How many more users could we get if we sponsored a popular youtuber's channel?

Just kill me.

That’s not an answer.

I didn’t know we needed more users. Nor does Fluther have money to sponsor anything at this point or ever in the future.

@Math321: You cannot use “we” unless you are either a financial backer or one of the owners of the site.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir

1. Users.

While it’s not nessesary to have more users, it helps. More questions to answer and more people to give those answers.

2. Money.

I doubt it would take much, we could just ask a famous youtuber to sponsor us. Some may even do it for free. That’s a lot considering that most of these guys gets about a half million views per video. That’s awesome! And a few hundred will join at LEAST. And we could always ask less than famous people to sponsor us. That’ll get us something at least.

3. New users that troll.

With great publicity comes great risk. The new users may troll, putting extra strain on the mods. There’s one good thing about this however. Most of the “no-nonsense or else” rules are enforced by the users themselves. Sure, regular users can’t ban anyone, but they can tell the mods about it so the mods don’t have to search and destroy every noob, just verify and destroy. The regular users do the searching.

4. The servers.

Ben and Andrew, the founders, would probably like a few hundred more users if all it means they have to do is add a server or 3.

5. The Twitter problem.

I think any idea like this should be used as soon as possible so Ben and Andrew will have another reason to keep Fluther up despite Twitter hiring them. None of us want Fluther going down, so this plan, and others like it, will help keep Fluther up.

@gailcalled

Isn’t Fluther a family? I can use “we”.

Please don’t even consider it.

I don’t have any problems with an influx of new people, and I’d be happy to see it and welcome them all as I always do.

But think about sponsoring things for “literate” people as opposed to people who go to YouTube for relatively mindless entertainment.

@CyanoticWasp

Well, how about a internet forum sponsoring us? That would get more “interesting” people here who know random things about Life, the Universe, and Everything.

Perhaps you could expound on what you mean. Fluther already is an internet forum. It sounds kind of tautological to have another forum support this one.

Fluther isn’t EXACTLY an internet forum. Sure, it’s similar, but not the same thing.

And if the forum idea is a bad one, how about this:

We could tell a facebook group about this site. Something along the lines of “Random Information League” should do. Plus, since Fluther can connect to Facebook, it’ll be easier for the Facebookians to join while still keep tabs on their many sided social lives.

@Math321 Can some of these things potentially be done? Maybe. But really dude, why would it be a good idea?

@Likeradar Well, for one, more users = more questions and answers.
And, there are so many smart, mature people out there who don’t know about this site. It was lucky I even found this place. If this place runs on crowdsourced knowledge, then why don’t we get a bigger, smarter crowd? That means better answers, better questions, and a great reason to keep Fluther around during this Twitter thing.

@Math321 Many of those smart, mature people out there who would like this site are not on Youtube.

Which is why the convorsation drifted from youtube to forums to facebook.

Why a youtuber’s channel?! Why don’t we sponsor a NASCAR! I can totally picture Dr. J leading the pack on the roundy round!

@Math321 “a great reason to keep Fluther around during this Twitter thing.”

I didn’t know we needed a new reason.

@Math321: Fluther may be a family but we are still living at home, and daddy and daddy (they) are still paying the bills.

You get to change the roof from asbestos to tin only if you sign the check.

I’m a youtuber! lol, but seriously why do you think this would Help fluther? Didn’t know something was wrong with it.

also.. I agree with @SuperMouse!! ”....and there’s Dr. J out in front!” haha :D

I am going to attempt to say this as diplomatically as possible..

Frankly, 99% of the YouTube population would not be a good fit for Fluther. No way, man. Have you read the comments over there? It’s like a demon went in and swooped up all the IQ.

What type of users should we try to get?

@Math321: You’ve been here only two days; that makes you a helpless infant. Learn, grow, observe and take your place on the undersea totempole.

I was just trying to figure out how to get more users.

Not your job, grasshopper. ^^

Most of us here are more worried about maintaining the quality of the usership than about growing it overmuch.

I think @janbb hit the nail on the head.

In reference to quality control, I was thrilled yesterday to be modded.

I get the feeling that @Math321 isn’t quite a newby.

I don’t know what the deal is with new members. I can’t figure out if they are desirable or not. It seems like they should earn more income and create more high quality content, so it seems like it would be a good thing.

On the other hand, it also seems wise to me to grow gradually. We see these waves of new users every time fluther is mentioned in the press. My impression is that they tend to filter out after a while and few remain as regular users. Of course, this may just be because they are interested in different things than I am interested in. It’s something of a surprise to come upon someone I’ve never seen before and they already have 5000 lurve.

