What is the ideal growth rate for this forum? Are there too many new users?

[noname223]

I am not sure how many new members the NYT article and the BBC segment brought to this forum. Was it 2.500 new members? Do you know it?
I think it can lead to a lot of problems if the grotwh rate is too big in a short time.
Obviously more mods are needed to supervise the content. It becomes really hard to control if there are many trolls or other people with bad intentions.
I think it is important that members with more experience are aware of this and report memebers with bad intention. Or when their posts don't abide the rules.

If there are more articles this problem will probably not stop. I think quite the oppsosite could happen. This forum gets more and more attention. You can see that by the huge number of guests online. Which is a concern to many due to the missing privacy.

 

[Sherri]

When I joined in 2020 we were 19k. So 3k more. But what worries me is that are more guests than members most of the time. We all been guests, don't like the word lurker. But some are here to spy on us if not the most. Or maybe I'm just paranoid.

 

[MyStateKilledMe]

When I joined in 2020 we were 19k. So 3k more. ...

2020 was a quarantine year. I'm sure I'm not the only one who joined to escape the social isolation caused by their state's or country's quarantine order. So it's not surprising that so many new members joined that year. In fact, if it hadn't been for the in-person radical right-wing group I joined in 2020, who didn't fear the Biden Flu, I might be dead by now, for all I know.

As for the "guests" spying on us, that's just the risk we have to take as a pro-choice site. That, and moderating this forum very diligently.

 

[Crazy4u]

I think SS is not growing so much. There might be 22,000 members but there are less than 2,200 active members.

What really bothers me is the guests who come here thinking it is a death cult. There is more method talk on other websites like quora. SS has become more like a depression forum