It's a small, user-centric community. This sort of response is typical of small, user-centric communities. I've been part of a film-related one for ten years now. People wander away and then wander back with a 'here's what I've been up to!' and everyone says "yay!" Unless they don't remember you. Then it's embarrassing. As far as I'm concerned, it's the key advantage of small communities: individuals matter. I've got, at last count, 38 posts to /r/bestof that call me out by name (which doesn't include the stuff that's been deleted) and a trophy case that says "load more trophies" but if you hear my name mentioned on Reddit, it's using the same tone of voice you would use to discuss The Great Old Ones. I mean, I moderate 3.6 million people. "Hey, bob is back!" is pretty meaningless when you're talking about a community the size of Chicago.
Would you have said the same thing about it years ago when you were more active? I think it's less that the site has grown and more that your level of activity has not kept up with it. > I mean, I moderate 3.6 million people. Weird to think about, isn't it? I'm at, like, 9 million total, I think.
There's a causality there you're missing. You presume that I got less active and Reddit shifted; I got less active BECAUSE Reddit shifted. I, and others, fought it tooth and claw. True this, Republic of that. And yes - I know the "power users" today. They have high karma. They moderate nothing. They are the kings of pun threads, and the average exchange in /r/Centuryclub belongs in /r/cringe as a screengrab. The people that made Reddit interesting were driven away by the people that make Reddit inane, because inane content is rewarded at a much higher rate than interesting content. What used to make a "power user" was somebody who found interesting content first. What makes a "power user" now is someone who can craft the perfect reposted Imgur album for /r/risingthreads.
Unless they don't remember you. Then it's embarrassing. I've seen this happen a hundred times on various small fora -- the response is either ten other absent community members come out of the woodwork to welcome the user back and exchange catch-me-ups ... or no one comments at all. Both are sort of stupid in my jaded, 'hard to make true friendships on the internet' view.I've been part of a film-related one for ten years now. People wander away and then wander back with a 'here's what I've been up to!' and everyone says "yay!"
Yeah, as far as I'm concerned fuffle set the precedence for a return announcement. I've never really experienced this in an online setting before, but it's certainly happened a lot in real life as friends leave and return to various scenes for various reasons. I see it as another instance of the blurring between IRL and online.