The goal of c/Quarks has always been to help foster a sense of community for StarTrek.website, but it is just a generic “offtopic” community and does not really have an identity of it’s own on the Fediverse.
Thanks to the new feature in Lemmy 19.4, we can create true “local only” communities. And Quark’s can be what it was originally intended to be, a place for our users. This will allow us to better discuss what kind of experience users of this instance wish to have (not just provide) without all the dorks on less cool instances coming here and ruining our weather control network.
EDIT: to those of you concerned about missing out on “trek-adjacent discussion” @ValueSubtracted@startrek.website has indicated they plan on loosening the “on topic” rule of /c/StarTrek to include more of that.
EDIT2: If anyone is interested in growing and operating a community on our instance, please feel free to reach out or comment here!
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@ptz@dubvee.org Tagging you here because you’re basically the only other person who contributes to this community.
I’ve always kind of (naively?) viewed it at face value: a place for everyone to discuss sci-fi and other things that aren’t directly Star Trek with an audience that’s largely composed of fellow Trekkies. But I do realize it’s also your “meta” community where you answer instance-specific questions, post announcements, etc. It makes total sense for those to be local-only (and once I update my instance, I’ll probably be doing the same for my meta community).
We’ll probably relax the rules on c/startrek a bit to allow a degree of Trek-adjacent content that we might have previously punted to Quark’s.
While I like the idea of a dedicated and federated Trek-adjacent community, I realize there’s moderation and other overheads to deal with if you were to spin up a new community for that purpose (if you even wanted to, that is). As Value Subtracted said in the quote above, relaxing the rules of /c/startrek to cover things that would currently go to /c/quarks would address that.
So, I’m sad to see it go (from my federated perspective), but I completely understand the motivation for doing so and support it.
Or, as the Borg would say:
That’s a total bummer but I’m not moving my whole identity for one single community. If everyone did this, Fedi would be an ever lonelier place.
Bye 👋
I’m legitimately curious: what is the appeal of this community to a remote user?
If I’m not out of line in responding, I’d like to chime in for myself per relevant context:
I’ve been a Trekker since I was tiny, and it was part of my life long before I was a Furry Fan (January 1992).
I mean, Caitians were always a big deal for me as a fan during my youth in the early 1980s, long before I knew Shibolene and her kin were honorary associates of the Fandom.
That fandom interest led to my Treksona Ka’tch’Ian M’Ress, evolving into the TOS version and late-DS9 version of the same name, grandfather and grandaughter to each other
Both of them are now resident cast of my late-TOS novel _Nyota-Mtoto (2022)_ and my post-finale DS9 novella series _Season Eight/Why We Boldly Goethe_, the prologue and first three tales currently written and the fourth and fifth in progress.
To wit, I would not have my interest in Furry Fandom- and why I prefer the instances Meow.social (current posting) and Macrofurs.social (secondary)- had I not begun with Trek, but also because I have a stronger connection personally to friends in my particular fandom of residency.
That includes my heart-cat Jenora, as she’s called by choice online; my lovely one, best friend and the beloved and patient gentlewoman who took me to my first science-fiction convention in 1994 then taught me the narrative trade, and we’re both Trekker and Furry Fans.
I cannot divide my interests or my narrative trade meeting to my drawing and writing work of either veterancy nor my bread and butter any more than I have, and I’ll respect your choice to restrict Quark’s access to startrek.website users if that’s your preference.
I don’t feel poorly served by this choice, but I felt my input would not be unwelcome even if it wasn’t directly bidden nor requested.
Thank you for letting those in our mutual group know of Quark’s admin decision ahead of time, whatever your choice sustained or amended will be in the end.
-2Paw.
On my home instance, the community !meta@sopuli.xyz is for discussing issues specific to the instance, it’s not really relevant to people not using the instance.
On startrek.website, the Quarks community seems to primarily discuss Star Trek adjacent topics which are of interest to many Trek fans.
I think it’s great that you guys want a private community for discussing things only relevant to the instance. I just wish you hadn’t chosen to close a community with broad external interest.
Thanks for the response.
We’ll probably relax the rules on c/startrek a bit to allow a degree of Trek-adjacent content that we might have previously punted to Quark’s.
I’m thinking of stuff like the Paramount acquisition drama, which is off-topic but clearly still relevant.
Expanding outward from there into stuff like “here’s what Frakes is up to,” we approach territory that can be covered just as well elsewhere in the Fediverse.
Trek-adjacent discussions
Literally the first topic of this community, according to the sidebar. Sales of expired Yamok sauce are also relevant to Trek fans on other instances.
And to be clear, Trek-adjacent discussions will continue to be allowed in Quark’s. I just don’t think making the community private will be some great blow to the Fediverse.
