Has Fluther experienced Lurve inflation over time?

Yes. As the number of new members steadily grows, more Lurve will be distributed. As for whether older members are now more generous, I doubt it. We all have our own criteria on how it is issued, and if anything, I suspect that it would decline rather than increase over time.

Another factor is that most members focus on new questions and not those already posted. It is easy to never see these older posts unless one searches for a specific topic or they are referenced in a new post. When I happen to run across an older post, I’ll check to see if the person who posted the question or a great answer is still a member. If they are still around, I’ll click on the GQ or GA.

Observation bias. There are plenty of recent questions where great answers don’t get any lurve.

I think it makes no difference. The amount of lurve that older questions got isn’t always related to how many active member were answering such questions, fluther once got lots members that were migrated from AV or AB and most of the questions got lots of lurve.

I believe sometime some people feel generous and the other time they don’t lurve for various reasons (i.e. no time to read a post so they don’t lurve it, disagree, forgetful, etc).

You’ve such keen, yet beautiful eyes to notice such influx and dynamic in fluther.

I will use myself as an example that might support the notion that there is such a thing as lurve inflation.
I started poking around Fluther pushing 2 years ago.
I did not even understand what lurve was in the beginning, so I just started typing away.
Once I figured out what it was ( I still don’t know how it actually works) I got in the habit of giving a GQ if I answered it (here is yours), and giving a GA if somebody answered one of mine. I forget occasionally, but that is what I do now. And I have seen comments in threads that indicate that this is regarded as frivolous behaviour and not really what Fluther is all about.
But what to people expect?
When I went to school, even the dumb kids were given good grades and the losers in sports got a trophy. I am a product of my upbringing!

Josie gets lurve for that answer just because he’s Josie.

It seems to depend on how popular the question is/was, how many people noticed it or took the time to answer it, and so on.

I sift through questions, and GQ those I read. I skim down the posts, and GA as I go along. Is that so hard?

I do understand why those on itty bitty phones can’t do it so effortlessly – but those on PC’s and laptops… come on, lurve a little.

I would think it has something to do with the evolution of Fluther from a strict Q&A site to a social destination. With the creation of the Mansions and recognition threads for users who achieve lurve milestones, people start realizing that acknowledgement feels good and are more likely to help others get the good feelings too.

I’m not that old but I visit three types of questions.
There’s that one where everyone lurves the above answers just so anyone can have at least a +1 GA for the reply[most are games].
Then there’s the one where people ask for particular advices/help with some problems and again most replies [around 70%] get great answers BUT the best one get more lurve.
Then there’s the one where people debate a bit over the subject and you rarelly see a great answer [unless people who know a person just GA those replies].

In the beginning, lurve didn’t equate to awards. Some of the earliest threads had little lurve until they were associated with certain awards.

In the very beginning, I don’t think lurve even existed. Then, of course, awards came along. But, the main reason there is more lurve around these days is that we have far more members, now. We used to be an itty-bitty site, and somewhere along the way we got to the point where we had more than 1 million unique visitors a month! Definitely makes a difference. Lurve makes the Fluther go ‘round. :)

I’d love to see Fluther “rotate” some of the older questions every once in a while. They could mix them in with the newer questions but maybe with a tag that says, “Classic”.
Just a thought.

@AstroChuck Isn’t that what the “related” panel does?

@Blueroses- I don’t see that on the mobile site. I access Fluther almost exclusively on my iPhone.

@AstroChuck Oh. Yeah, that is one of the features stripped off on the mobile version.

There are too many people on this site with far too much lurve. No one deserves that much.
I say the next person to hit 30,000 should have the shit beaten out of him.

I don’t know, but I gave you a GQ for asking.

@dappled_leaves I gave you a GA without reading it.

@filmfann Prepare for a pummeling.

@AstroChuck I like that idea. It would be fun to see some of the classics pop up now and again.

I think Hypocrisy Central is already doing that by asking them as if they were new questions.

@augustlan- Great! Then I’m putting you in charge. Let’s get on it!

I’m an oldie and I have noticed from browsing ancient questions that I have, indeed, become more generous with lurve as the years go by. It wasn’t really ever a conscious thing, I just started giving it out more over time.

One of my favorite things to do when bored is to view random Fluther questions, courtesy of @johnpowell. People always go ‘well, why would we need a random Fluther question option?’

The answer to that is that it is often informative, there are many very interesting discussions I have either missed or entirely forgotten about, I get to reminisce about much-loved jellies that are now long gone, and occasionally, I stumble upon a gem that is freaking hilarious and should totally be of frizzer fame.