From a different view, and feel free to point me out if I'm wrong, as I'm sure you know more about this than me, but I feel if anything, the UI of Hubski is somewhat designed to deter it from becoming 100,000 strong. As in, only those absolutely serious in looking for a place of intellectual discussion will take the time to learn what in essence is a smart design. Arguably the bloating that ruined Reddit, the hundreds of thousands that came for a "quick laugh" at all the "meme pics" aren't going to go through the text and encouragement of discussion Hubski has. That's what makes Hubski beautiful, at least in my opinion.
It's not a point lost on me. One could look at the Wall Street Journal [print] and make very viable criticisms about its UI. The WSJ could be much more 'user-friendly'. However, the WSJ's design is intrinsic to the service it provides. (Actually, I think the WSJ has slipped a bit here.) But the point is, Hubski needn't be user-friendly to Middle School students in order to be successful. IMHO the possibilities of aggregation have are even greater when geared towards a more intellectual audience. I've said it elsewhere, but People Magazine is not an argument for why the New Yorker should be more like People Magazine. The analogy isn't perfect, but we do have a compass for this journey we are on.
You know, I don't think that Hubski inclusiveness is an issue. I don't think that it comes off as snobbish or esoteric. The potential for memes and quick laughs are there, it's just that people have other websites for that. I think though, that what could really make Hubski unique (and partly what makes it dear to me now) is concentrating on the comments. I look at Hubski as kind of a localised, interactive TED talk. And you know what? I love that. I love looking at articles, and then being genuinely interested in everyone on this website's take on it. I think that, tag-centric vs. user-centric concerns aside, the mods and users should really focus on making this place about the comments. It's probably easy to overlook the potential of this-- I think that, because so many Hubski users come from Reddit (myself included), there is an emphasis on high-quality content. We tend to focus on the links, maybe because Reddit is focused on the links, or because it's easy to compare Hubski to other aggregate sites. But I think that Hubski's power is in conversation-- our take on things. For every link we click, in the comments, I look forward to a wealth of information. The mods could really capitalize on this. Maybe come up with some etiquette-- links, links everywhere backing up your claims. Loose word count standards, as a courtesy. Widespread academic articles which give us perspective on the latest Slate or CNN article. I said this in my last post: examples of 1st tier comments in each profile, rather than links posted. A user-centric, intellectual, comment-oriented, inclusive environment. I'm with the OP, too. It's evident that they put a lot of work into this place, and care deeply about the community.
Good observation gordonz88. People do have to invest time in order to figure out some of the workings of Hubski. We are aware of this and for the reasons you mentioned, we don't necessarily find it problematic. This is not to say that many things could be improved upon... they can. But, you can't really come to Hubski for a quick fix unless you know how it works. This has served us well thus far. If you're interested enough to figure out how it functions, chances are you will have something interesting to contribute.
Exactly! It's a perfectly designed niche. It'll turn some people off, but those aren't the people this site was designed for anyways! And as such, I've already found and shared lots and lots of memorable thoughts, ideas, videos, pictures, knowledge, articles, philosophy, technology, and the list goes on and on. I'm really cynical, so deep down I want things to stay this way, but I understand change is inevitable. I'm definitely cherishing what Hubski currently is though.
You know, Hubski has changed a lot since its inception but at the same time it's really quite similar still. Sometime we will have to make an evolution of Hubski post. I know we have some old screenshots.
reddit's UI in 2006 wasn't much better (interestingly enough, note the lack of a comments page). As responsive as mk and the gang are to the needs and growth of this website, I would be very surprised if the UI didn't get a major overhaul within the next couple of years, or at the very least a series of substantial changes that will redesign the website gradually over time.
Yes, I'm aware, and super important to note with your comment, Reddit's community in 2006 was also much different. It was very comparable to Hubski now. A site aggregator, that aggregated community and tech and philosophy. What happened? (rhetorical question)
Oh, believe me, I know. I still frequent Reddit just to remain a part of small true niche subreddits. You know, the ones where it isn't over 50% imgur links. Where discussion is still very real. Where the comments aren't reaction GIFs. I'm even a prominent figure in some, haha.
It's working well for Hubski, but I see how it makes sense for Reddit. Hubski has users share ideas and philosphies, and write poems and short stories. Reddit was also very intellectual (keyword: 'was') but it was centered originally more around technology and, and it's main purpose was aggregating. Of course, that has very little in itself to do with the decline. It simply enabled the decline. Hear me out here, as comments were added it opened the site up to a wider audience. And as it bloated, it became a dying star of huge numbers, and huge impurities. At this point, a majority of Reddit doesn't know** the history of Reddit, hell I bet they wouldn't react if I said "Alexis Ohanian" "Steve Huffman" or "Aaron Swartz". In fact, I don't need to bet. I know this. In my school, to most students, Reddit is "that site with the memes". It's no longer that site where people support each other to grow intellectually, and there's no longer a sense of community. It's too big for community, and there's a quote I read on Reddit a year or two ago: "The IQ of the group is the lowest IQ of a member of the group divided by the number of people in the group."** and Reddit is a prime example.
That only serves to illustrate one of the fundamental differences between reddit and hubski - hubski was created with an emphasis on users and comments, reddit was created with an emphasis on submissions and topics. I don't think success will be the same curse for hubski as it was for reddit.