If it helps, we will allow sales of expired Yamok sauce in c/startrek, provided the seller can produce a certificate of authenticity.
I have to say that this makes me rather sad.
Instead of drawing folks into the fandom tent with adjacent topics or broadening the discussion of established fans, it’s creating less conversation.
I think that there’s a place for a ‘discuss the health of the instance’ conversation on a separate dedicated community, but also a Trek-adjacent general and open discussion. I consider Frakes’ career as a sci-fi director or the Paramount saga as adjacent.
As long as it meets the norms of the instance in terms of civility, why not? Are the admins/mods truly being flooded with a high volume of spam from outside on Quarks?
Last, I would like to note that without Quark’s being open, I doubt we’d have had the interest to create the Dr Who community. I think that it’s cool that it percolated up through the discussion.
I hear you, but “drawing folks into the fandom tent” was not what Quark’s (or the instance for that matter) was created for. Quark’s has always been “General off-topic chat for the crew of startrek.website.”.
That said, if you or anyone else wanted to create a community with that or a related stated purpose (and promised to grow and actively maintain it in line with instance values) I would be more than happy to entertain the idea. But you can’t have mine lol
I just don’t see how closing everyone else out from Trek adjacent discussions helps the community.
The whole point of federation is letting people with varied interests come together. It doesn’t work if every niche interest makes their “general” board private.
I mean, if we’re talking about the sidebar…
General off-topic chat for the crew of startrek.website.
But I do understand and appreciate the perspective. It’s in-line with the internal discussion we had when making the decision.
@ValueSubtracted @deegeese you’re joking, right?
I only discovered this place after I was on fedi for 3+ years. It’s incredible and amazing to be able to participate remotely. I honestly can’t fathom why you WOULDN’T want that. But hey if they want to close it then bye I guess.
From what I can see, you’ve only participated in this community once, nine months ago.
The other communities (StarTrek, Daystrom, Risa, etc.) are all staying open and federated.
@ValueSubtracted oh I didn’t realize there were requirements for “participation” my bad
It was just a point of clarification in case you misunderstood.
@ValueSubtracted oh I completely understand now that liking, boosting, or privately enjoying posts is not an acceptable level of engagement in an online community where “participation” is required. Thanks 🖖💫
@starkraving666
@ValueSubtracted
Never trust an instance with a closed governance process
Goofy decision. I have an account here, but I rarely use it because of the ratio of spam to genuine posts on the instance.
You could always just defederate from those toxic instances? It seems like this isn’t a popular decision with the community. Might be worth rethinking it.
The admin team doesn’t make instance decisions based on what’s “popular”. It’s actually against our mission statement. Though that doesn’t mean community input is ignored.
But that being said, admins can see who’s voting and we can see that the downvotes are not coming from users with much/any history in this community. So we are not taking their feedback strongly into account.
This logic is bonkers. Lurkers are part of the community too. Everyone participates in their own way.
If you don’t like the content hosted on this instance, why do you have an opinion on this at all?
I do like the non-spam content on this instance, such as Quark’s and Daystrom. I’m subscribed to it through other accounts, but occasionally I poke my head in on the actual account I have here.
Personally, with most of the instances I actually use, I find it easier to just look at the Local feed. On this instance, however, a significant portion of what gets posted is just repetitive spam, so it’s hard to really do that. It’s much easier to subscribe to individual interesting communities, such as Daystrom and Quark’s, through other instances that I’m more likely to actively use.
I suppose if you don’t care what kind of experience anyone has on your instance, that’s your business.
spam
I’m referring to your constant advertisement posts.
Gee whiz, it really sounds like this instance isn’t for you, and also like you don’t know what an advertisement is.
Best of luck in…all that, I guess.
I think she’s saying she’s upset we don’t remove enough content from other communities (federated with us but not originating) on this instance. Which is correct, the admins here generally leave content on other communities alone if they are actively moderated.Ok nevermind she’s apparently saying /c/StarTrek and /c/Risa are “spam”?
I was actually specifically referring to Value Subtracted constantly spamming empty threads and ST:O ads.
Per instance guidelines, submitting on-topic content to relevant communities is not considered spam. But if you want to stay subscribed to /c/STO and block ValueSubtracted’s “spam” StarTrek.website has a block feature you can find on their userpage.
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Good luck folks, I think each server having it’s own identity and it’s own place is something that makes the fediverse great.
You should be here, making burgers of the day using the entire galaxy of ingredients
Thanks, we do too!
This is dumb and makes no sense, even for the intended purposes.
…and the fractured drawbacks of lemmy slowly become apparent. I see this happening more and more, and don’t expect lemmy to survive if it continues.
YOU KILLED LEMMY
YOU BASTARDS
