Ideas for ILX

I agree with table that having new users would be good, esp. friends of his.

cosign

we could actually have fun and nerdy discussions on the anarchism and activism threads ...

display names are for n00bs.

I agree with table that having new users would be good, esp. friends of his.

Oh, yeah, if there's one thing ILX definitely needs it's a flood of hair-trigger leftier-than-thou types.

When we could just have more pleasant people like you ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

I think the "here it is, figure it out" lol on-boarding process served us OK for a long time because it acted as a decent if exclusionary filter: if you were familiar enough with the forum/lists world of yore to figure the place out you were likely to be able to participate on its own terms and not just moan about avatars not working.

That world is far enough in the past now that it's too high a bar for a lot of potential posters, especially 20-somethings, to cross. Worse still if you're on mobile. We got an entertaining reason-for-registering from a new poster recently, which was "i like signing up to dead sites". And you can see how they get that impression, since the landing page is the Board list rather than SNA, and the aesthetic is hella win 3.1. The people most likely to be familiar enough to cross the bar now are redditors, and they already have reddit. Or, christ, channers.

I've been meaning to do something of a first-time-user tour/page/help thing for a while; I'll bump that up the list. Pinning threads is also on the list, and that would allow us to pin welcome-type threads for boards too.

"i like signing up to dead sites"

https://i.imgur.com/SFQtyFg.gif

the landing page is the Board list rather than SNA

I know some regular users don't like Site New Answers, but I'd suggest making that the landing page instead of the boards page. SNA shows what's going on here at any given moment, while most of the links on the boards page are cryptic and inactive.

Yes, I agree

I agree with table that having new users would be good, esp. friends of his.

Oh, yeah, if there's one thing ILX definitely needs it's a flood of hair-trigger leftier-than-thou types.

― but also fuck you (unperson), Thursday, February 25, 2021 5:53 AM (fifty-four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Tbh, most of my friends would probably be more interest in ILM than anything else. I made the stupid decision of posting on ILE many years ago, and have regretted not confining myself to ILM ever since.

Also, is there a reason you seem to single me out in these little tantrums of yours? It's getting a little old, and I thought we were being cordial to each other.

i don't consider table 'leftier than thou' either. I know we've had a disagreement or too but I enjoy tabes posts

*tables

people call me tabes, it's cool Neanderthal!!

:)

I thought we were being cordial to each other

Oh, we are. It's just that politically speaking, I file you alongside map, Left, and milo, as folks whose perspective is a) frequently counterproductive and b) way over-represented on ILX already. So, more of that? No thanks. (N.B. I'm not saying we need Republican posters — we absolutely don't. But the assholish infighting of the politics threads is already beyond tiresome.)

Addressing the main question, I don't know what could be done to make ILX friendlier to a new person. Every time I stare at the front page of Reddit I find it completely baffling that anyone could work up the nerve to make their first post. It would be like spitting in the ocean. I imagine to us this place feels like a shelter, while to others it looks like a seamless concrete wall. Perhaps if there was some sort of referral system, where a longtime denizen could say, "Hey, this new person is coming in - I vouch for them based on X, Y and Z." Not that they could be voted in or out, but just so they wouldn't arrive and immediately be accused of being a sock...

i like the SNA-as-landing-page idea. it's small, and something i never think about, but it makes total sense that it might draw in at least a couple people a year, who might otherwise have skimmed across the surface of the Boards page and left.

but if SNA is the front page then there's probably other stuff about that "front-page experience" that sorta hides how the site works and the ways to dig in. like if you're at SNA, do you have any idea that "ILE" and "ILM" mean anything? this might start to get visually messy, but maybe they should be spelled out... and next to those two links, in the same dark blue color, could be non-link text reading Main sub-boards: ? just throwing things out there.

Yeah, I guess even a small change like an updated FAQ on the landing page, which could be changed to the SNA page, would be helpful.

Really, my aim is pure here— as frustrated and frustrating as I can sometimes be on here, this place continues to mean a lot to me, and I genuinely like and want the best for a majority of you. Having some younger and perhaps like-minded (at least generally speaking) people would only be a plus, imho.

That world is far enough in the past now that it's too high a bar for a lot of potential posters, especially 20-somethings, to cross.

Yeah, I think this is it. It's like saying "oh, just join in, it's obvious" about a MUD or something. I do think ilx is pretty user-friendly and simple, but it's big and imposing to start with.

It's good to hear actual accounts of people who have dabbled in ilx and given up, because we could guess all day at what makes people stay or leave and not ever really know if we were being accurate.

Starting at SNA rather than Boards would still be imposing, but I think it would be more likely to encourage participation, as it shows the life and variety of what we're chatting about (unless we have a day like "every Daft Punk thread is bumped", and then people will just think we're a Daft Punk fanboard, ha).

