What would happen if the Fluther userbase increased dramatically?

It already has twice, I think. Basically, it is like stirring up a muddy pond. Lots of religious folks think “Oooh! This would be a great place to proselytize!” and that gets all the atheists riled up. Someone or someones ask every sex question they can think of. Some teenage girl asks a million questions about boys. Stupid people get hammered for bad grammar or spelling or for txtspk. Lifers threaten to leave due to the atrocious “signal to noise ratio.” Someone complains about their points not going up. People get in cahoots to boost their scores. Questions that have been asked a few times already get asked again (e.g. Why is the sky blue?). Someone’s feelings get hurt because they’re new and they take everything personally. That usually produces a someone who has to denigrate the site and everyone associated with it and walk off in a huff. Sometimes they come back. Someone gets banned. Someone tries to spam. Also, someone emerges as a star and gets the spotlight for a good while.

Despite all this, an influx of noobs does produce good questions that haven’t been asked before, but the ratio is something like 1 out of 100.

It’s already happened, and changed Fluther drastically. I see Kev has explained how above.

I always kinda wonder how a more popular Fluther would work in terms of a huge increase in questions, that aren’t necessarily getting answered but moved off the front page more rapidly? But then, I guess ‘Questions for you’ would help handle this…

I start to use more profanity. And what kevbo said.

Edit :: And how do I get the SDK on my iPhone?

@jp, I’ve noticed your use of profanity is like changing gas prices—up at the first sign of bad news but then it takes weeks to get back down.

just giving you shit, by the way

That depends, if all the new people would use illiterate acronyms and have a complete disregard for correct grammar, it might not be too healthy for this site. On the other hand, more brains would mean a bigger collective.

I suspect there will always be surges of newcomers whenever there’s something to attract additional attention to the site. Such as the iPhone version being released and features in the New York Times.
I came across these two blog entries that actually explain much of it (and say pretty much the same as Kevbo said):
http://blog.fluther.com/blog/2008/03/10/how-can-we-make-fluther-better-as-we-grow/
http://blog.fluther.com/blog/2008/03/27/updated-user-guideline/

I signed up when I got my iPhone and this was one of the first Web Apps I tried (and by far my favorite to date). I’ve since started using the full version from my MBP too – it’s just easier if you need to include links, etc.

i wonder if i’m part of the solution or part of the problem

I think you have been a great addition to the team iwamoto. A bit of a pervert, but who isn’t?

I’ve wondered about that too, iwamoto (about me, not you), but I figure until someone taps me on the shoulder and tells me to go, I’m not moving!

oh, and I agree with johnpowell about you :)

well, i mean, this much lurve in a month must be a good thing, but sometimes i do wonder, i mean, am i too cynical sometimes? i just want this place to keep running for its true purpose

Once the new social features drop (we just got wireframes on them, and they’re PERTY!) we’ll be able to handle many more diverse sub-communities as we get the big growth spurts.

Or, it could be a complete and total disaster. But I’m betting that we get it pretty darn near right.

well, please don’t overdo it, i mean, right now fluther is working pretty good, just like a roland drum computer, no extremely exotic stuff, it just works and it’s succesfull, but then again, if it doesn’t work we’ll tell you and you’ll change it, haha

I’d love the ability to add friends, and keep track of their lurve as well. Now…what would be freaking amazing would be if my activity updated just like people posting to a question while I am does. So I don’t have to refresh to see if I have new activity.

I’m more curious about the corporate future of Fluther if the user base increased dramatically. Meaning, at what point will Yahoo and Google or whatever big player come a knocking? Assuming they haven’t already. Please don’t make us play nice with those Yahoo’s!