they did quite little of that until recently, and pretty much everyone hates the new software. It’s flashier, but slower (especially on mobile) and more error prone. It also has less customization for the moderators, and older user extensions don’t work with it. There are also a few changes that make it more like Facebook which people don’t like.

About the only thing people like are improved moderation tools, but those luckily still work on the old site. Because they didn’t get rid of it, lest people leave the platform.

[TubaDiva]

@Ukulele_Ike

Hey! Are you telling me I’m not “cutting edge?”

(snorts and stamps off to put an Annette Hanshaw record on the phonograph)

I would have thought you were putting your Connee Boswell 78 on the Victrola.

Jenny
your humble TubaDiva

[Skywatcher]

@BigT

And, as for software updates–they did quite little of that until recently, and pretty much everyone hates the new software. It’s flashier, but slower (especially on mobile) and more error prone. It also has less customization for the moderators, and older user extensions don’t work with it.

Sounds like here.

[Omar_Little]

I would say for your average simple question that Google could answer, you should just google it.

But for the unique special circumstance question that requires unique knowledge or even investigation, the teeming masses here can be very useful and usually very quick on their response.

And most of the regulars here have a sense of humor.

[digs]

@Omar_Little

And most of the regulars here have a sense of humor.

But apparently thay make dick jokes, and I don’t get them. To the extent that I don’t even notice.

@Ukulele_Ike

Dick jokes, also too.

Where? Damn, I missed another one.

[Musicat]

@jnglmassiv

Part of it is that we’re not nice to newbies.

There’s such a fine line between newbies and spammers.

[Johnny_Bravo]

@jnglmassiv

Part of it is that we’re not nice to newbies.

I realize that this is an unpopular opinion and that I’m insignificant but I’ve always disagreed with the reflexive closing of old bumped threads or what we call zombies. Some rando SDMB candidate searches for something weird and bumps into an interesting thread. It may have been one I’d missed or an oldie that I’d forgotten about or maybe about a topic I’ve since learned a lot more about. Contribute? Nope. Closed: old. But OP can always start a new thread, haha, right? Naw, very few of these highly potential dopers come back and why would they after that frosty introduction? That additional data they might have had had is pretty much gone forever.

In a thread complaining about zombie jokes, I cited a couple of regularly bumped ancient threads. The available data (such as it is) does not support your feelings - newbies who join the SDMB solely to post in an old thread are extremely unlikely to stay even if the thread they bump is not closed and even if they are not treated to snark.

[Beckdawrek]

@ThelmaLou

When I showed up the first time I posted something “nice” and was clobbered by the grouches and cynics on the board. I ran away for a year or so (maybe it was only months). But I came back because… <mind drifts away> …

I lurked forever. Joined, immediately got in over my head.
But, I have this stubborn streak, you see.
I kept posting away.
I love this place.

[jnglmassiv]

@Johnny_Bravo

The available data (such as it is) does not support your feelings - newbies who join the SDMB solely to post in an old thread are extremely unlikely to stay even if the thread they bump is not closed and even if they are not treated to snark.

The argument against always boils down to ‘I/they might reply to someone who isn’t around anymore and also I won’t read the dates’ or ‘information and links have changed!’ as though that renders the whole thing useless.

[Colibri]

@Johnny_Bravo

In a thread complaining about zombie jokes, I cited a couple of regularly bumped ancient threads. The available data (such as it is) does not support your feelings - newbies who join the SDMB solely to post in an old thread are extremely unlikely to stay even if the thread they bump is not closed and even if they are not treated to snark.

This is correct. Even when old threads are left open for various reasons, it’s very rare that a newbie who bumps an old thread with a trivial comment makes more than that single post. Offhand, I can’t think of anyone whose first post was to bump a zombie pointlessly that remained to become a contributing member.

The vast majority of people who register for the board never make a single post. Of the rest, the median number of posts is probably 1, regardless of whether they bumped a zombie or not.

