2018-10-17 Trunk Quality Program

I fear that a lot of the people that volunteered for Trunk have either fallen silent (a common problem), or they don’t actually toot a lot on the topics they signed up for. Perhaps they’re interested in following more people tooting about the topic and were confused about the purpose of the lists, or they do write about the topics but they also write about a gazillion other things, drowning out the signal people might be looking for, or it turns out that they mostly boost other people instead of writing their own toots (in which case we might be interested in adding the people they’re boosting to our lists instead).

It’s difficult! I’m considering going through all the lists (ugh!) and clicking on all the linked people. Removing people from Trunk feels like acting as the content police. It’s awful. I need to get into the mindset of “curating.” Perhaps I wouldn’t feel so bad if I were a curator at a gallery, picking and choosing the people that get exposure. But who am I kidding. I’d still feel bad.

But I want better quality for Trunk! So I need to get into the groove. I need to repeat this, like a mantra:

Should I notify them? I wonder. Are they going to change? I hope not! But perhaps it would still be fair to tell them. Hm. 🤔

Like this, perhaps:

Hi! I’m slowly going through the lists on Trunk to see whether people actually write about the topics they volunteered for. I followed a link to your profile and didn’t see a lot of posts on the topics you were listed under so I’m going to remove you from the lists. I hope you understand. 🙇 If you’re simply interested in reading about a topic, you don’t need to be on the list, you can simply follow people on the list. 🐘

​#Mastodon ​#Trunk

Comments

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Yeah, I think that the slight reminder makes a lot of sense. I don’t remember what I supposed to do after joining some lists to be honest.

– Jacky 2018-10-17 07:15 UTC

Jacky

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“The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

People probably intend to post on their chosen topics, but never get around to it. I’m sure people will accept that failing, if it is pointed out to them. It probably doesn’t require individual communication, blanket statement somewhere would be fine.

– Fitheach 2018-10-17 08:34 UTC

Fitheach

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I liked the comment by @ckeen: “Trunk’s biggest plus is somewhat showing the broadness of possible stuff people talk about. With the usual introductions you will find yourself sitting in a very small bubble. […] So I think trunk is useful as such, I am wondering how much active curating is necessary to achieve good connections.”

@ckeen

Indeed. How much active curating is necessary? I’ll have to think about this some more.

– Alex Schroeder 2018-10-18 20:09 UTC

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Perhaps a simple first step is to remove inactive accounts? I’m also interested in removing shit posters (is there a better word?) – just the most obvious off-topic posters, if we have any of them. I also don’t know how to get started. As an individual admin perhaps by simply picking a list, clicking on all the accounts, removing the ones that I think need to go, and then send a message to the admins. The admins can check the log and provide feedback if they want. Something low-level like that?

– Alex Schroeder 2019-02-28 22:29 UTC