Only the mods can tell us what it’s like when there’s a flood of noobs. How much moderation do they require? How many stick around?

I think a bunch of Youtube folks would quickly be winnowed out. They wouldn’t like the moderation if they were not very serious people. I have no idea what proportion would stay. I suspect it would be fewer than from other migrations. Thus, a greater burden on mods. Dunno if it would be worth it because I don’t know what the business plan here is.

Okay, so YouTube was a bad idea. Still, getting someone Internet famous to tell people about us IS NOT. So, any ideas?

Can the servers even handle a flood of new users?

Haha! Only the wizards behind that curtain there would know that answer, @TheOnlyNeffie.

And we can’t ask them, thanks to Twitter hiring all of the Fluther developers.

I think that we would get alot.

One thing I’ve thought about in the past was some targeted advertising. Ads in top college newspapers might attract a good crowd. Of course, that takes money, so who knows?

Everyone could tell smart friends about Fluther. Sorry about shortness, stupid iPhone.

How about separating the wheat from the chaff and asking everyone who loves fluther and uses it regularly to kick in $25/year? 1000 folks would generate $25,000. an almost-living wage for tech support, software issues and periodic infusions of Dr. J charm.

@gailcalled I’m in.

I’d totally do it, but I don’t know if it’s really feasible.

@gailcalled I thought about the possibility of a “membership fee” or something comparable when the twitter discussion started. It was never mentioned, just something I thought about personally, but when I asked myself “would you pay to use Fluther?” of course I would.

Maybe there could be a free trial period then a membership option like some sites have.

Just make it by Paypal, and I’m good. I’m chopping up the credit cards tonight.

I wouldn’t subscribe. In fact, it would scare me away if I was a new user.

You are a new user.

You know what I mean.

I have an idea…

I don’t think Fred would sponser us.

Until some type of response on the state of Fluther is given we should avoid traffic. What happens if the load balancer dies? Who fixes it? It is a computer and they go down.

Agree with @Not_the_CIA – we probably are not looking for a large influx at this point until we know if there will be maintenance.

@noelleptc haha, so true.

Until we know what’s going to happen, only invite people you know are smart and somewhat mature, and only invite them if you can beat them up for not following rules. Other than that, go crazy!

@Math321: I guess that the New Year gives you license to become officially part of the “we.” Honor and respect that status.

SIR, YES SIR!

“Until we know what’s going to happen”? Do you think there will be a good time to invite stupid and immature people, @Math321?

Sorry, but we’re full up already.

I meant that we shouldn’t take many risks on whom we invite, @CyanoticWasp .

@Math321: Don’t be silly. I am a ma’am.

We don’t send out invitations.

I just wanted to try and get more users so the Founders would have a very good reason to keep Fluther around during Twitter, alright?

@Math321 I like your spirit! I am glad you found us.

While Fluther is doing fine and will continue to do so as our founders are lending their talents to cutting-edge work at Twitter I think it is awesome where your heart is.

As a mod I can perhaps calm your concerns by letting you know that we are continually welcoming in between 40–100+ new users each day. Activity is steady for the season and we are still steadily growing as always.

Our founders took great effort to ensure Fluther would remain intact and continue to operate smoothly entrusting it’s care to the amazing @Augustlan, mod staff and volunteer techs.

Fluther is far more than just a project to Ben and Andrew- it is, in essence, their “baby.”
:D If Fluther was expendable it would have been done, with a profit, during the Twitter acquisition.

@Everyone: Please give the asker a break here. It is not like he is trying to change the way Fluther operates to suit himself as some come in trying to do. He is just concerned and has not been here long enough to realize that, at this point nor in the immediate future, Fluther is not in need of an intervention.

I also want to add that I love @Augustlan’s suggestion of advertising to an educated audience. If we ever did see a need to expand I would love to do it in a way that targeted the brightest minds as they would best fit in with our community, including the jelly who asked this question. :D

Wait.

40 to 100?

Wow. Well, since most of these new users are doing OK in Fluther so far, if we could find out where most of them are coming from, we could figure out more about how to change the site so even more people come.

@Dog I think you deserve a promotion to a position under Auggie. Wait! That didn’t sound right. I meant – to Vice-Auggie. No – that didn’t sound right either. Oh well, you know what I bloody meant.

@janbb – She already is, in a way. We needed a person capable of IP bans for tenacious spammers when Auggie isn’t around, but that’s not a normal mod ability. So, she’s pretty much in that position already. Seemed natural for the person who splats the most spammers.