[Leaffan]

@Beckdawrek

I lurked forever. Joined, immediately got in over my head.
But, I have this stubborn streak, you see.
I kept posting away.
I love this place.

And now look at you! Rock star!

[Atamasama]

@Colibri

This is correct. Even when old threads are left open for various reasons, it’s very rare that a newbie who bumps an old thread with a trivial comment makes more than that single post. Offhand, I can’t think of anyone whose first post was to bump a zombie pointlessly that remained to become a contributing member.

The vast majority of people who register for the board never make a single post. Of the rest, the median number of posts is probably 1, regardless of whether they bumped a zombie or not.

So you’re saying that a person who bumps a zombie won’t last long. That seems like common sense.

[Senegoid]

This entire thread, so far, totally ignores the elephant in the room (at least in recent board history), namely, the timeouts. We old Diehards of the Dope just gnash our teeth and persevere, but I imagine that newbies just give up right away and take their pixels elsewhere.

[Cabin_Fever_1]

@silenus

The reason I like The Dope, and the reason Google doesn’t always cut it, is because we add commentary and other added-value items. Google gives you directions - The Dope tells you why those directions are wrong, gives you three alternatives, four puns and a deranged counter-argument from the cheap seats.

^^^This

As I sit here in the Dawn early twilight, I embrace giving my money to Fighting fihgt orance. While falling-down drunk. Call me out, Love you all! <hic>

Anybody notice the changes here? I am feeling the LOVE!
Give TubaDiva (Jen) some hugs.

[Beckdawrek]

Awww CabinFever, I feels the luv too. And I’m sober. (:))

[SlackerInc]

@jnglmassiv

Part of it is that we’re not nice to newbies.

I realize that this is an unpopular opinion and that I’m insignificant but I’ve always disagreed with the reflexive closing of old bumped threads or what we call zombies. Some rando SDMB candidate searches for something weird and bumps into an interesting thread. It may have been one I’d missed or an oldie that I’d forgotten about or maybe about a topic I’ve since learned a lot more about. Contribute? Nope. Closed: old. But OP can always start a new thread, haha, right? Naw, very few of these highly potential dopers come back and why would they after that frosty introduction? That additional data they might have had had is pretty much gone forever.

Even if this does not drive away newbies, I myself have bumped many a “zombie” thread, including years–decades!–after I first posted on the SDMB (at AOL). And I always find it tiresome and frustrating when people respond in a prickly manner or spam up the thread with tired zombie jokes. I think it would be great if we would just let old threads bubble up whenever anyone felt like bumping them, without reflexively acting like this is somehow a problem.

[road_lobo]

@OldGuy

To be honest, I’m not sure the US (where most of us are from) is as interested in fighting ignorance or having their own ignorance fought as it used to be.

Ignorance is bliss. The human race loves it.

[Musicat]

@Colibri

The vast majority of people who register for the board never make a single post. Of the rest, the median number of posts is probably 1, regardless of whether they bumped a zombie or not.

Nitpick: The mode (average) is probably 1, but the median (average) is undoubtedly higher.

[puzzlegal]

@SlackerInc

Even if this does not drive away newbies, I myself have bumped many a “zombie” thread, including years–decades!–after I first posted on the SDMB (at AOL). And I always find it tiresome and frustrating when people respond in a prickly manner or spam up the thread with tired zombie jokes. I think it would be great if we would just let old threads bubble up whenever anyone felt like bumping them, without reflexively acting like this is somehow a problem.

I’ve never bumped an old thread, but I have posted in an old thread that someone else bumped, and as a newby I found it extremely off-putting that people treated the thread and my post as some horrible thing, when I had found the thread interesting. And i was frustrated when the thread was closed, for no reason other than “it was started a long time ago”.

I also didn’t get the zombie jokes, as that’s not what old threads are called on other boards I post on.

The whole experience was quite unpleasant.