EDIT 3: **Due to some bugs we’re delaying this feature until Lemmy 0.19.6 is released! **

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.

Smiling

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!

  • deegeese@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    30·
    6 months ago

    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 👋

      • deegeese@sopuli.xyzEnglish
        17·
        6 months ago

        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.

        • Value Subtracted@startrek.websiteMEnglish
          61·
          6 months ago

          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.

          • deegeese@sopuli.xyzEnglish
            3·
            6 months ago

            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.

            • Value Subtracted@startrek.websiteMEnglish
              2·
              6 months ago

              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.

              • StillPaisleyCat@startrek.websiteEnglish
                6·
                6 months ago

                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.

                • SysAdmin@startrek.websiteOPMEnglish
                  2·
                  6 months ago

                  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

              • deegeese@sopuli.xyzEnglish
                5·
                6 months ago

                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.

                • Value Subtracted@startrek.websiteMEnglish
                  11·
                  6 months ago

                  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.

      • starkraving666@jorts.horse
        9·
        6 months ago

        @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.

  • bobburger@fedia.io
    10·
    6 months ago

    Good luck folks, I think each server having it’s own identity and it’s own place is something that makes the fediverse great.

  • millie@startrek.websiteEnglish
    8·
    6 months ago

    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.

    • SysAdmin@startrek.websiteOPMEnglish
      31·
      6 months ago

      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.

      • millie@startrek.websiteEnglish
        1·
        6 months ago

        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.

      • SysAdmin@startrek.websiteOPMEnglish
        1·
        6 months ago

        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”?

        • millie@startrek.websiteEnglish
          2·
          6 months ago

          I was actually specifically referring to Value Subtracted constantly spamming empty threads and ST:O ads.

          • SysAdmin@startrek.websiteOPMEnglish
            11·
            6 months ago

            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.

  • Ledivin@lemmy.worldEnglish
    5·
    6 months ago

    …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.

  • smoothbrain coldtakes@lemmy.caEnglish
    1·
    6 months ago

    Man, I don’t like Stamets but he was right lol.

    When you guys just wanna do something even if people disagree you’re gonna do it.

    On either side though it kind of sucks. From the mods are right perspective, yeah, basically only users from the instance post here already. On the other side though, bringing activity in from across the federation is definitely a better move long-term unless the people coming in are toxic. Latest non @stw poster had a hilarious premise and I loved it. Would hate to see that go, but I guess it’s going to /c/startrek anyways.

    Everybody is kinda dug in here, it’s pretty sad.

    • SysAdmin@startrek.websiteOPMEnglish
      2·
      6 months ago

      The problem is nobody wants to grow and maintain a federated “Trek adjacent” community. I’ve even offered the opportunity to host one on this instance and nobody wants to put in the effort.

      (Also, I just need to point out that Stamets was not “right” about anything involving our team. He claimed the Risa mods were “transphobic”, and set up a new community where he repeated the claims. When one of our Admins asked Stamets if he intended to continue, he cried harassment and used the attention to promote a GoFundMe.)

      • smoothbrain coldtakes@lemmy.caEnglish
        3·
        6 months ago

        I think you guys actually need more open communities and not less.

        Quark’s is great as an off-topic zone. The theme makes sense because the bar is somewhere people go to unwind and not necessarily talk direct shop. Stuff like news that’s Trek-adjacent fits perfectly in here, but the subsequent topics listed after other sci-fi television kind of deserve their own community. I think the scope of Quark’s is too large.

        Navigating the fediverse and server meta have traditionally been their own communities as a /c/meta sort of affair. Those are definitely things that only the @stw community would really want to discuss internally and perhaps should be kept instance-user-only, but something like news and other “adjacent” content is of value across the federation and the opportunity for everyone to post just makes more organic sense to me. I would also take the opportunity to have another themed name, like /c/battlebridge, /c/ops or even /c/conferenceroom for the meta community.