Would becoming really popular take away from the fluther experience?

Totally. I usually just watch more than contribute, but I can easily see that there’s a level of familiarity between members. That is simply not the case with those social news sites or bigger forums.

I do see what you mean. Already, if someone throws a juicy question out there, unless you’re right there to pounce on it your answer falls so far down the page that only the most dogged readers will ever lay eyes on it. Increasing the number of users would definitely aggravate that problem. I’m much less motivated to answer a Q that already has 20+ answers.

On the other hand, if you’re the asker of the question, having a bigger pool of answerers could only be a good thing; more perspectives, broader experiences.

But new users definitely keep the interest up. I haven’t been here that long, but I already have a pretty good feel for where a lot of these folks are coming from, what pushes their buttons, where they’re strong, where they’re weak, etc. That’s great, and so many of you feel like friends, but without new faces showing up occasionally it would begin to feel a bit inbred, for want of a better term. Having some dynamic new user show up makes it all seem fresh again.

When I was an Askville regular, the admins would occasionally launch big promotions of the site and we would be awash in clueless users for weeks at a time. It was very dispiriting. One recent episode of this was what spurred my move here. The key to growth, it seems to me, is having a way to effectively integrate new arrivals so they blend painlessly into the flow, and pacing the influx so that the sight doesn’t look like Ellis Island during the Potato Famine.

This is where we hope the “Your Fluther” will help… so that even as Fluther grows 10x, 100x, you’ll still have loosely connected groups based on personal connections, and you’ll always have questions filtered based on topic and knowledge.

This is our hope, anyway, and part of the reason we’re tweaking the Your Fluther features to make it work well.

Well that answers that then.

Cheers Andrew.

True, but I would get bogged down by “My Fluther” having 150 questions in it everytime I logged on, or possibly more.

I like having a personal connection with the people I have gotten to know here, so the Your Fluther section is a great new feature for me. But I don’t think I would be any less active here if my post was one among 100 in a thread. I like to exchange information, ideas, and humor with people whether they are close friends or perfect strangers, and Fluther is a great place for me to do just that!

Good ol Scamp read my mind. I like this “myfluther” feature.

I for one truly enjoy the “questions for you,” especially after returning from vacation. There is a lot of activity on this site to keep up with…

It’s not that I don’t like the myfluther, that’s just silly. I just like being able to be on top of it. Having an unending list of questions for me would make me feel like I wouldn’t get to see the same people all the time like I do now. It would be hit and miss.

Some kind of camrade update system would be needed, so that I could be like, I like that person, let me know when they answer a question so that I can learn useful things/have a rigorous debate.

Andrew, what is “your fluther”—is that the same as “just for you” or something different?

@la_chica_gomela: Just wait until next week, you’ll see! :)

ooh, a surprise!

@monsoon That’s just what the My Fluther feature is. It’s a way to keep track of the people who interest you. Like Andrew says.. just wait, you’ll see!

Okay okay, but I like the just for you feature still. People in my fluther aren’t the only people who ask questions I want to answer.

You still get the “questions for you”. that part hasn’t changed. You now have the added abiltiy to track some of your favorites….. like me, ha ha!! just kidding

It’s a milder form of stalking. I’m all for it.

yeah, I’m stalking you while you’re stalking me!!

I feel kinda stupid putting on camouflage everytime I log onto fluther though.
Ok I’ve just made it silly now

[online] communities definitely can loose a lot of their charm when they go from cozy nook to popular hangout. Not that they aren’t worth it, still, just that they’re not at all the same if they take off. But sometimes, the popularity can just be a fad, so the core members who stick through the influx of new members can regain that feeling again, at least as much as is possible.

I think it would. The Megatokyo community, for instance, shares populations with small European countries; getting involved there is really difficult.
But at the same time, you can’t just let the population wind down; that kills the social aspect as well, and brings you to the brink of the webmaster deciding to sell his site for a measly $600, and the new webmasters shutting the place down to remodel it into Twitter, only to find that somebody already made a Twitter and abandoning the project.
</bad grammar>