With the custom Reddit clients now all cut off, but the r/SpaceX subreddit still going strong, we might want to re-evaluate what the channel here on Lemmy means.
It started out as a temporary refuge while the subreddit went dark, but at least I myself am still interested in building a community here.
Feel free to discuss the below points individually in the comments (though I don’t expect high participation, any discussion is of course welcome).
Lemmy and/or Reddit
I think rather than positing this channel as the successor of r/reddit, we should just make it an independent SpaceX interest channel, since both will exist side by side.
Mods
It’s unlikely this place will need active moderation for quite some time, but it would still be useful to have mods for e.g. stickying threads, updating the sidebar
@[email protected] and @[email protected] haven’t been seen in a while. Are you still interested in modding? Do we want to add extra mods?
I’ll reach out to to threelonmusketeers on Reddit if we don’t get a reply here.
Starbase update threads
These will probably be the most interesting posts on here, but we don’t really have the manpower to keep the huge initial post with resources up to date. Having it as a plain copy/paste of the r/SpaceX one also feels a bit disingenuous since we don’t really “own” that content.
I’d suggest making the initial post simpler, cutting out most of the stuff (unless someone volunteers to make something similar, and keep it up to date), and just linking to the most recent r/SpaceX threads.
I’m not sure if there’s a way for multiple people to edit a post, but that could be useful for these long-lived threads.
Sub rules / guidelines
I don’t think we need anything here right now.
Automation
Given the sub has low activity right now, how do we feel about adding some automation of content? Examples I can think of:
- Auto-posting of road closures in the Starbase thread
- Auto-posting of some high-quality content, like CSI Starbase videos.
I could take a stab at implementing the road closure one, if there’s interest.
Anyway, let me know what you think, either about these specific points or the channel in general.
I know we don’t “own” the content but automating the starship thread (copy from reddit) would still be slick.
Automation of other things like CSI Star Base sounds great too.
I have cold-turkey’d reddit so I miss my news :)
I follow the Marcus House and every day astronaut YouTube channels. Perhaps having a collated list of the various YouTube personalities following starbase and starship updates would be a useful first step resource.
A long way off, but I dream of the day YT creators start posting to https://joinpeertube.org/ and we can follow their channels from where ever (because ActivityPub is Amazing).
I guess copying the whole Reddit post could work, but don’t really want to do so without their permission. I can see if I can contact the subreddit mods.
I’d say that’s a good call. Definitely don’t want to offend them for their hard work!
Yes I agree!
I think just being a Reddit carbon copy is not a good direction. That said making this place somewhere people want to come is important. Auto posts sound like a great start like the YouTube stuff. Maybe some from significant twitter accounts too?
Fellow Reddit refugee here not cold Turkey yet but getting that way.
Peace
I think you’re right that this conversation is a great idea, here are disjointed thoughts that may not be helpful:
- I’ve quit reddit permanently, and my only complaint is that there doesn’t seem to be an alternative to the Starship development thread.
- This community should exist!
- This community should have its own identity!
- If the reddit mods are onboard, I like the idea of cloning the development thread. But I don’t think it’s necessary.
- I like the auto-posting idea. One possible downside is that many posts will have no comments, but maybe that’s okay! I’ll probably use this space as a news & rumor feed.
- Agree that we don’t need strict rules or high-effort moderation right now
there doesn’t seem to be an alternative to the Starship development thread
Well, Starship Development Thread #46B seems to be the closest we have at the moment, and is intended to echo it. Two of us are posting the important updates there.
I should have clarified “no alternative besides that ‘copy’ thread”.
That thread has been awesome and I check it regularly. Thanks for posting!
I’ve essentially been cut off from reddit so I’m sticking around here for getting my SpaceX fix.
If it’s possible, the discussion threads could have updates to the OP regarding current events, closures, expected tests, etc. Outside of those, the posts from other users would be perfectly fine.
It is tricky. This isn’t Reddit and we don’t have the numbers but it would be good to have some of the same discussions.
