What's happening to all of the new members?

Sometimes they are spammers in waiting. It’s normal.

Often people join to spam or to ask one question and they don’t stick around. That’s been fairly consistent for some time.

We’ve gotten a couple of new ones who have stayed in the last few months.

I keep telling you guys – MORE NUDES!!

Those sluts at 4chan are killing us.

@JLoon LOL Uh yeah right. I have a soon to be three year old in the house. Can’t see Ol’ Paw Paw looking at naughty poo poo pictures. On line or anywhere else. The child’s day will come. ; )

@Nomore_lockout – Dude! You gotta think Meta!

Either we bring in new members or the universe dies.

Well, I hardly think the fate of Cosmos hinges on me oggling a nude women online..lol

Sluts?

BRING EM ON. Wake the place up!

The shame! The Officers of the Inquisition are on their way! ; )

Yes, we must anticipate our mods and the eternal quest that no nit go unpicked!

I’m always nude when on Fluther. Prove me wrong.

LOL @stanleybmanly Almost made me choke on my Fritos I laughed so hard at that one : )

Maybe they get fed up with the mod’s quest for perfection?

@SQUEEKY2 The mods (plural) are maintaining the site with the standards that the founders set for it. I, for one, appreciate that even though I am modded at times.

When I saw this question, I couldn’t help but think of the discussion in the question I asked earlier where the small active user base and the slow traffic in Fluther came up.

For me, that discussion prompted questions such as: Do most in the collective really want Fluther to have more traffic and embrace new members? Do they want city traffic or small-town traffic? Do they want the same few people that they know to answer all the questions, or do they want to embrace new members and bring diverse opinions for growth?
It seems that some people have developed extreme ownership for the place (which is of course necessary to build a sense of community but taken to another level it can backfire) and don’t mind if their attitude scares or runs newcomers away. How can new/returning members stick around if they are met with certain attitudes?

In order for new member to stick around, you have to foster an environment where new opinions are welcomed. Bring fresh views, enlarge the community, let the group grow in an organic way!

It’s like in real life, if you don’t make your guests welcome, they are not going to want to hang around. These communities are a micro of society at large.

Well if we start threatening people over comments they post on Q and A sites, then this society is irretrievably down the tubes anyway. Rediculous.