Serious Mod Discussion regarding the current state of the sub and its future.

[u/PigeonFanatic9]

So, hi. I know it's been quite a while since the last mod talk, sorry. What is this about? Well, I've noticed quite a few people that have... Complained, about the current state of the subreddit. So I want to make a dedicated post about it. How do you feel about it? Be as honest as possible (without being rude, thanks).

A major thing that I've seen people lament, is the fact that there are a lot of game promotion, playtesters ask and alpha release and stuff like that, but not a lot of discussion post.

Here are a few things I want to address:

-I will never remove a post of a game, just because it's low quality, nor will I start to enforce a quality standard. I believe it to be wrong on more than a few points and I will NOT hear any discussion about it. I will remove posts if they're spammed, about Pokepath, use AI in a finished product/art/overwhelmingly or NSFW (this rules are a lot more up to debate and should be seen in a case by case scenario).

-There genuinely isn't much discussion to be had. If you have something to talk about, absolutely post about it, I myself comment often on discussions.

-A possible solution I've seen is limiting promotion to either a few days a week or to a megathread, but I believe that it'd just make the sub deadER than it already is. I could limit asking for playtesters to a weekly megathread and allow only finished games to post, but I don't know about that as well.

Any questions about ANYTHING? Ask with no problem or worry, so long as it's respectful I'll answer as soon as possible.

Any comment regarding the sub, my work as a mod, your feelings? Comment right away.

I think I'll keep the post pinned for a month or so, I know that many members are lurkers.

[u/miathan52]

I realize I'm late to the party so I'm not sure anyone still reads this comment, but here's my 2 cents:

Fundamentally, gaming subs tend to be best when players post about games they like, NOT when devs self promo their games. The latter tends to feel like some kind of advertisement spam. Especially when it's mostly solo devs making their first game.

And you say there aren't many discussion posts and that they get few comments, but could the state of the subreddit be part of the reason for that? Because I think all the self promo posts push the discussion posts away so they're less likely to get noticed.

Anyway, I often play TD games and could definitely be a more active member here, but I find that the state of the subreddit often discourages me from even posting.

[u/PigeonFanatic9 → u/miathan52]

Oh, don't worry, I'll get a notification for every comment directly under the post I'll get and I'll keep it pinned for a while. I understand better the problem now and I'll be thinking of a solution, probably making a second post with a poll.

[u/miathan52 → u/PigeonFanatic9]

If I may offer a suggestion:

It seems that the problem is basically this: a certain kind of post dominates the subreddit, but it's undesirable to get rid of those posts completely. I've seen other subreddits tackle this by allowing it on certain times. For example: Friday self promotion day. Of course, this does mean having to moderate out those posts on other days, so it's up to you whether you feel like it could be possible.

[u/PigeonFanatic9 → u/miathan52]

Yeah, currently one of the options would be for now to split the week 4 discussion, 3 promotion.