I think when I first found my way to ILX, it was SNA that I found, rather than the boards page. It actually took me a while to work out that there were other boards besides ILX and ILM. That may have something to do with why I found this place pretty accessible.

essential info for newcomers, imo:

- there are about 100 of us now (??), there used to be more, ilx came from B&S, then lester bangs posted here for a while in the early 2000s, now we are a bunch of people who have heard of lester bangs, we are posters here, welcome, we like to post

another idea is we could start trading cryptocurrencies on here

Stock tips or gtfo

(and thanks, plains, for the new dn)

same to stet, h/t

Waiting for Ned or Andrew to show up here, announcing usernames are for n00bs.

fwiw, i eventually mention ILX to all my friends and send them a link to check it out. I don't think anyone has ever joined.
Friends, if you're lurking, speak up!

offer signing bonuses: one FP removed for every good poster you refer

I don't want to mention ilx to my friends because this is where I complain about them.

^^

I'm on another messageboard where no one knows me IRL, even in the IRL way sic or gr8080 "knows" me.

I dig the anonymity of it, but it's as fun as it is over here.

it's NOT as fun.

That world is far enough in the past now that it's too high a bar for a lot of potential posters, especially 20-somethings, to cross. Worse still if you're on mobile.

I don't have an iOS device, does Zing let you sign up for the site? If so I could add that to Flagging.

It doesn’t, I have long meant to though

now we are a bunch of people who have heard of lester bangs, we are posters here, welcome, we like to post

― Zach_TBD (Karl Malone), Thursday, February 25, 2021 9:19 AM (one hour ago)

tbh I don't know if I've heard of lester bangs but I definitely like to post

hell yeah you're a poster, this has never been in doubt

Oh, we are. It's just that politically speaking, I file you alongside map, Left, and milo, as folks whose perspective is a) frequently counterproductive and b) way over-represented on ILX already.

wait what??? over-represented? ... This is seriously wtf.

this is like arguing the Democratic Party is full of socialists ...

US ilx is very liberal, the left-wing posters are a minority. they just stand out more because people keep arguing with them about the same old shit

This thread rn:
https://images.csmonitor.com/csm/2017/12/1052820_1_1218-Amtrak-derailed-Interstate-5_standard.jpg?alias=standard_900x600

#onethread

the left-wing posters that make the effort to participate in the arguments are a minority, and don't constitute all ilxors who share those beliefs -- for me, personally, there are arguments I will engage in on subjects where I feel like my positions would actually be listened to or the argument would be productive. Honestly, the things I will argue about politically are topics where I have more technical knowledge and nerdy info and it's more about pragmatics of policy. ... Everything else though -- it's like, why bother?

I just think if your problem is that ilx is too left wing (wtf), then you can go literally everywhere else on the internet.

gyac otm

the super left-wing posters (which tbh aren't that much further left than me, but do way more in terms of activism) aren't all over ILX, they just happen to post in the politics thread because huh, weird, they're into politics for some reason.

not like we see our average Shitting on the Beatles thread morphing into discussion about Zapatista uprising

^the kind of anti-zapatista psychedelic music revolution talk that has led the movement to the impasse we're in today

the super left-wing posters (which tbh aren't that much further left than me, but do way more in terms of activism) aren't all over ILX, they just happen to post in the politics thread because huh, weird, they're into politics for some reason.

what exactly are you saying here? ... I can read this a variety of ways, and I don't want to make assumptions that piss me off.

I read it as saying that obviously people who are engaged with politics will be vocal on politics threads. And that those conversations/arguments don't tend to spill over into other threads, so what's the big deal?

i'm just saying Phil notices the "far left-wing posters" he dislikes more because he's in the politics thread, where of course they'd all be gathered, so he could easily avoid that and other similar threads if it bothers him so much.

xpost lol emil.y yeah that's what i meant, but you said it more eloquently

I definitely don't see ILX as super left-wing either. It is liberal and leftish. I'd love to see more people who are actually involved in activism here, at least partly because I've withdrawn so much from trying these days, I just cry and complain, and I'd love to be able to talk to people who have ideas about paths forward rather than despair.

honestly that's what i like about those threads, because at least when I was holed up in the house, many gave me great suggestions for organizations to focus my donations on, ones they could vouch for from experience

okay -- that's kinda what I was hoping you meant. For me, I am engaged with politics, but mostly at a local level and about specific things, such that it would be like arguing about the merits of esoteric art-punk bands that only one or two people have even heard of, let alone listen to. ... I have opinions about national and international politics, some of which I feel like discussing on ilx are worthwhile, and others it's like, not worth engaging because of the dominant type of discussion and opinions. ... It's like voting for songs you know will never place in the poll results.