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Can you create topics or groups in here?
I am sorry if it's a dumb question, but I don't seem to get it. Is it possible to create topics/subreddit like things here?
I am sorry if it's a dumb question, but I don't seem to get it. Is it possible to create topics/subreddit like things here?
No; the closest thing we have is tags. You can put any tag you feel is appropriate on a post, and you can browse tags.
This is largely correct, but just to clarify some terminology for @the_no_name_man:
Topics are what we call submissions, tags are descriptors applied to topics and can also browsed (e.g. ?tag=ask.help), but groups (e.g. ~tildes) are the thing that is somewhat akin to subreddits. People can create new topics in groups, and apply tags on their topics, but only Deimos (Tildes' creator and sole admin) can create new groups.
However, there was a recent ~tildes.official discussion about potentially opening up the group creation process a bit more, which you can read here:
https://tildes.net/~tildes.official/167q/thoughts_on_making_tildes_groups_more_independent
Please don't open it a bit more!
Us plebs can't be trusted with managing audiences and things on our own, especially those who are new to here and social networks in general. Please keep those keys to the kingdoms with yourself. Cathedrals have a much better track record than Bazaars of running in good faith and less conflicts/trolling.
I agree with this. I think it'll get very messy if people were allowed to create new ones whenever they feel like it.
I think a better way could be the users suggesting it and have a discussion, but it really is up to the Deimos if he chooses to make them.
Also, I love your analogy. I do identify as a pleb and would rather not be trusted with power.
I wish I had seen that post when it was created. Feels way too late to reply to now being over a week old. It was a fantastic read though with lots of great discussion.
But I like that Deimos is talking about the future and is open to new ideas about things as fundamental to the site as structure, groups, and tag functionality. I love the community here and want to preserve it, but I also don't want the site in its alpha state to become stagnant and oppose change when something like this could actually help the site grow in a way that benefits the community.
If you feel you have something valuable to contribute, you should comment. Topic bumping isn't necessarily seen as a negative here on Tildes if the conversation has room to continue.
Maybe I'll leave a comment. For some reason, I feel really weird about bumping threads that are more than a couple days old though. Don't like pushing a post back to the top for everyone who might have already read through most of it.
Equally, there might have been people who missed it the first time around who appreciate the bump. 🙂
Very true!
I guess I'm just more mindful of this stuff in a small community like Tildes where every reply bumps things in the feed for everyone.
If people don't want to see the topic, they can use the 'Ignore' feature to hide it.
Some terminology: The names in the sidebar with tildes in the front are called "groups" and you can't create them. We call posts "topics" so, yes, you can create them, and you just did.
Instead of creating a subreddit, you could start a discussion topic, and I wrote some Tips for starting a good discussion topic.
Letting one random user spin off their own group just because they feel like it... will not happen on Tildes. Groups on Tildes will probably be created reactively, rather than proactively, and by collective consensus rather than individual decision.
I certainly hope so.
A little story from my eBay selling days.
I started on eBay very early; 1998 iirc.
Selling collectables and charity shop finds was great. Pick a category and off you go.
Then a sort of category creep came in.
I got some 40k Warhammer stuff at one point; I didn't even know what that was!! But there was a category for it. More than one iirc, so you had to research and research to figure out exactly which category to list in! It was painful. Still is.
Back then I couldn't help thinking some broad categories and tags for refinement would have been a lot better. I think the same here too.
I am not sure how to post a link exactly so apologies if this doesn't work. https://tildes.net/~tildes/15my/new_users_ask_your_questions_about_tildes_here
But if you go to tildes or tildesofficial, you can see some threads where a lot questions have been answered already. There is a system of tagging things, rather than creating groups. I believe the site owner is exploring possible updates to these types of systems as the site grows. I'm still pretty new, also getting acclimated to how things work :)
First of all, welcome!
Since you weren't sure about how to link links, I thought it'd be useful to point out that Tildes uses a variant of Markdown called CommonMark to format comments. You can find the instructions here.
Tags, rather than a plethora of ever more niche groups/topics (geez my brain has a short attention span) that people create is better imo. Combine with decent search (indexed by Google so easy possibly, even could do on Google adding tilde) and there is a fairly easy system for people to find, consume and contribute the stuff they like.
I also think getting the user to be a bit more involved or to do more will keep tildes from becoming.. well, enshittification!
My understanding is that there are no moderation tools available yet. The admin is currently managing all moderation and a lot of it requires direct database access. Until there's a moderation tool suite, users won't be able to control tildes to create a community so there's really no point. I believe it is part of the ultimate design, but building moderation tools hasn't been the top priority yet as the site is still small in population. That's also a major reason for the closed invite system, though with these invite waves they might find the need for moderation tooling to become a high priority.
No, tildes are more like channels if you're familar with 4chan (except we dont have "megathreads" or whatever its called on here).
We do have megathreads here, but I don't know if that's the same type you're referring to on 4chan:
https://tildes.net/?tag=megathread
We should have a weed tag
So, make one!
Tags aren't predefined or restricted. You can literally use any tag you want, on any topic you post. If you post a topic about cultivating marijuana or the best bongs to use or asking how people deal with the munchies, you can tag it with "weed". You can invent any tag at any time - there's practically no restriction on what tags you can apply to your own topics.
However, there is a degree of collabaration involved in deciding and applying tags, because some other people can and will edit the tags on posts they see, to ensure that tags are consistent and relevant across Tildes. So, there might need to be some minor discussion about whether "weed" or "marijuana" is the better tag for these topics. Now that I think about it, "marijuana" might be a suitable tag for topics about cultivating the plant and "weed" might be a suitable tag for topics about the recreational use of the drug.
So, get posting!
Marijuana isn't the preferred nomenclature, dude. Cannabis, please. Marijuana is a Mexican term for weed, popularized in America in the 1920's as a part of the prohibition campaign, rooted in racism and propaganda. The narrative was that crazed mexicans and black people were smoking cannabis, committing crimes, and raping white women. They used the term Marihuana since a lot of people recognized the word Cannabis as an ingredient on a lot of the medicines they used.
Furthermore, https://tildes.net/?tag=marijuana has zero topics whereas https://tildes.net/?tag=cannabis has dozens.
I don't pretend to be an expert in weed or marijuana or cannabis. I'll defer to you.
The important point I was making to @Suuncle is that tags aren't restricted, so they can start posting about weed/marijuana/cannabis whenever they want.
And then experts like you can tag those topics! :)
That reflects historical application of tags, which has been mostly done by one person. If we ever decide that a different tag or tags are applicable to this topic, we can change this on the spot.
Yea you guys are awesome, thanks for the info!
Hard agree. I want to talk to the hobby growers :0
Me to I would love that!