Has there ever been a merger between two larger online communities?

Hey Matt! :D
Apparently many from Askville came here some time ago and they say it was successful. :)

There was a mass banning and suspension issue on Askville a long time ago, the majority stayed here and many are still active, and highly respected members. If you search for Askville you’ll get a feel for what happened then. :)

No, I can’t stand the fact that I have to wait 4 hours to ask 3 questions. I am about ready to quit this silly website. That is the most ridiculous thing that I have ever seen in my whole life.

@Kevisaurus I thought the wis.bot was the silliest thing you’ve ever seen….

@Kevisaurus: If you’ll notice, the limit does serve some important functions, it prevents spamming, and encourages users to really think about their questions before posting which inevitably leads to stronger more detailed questions and this, higher quality overall.

I stand corrected Jellyfish. You’re the silliest!

Wait, I can’t get to see how you put comments in order next to each other.

@Kevisaurus Hey, i may be in that land of jellies now, but i’m still a jellybean! ;)

@Kevisaurus What do you mean “putting comments in order”?

@Kevisaurus: Yeah, what do you mean?

@JellyB – Great to be reunited over here!

@asmonet : Thanks for the example. How many ex-Askville users are active on Fluther? And if you know this as well, how many active (not total) Fluther users are there at the moment.

@mattbrowne Well let’s see how it goes!! :D

@Kevisaurus – Does the number of questions per 4 hours increase over time? It would make sense to me. If a user has proven not to be a spammer the limit should change. Maybe asmonet knows the answer. Please stick around for a while. It would be a shame if you quit this early.

The “order comment” feature was a performance killer on wis.dm – Fluther seems to handle load pretty well.

I do not know the statistics on members from AV that are still active but I know that there are many.

Last I heard, there were over 10,000 members on Fluther total (if I’m remembering that right) but that was almost a year ago and their numbers increase exponentially I’ve found. I don’t know about now. And I don’t have access to the kind of data that would let me answer your question definitively. And in my vicodin-y state, I don’t think I could even guess accurately.

The question limit does not change over time, and I for one would be opposed to it, if it was based on time, someone who made an account, left, then came back a year later could be a spammer in seconds flat. You don’t yet know the intricacies of lurve (I suggest you search that topic, there are many questions about it and ALL have been asked already), but I think it would increase lurve gaming if it were based on that. Better to have a fixed standard that all know and isn’t too confusing.

Now, I’m off to bed! My teef hurt. :’(

It’s no big deal to adjust the algorithm to avoid the case you described. You got 10651 points right now, so why not allow say, 6 questions in 4 hours instead of 3. I can foretell that many trusted wis.dm user will take issue (not only Kevin, who is a great guy and I can vouch for him) with the 3 question limit. For me it’s no problem, because I don’t ask that many in a short period of time. I think 10 questions per day at most is okay, but others will see this differently.

When you see Fluther in the busy hours, and with the influx of new users, 10 would be debilitating to the site and users. Really.

Three pushes it on some day when everyone is being super active. Ben and Andrew know about this, and they have stated that they want to depend on My Fluther being the alternative route if questions become too frequent to anyone’s taste, but eh, I dunno. I like it the way it is.

As you said I have 10K+ lurve, I clearly like it how it is and put a great amount of faith and trust behind the wonderful owners. :)

Okay, maintaining good performance is an important issue of course (besides keeping trolls and spammers away). I prefer fast servers over having more questions. Still, having two groups of users could make sense (it might also serve as an incentive). For example new users 2 questions per time span. Trusted advanced users 4 questions per time span. Just an idea. I’m too new around here to really push something like that. It would just be a shame if half of the ex-wis.dm users leave because they don’t like a strict limit feature.

I think there are at least thirty or forty former Askvillians active here. Some came and loved it right away. Others didn’t really like it, and went back to Askville. Later on, Askville got so totally high school, that a lot of the more mature and secure Askvillers came here.

The issue of moderation is crucial. On Askville, they only cared about traffic, and hits, and so they just brought in as many people as they could get, and paid no attention to the social aspect of things. The did not moderate personal attacks, nor did they actively encourage community-building behavior.

The moderation is a tricky issue. The moderators all say they are doing their best to be fair, and to interpret the founders’ instructions. THey make mistakes. They are, at the moment, undergoing an order to become more strict. A number of new sins have been ordained. You have come just as this new system is being implemented.

I just got back from a major snit about the moderation. I think they are way too strict about open-ended questions. I like to deliberately open things up sometimes, because I’m fishing. I want to see how people react. They don’t like this. I am urging them to reconsider their point of view.

As to the actual question here (see, I always include at least a wave at the question, when I am diverging wildly, because it keeps the moderators at bay), I have no idea if there has ever been a larger merger of communities.

Were you guys invited here, or did you find us, and decide, en masse, to join?

Oh, and who do you think are your stars? Gosh, I hate to ask that, because it sets up a hierarchy, which is bad, but I’m just curious as to who maybe all of you would acknowledge are wiser, more interesting people?

@daloon – “Were you guys invited here, or did you find us, and decide, en masse, to join?”

That’s a very good question and although I’m a veteran wis.dm-er myself I don’t know. All of a sudden a lot of wis.dm questions about Fluther popped up and people started talking about Fluther (including myself) and this seem to reinforce the “exodus”. Maybe someone can tell us how it all got started on wis.dm – The site is still up and running so there’s plenty of overlap.

@mattbrowne Joe is the first person i wis.dm i saw suggest this site. I think he stumbled upon it or something, i’m not sure.

@JellyB – Oh, well, maybe eventually someone will give Joe a medal ;-)

@mattbrowne :D Yes! :)

@daloon: “I like to deliberately open things up sometimes, because I’m fishing”
I echo this and will be thinking more carefully how to cast my own nets for perspectives and insights.