@MissAnthrope Thanks for the info. Whatever position she’s in, I lurve that Doggie and all you mods for your great work!

@Math321 you’re still sort of missing the point a bit. Fluther isn’t as good as it is “because it has so many”, it’s this good because “the members are so good”. If we get 2–3 literate members out of the 40–100 new users per day (and by literate I mean that they can read, they do read, they comprehend… and they write interesting things in complete sentences), then I’d be thrilled. We don’t need a lot of lurkers (welcome as they are), and we don’t need a lot more new users to ask “How can I tell if he likes me?” and “How soon after a first date should I call?” (although those questions will also receive responses).

@Math321 – I was going to post what @CyanoticWasp said. (high five, CW)

The concern here is not quantity, but quality. I personally do not want to see a huge influx of people who can’t type, spell, punctuate, or form intelligent sentences. I don’t want to see the site overtaken by questions that make me want to bang my head against the desk repeatedly. And, speaking of ‘repeatedly’, I also could go to my grave happy if I never saw another dream question ever again.

I find it interesting that you are so fixated on getting hordes of people to come here, especially if you are truly new. Honestly, I don’t really understand it. It seems like you have good intentions, but I would suggest hanging around and seeing how we do things before making huge site-altering suggestions. I know I want to keep user and site quality high and I’m certain most of us feel that way. I don’t get the impression that the majority wants or needs a huge influx of new users.

Besides, every time we have had a big influx here, it’s chaotic and unpleasant for the residents. It’s nice that, when the dust settles, we usually end up with a small contingent of marvelous new users that stick around, but it’s very tiring and frustrating to have to deal with all of that other crap that goes with the influx just to get a handful of people we want to stick around.

@Xena So – Whoo are you? Hoo ooh ooh hoo!

@Xena

And you would know that how? You have around half the lurve I do, and are only 5 days older!

Regardless of how much lurve or time a user has here we are all kindred-jellies. :)

When I first came here I spent hours in the archives and got an excellent picture of the Fluther community as well as the issues it has successfully overcome including migrations and growth. It is likely how @Xena and others have embraced jellyhood. Just saying.

I got the impression that @Xena was perhaps an old Jelly in a new guise. Could be wrong.

It bothers me when I hear people saying how smart they are or we are. This is especially the case when I think about advertising, but it also bothers me when we do it in private. I consider that kind of thing to be boasting, and my feeling about people who boast is that they are never as good as they think they are. It also feels somewhat smarmy and self-congratulatory. So it makes me cringe.

We are who we are, and it is up to each individual to decide whether they want to talk to us or not. This is not everybody’s cup of tea. I think we can advertise ourselves with the facts: we’re moderated; we insist on proper spelling and grammar; we like thought-provoking questions (which is going a little far for me); we like to offer significant advice or answer questions that are not so easy to answer; etc.

If we choose to market in educational venues; I think that’s fine. We could choose some key words and advertise on Google.

I guess what I’m saying is that like us, our advertising strategy should be low-key. We’re not for everyone. People should have to work to find us. Hmmm. Maybe we could have a campaign where people have solve a number of clues or do other things in order to find us.

Anyway, this site is its own best advertising, I think. It speaks for itself. Perhaps it does deserve the term “collective,” although this doesn’t exactly fit the term in my opinion. But it doesn’t matter what I think. It matters what new people see and experience when they get here.

Another thought… I wonder if there could be a new jelly “training course” of some kind to help people ease in more gradually, and to allow them to learn a bit about our culture before they jump into the ocean with all the rest of us jellies.

There’s probably more if anyone is interested. But I’ve rattled on too long, again, as is my wont.

@wundayatta Something we’ve been considering is an Ambassador program. Pairing a seasoned jelly with a new member to kind of show them the ropes and answer any “how to” questions they may have. It’s on hold at the moment, but I really hope to implement it in the future.

@Dog Great answers. I found the idea by @Math321 interesting and novel, and was curious to see how it developed through discussion. However, I’ve seen an awful lot of clique-ishness going on, attempting to dissuade @Math321 from putting forth ideas. I was getting pretty irritated at the general tone of the thread, but was impressed by @Math321 ‘s ability to persevere and stick to his/her idea. I like that you acted welcoming instead of taking a “take your place at the bottom, newbie.”

The only difference between a new user and folks that have been here for years is how recently they found the site. A new user could be a Harvard physicist, CEO of a Fortune 500 company, organic farmer, or a well-known jazz musician. How about ignoring the lurve score and treating the individual as an equal?