Best to keep the posting rules a bit relaxed compared to the SpaceX sub. More like lounge. While news is appreciated I don’t know that a flood of bot posts is any substitute to some good launch threads and starship dev thread.
It is also a problem not having a place to discuss NASA, rocketlab, ula, Artemis, bo, ESA and other space launch news. My space multi was huge.
Yes I agree with the sentiment of not creating a slurry of automatic posts without any discussion. It’s why I wouldn’t create a thread for each launch. But maybe we can have a “launch party thread” which auto updates with a comment for each upcoming launch or so.
As for discussing other space-related stuff, I think it’s fine to discuss that here, or cross-promote other channels. In SpaceXLounge we had a ton of tangential threads which I always found interesting, like the Starliner saga.
I’m all for this becoming an active SpaceX community. I’ve never moderated before, but I can help if we get to a point where it’s needed.
A bit late to the discussion here, but I’m all for this sub continuing to exist.
I’m willing to help moderate when it becomes necessary.
I’m happy to see any content that gets cloned from /r/SpaceX and from /r/SpaceXLounge. Anything that saves having to visit Reddit is a plus for me.
Previously I would read /r/SpaceXLounge which has a lot of quality content, and from /r/SpaceX just the Starship Development Thread. Almost everything else on /r/SpaceX is just photos and F9 launch threads which tend to be pretty dull.
A mix of the lounge and the Starship development thread is what I’m hoping for.
Now that I can’t browse reddit offline on my phone, I’m gonna switch to browsing lemmy
I didn’t know browsing reddit offline is possible.
Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I’ve seen in this thread:
Fewer Letters More Letters CST (Boeing) Crew Space Transportation capsules ~ Central Standard Time (UTC-6) ESA European Space Agency Jargon Definition Starliner Boeing commercial crew capsule CST-100
2 acronyms in this thread; the most compressed thread commented on today has 7 acronyms.
[Thread #2 for this sub, first seen 2nd Jul 2023, 06:00] [FAQ] [Full list] [Contact] [Source code]
We need place like that, and automated bots will just harmful. They will create impression of activity with lots of dead threads. I would say create another lemmy channel for just a bots and keep this one for discussion. Anyone who want to discuss particular bot post will just crospost it here.
You know, I think there might be a somewhat relevant quote… somebody at SpaceX might have said it… “don’t put all your eggs in one basket”
Thanks for this post, and sorry for disappearing!
I took a break from Lemmy to enjoy the last few weeks of third-party Reddit apps (some of which will are taking longer than expected to be killed off). I wasn’t sure if there would be still be interest after the blackout ended, but I’m glad to see that there is!
Re: Lemmy and/or Reddit
rather than positing this channel as the successor of r/reddit, we should just make it an independent SpaceX interest channel, since both will exist side by side
Yeah, since both now exist simultaneously, “alternative” would probably be a better term than “successor”.
Re: Mods
Are you still interested in modding? Do we want to add extra mods?
Not sure if @agildehaus is still around, but I’m hoping to spend a bit more time on Lemmy and less time on Reddit going forwards. We could definitely use some help though. Any volunteers?
Re: Starbase update threads
I agree that making the initial post simpler is the way to go, as I definitely don’t need have the time to keep it updated with the same detail as the Reddit thread. What would be the most important info to include?
I’m not sure if there’s a way for multiple people to edit a post, but that could be useful for these long-lived threads.
The long-lived Reddit threads are all posted by ElongatedMuskrat, which seems to be a sort of shared moderation account. Does Lemmy have similar tools?
Re: Automation
I have no expertise in this area, but it sounds like it could be a good way to grow the community while we are still relatively small, provided that the bot generated content doesn’t drown out human discussion. @[email protected]’s efforts to sync SantacFan’s comments look good so far.
I believe the Reddit launch threads are autogenerated by the LL2 API, but I’m not sure of the details and would welcome any expertise in this area.
I would also welcome any general input on the future of this community.
Happy to volunteer
Thanks! I’ve added you and @[email protected] to the mod team.
I still go to Reddit from time to time for the more esoteric subs, but I’m not inclined to give Spez my clicks if I don’t have to.
