Em...Radar so far!

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21

Well said. Low quality content definitely took the excitement away.

I haven’t been regular on Radar for some weeks and i don’t think i am interesting enough. The sad truth is the grapes have gone sour. Too many topics that shouldn’t make it to the platform are finding their way here. What are the interesting people going to do? of course, wakanow.

A lot of the reasons whether true or supposedly have been raised.

SUGGESTION

Have a list of topical areas - very restrictive but provides balanced view. We may not want to be a part of some discourse. Good to scroll through sections before reading and/or commenting. It should ‘force’ good discourse, It is not easy to curate topics for discussion (a suggestion i saw, not sure by whom) but having this sort of topical areas will help. That should be ‘should help’, hopefully it does :grinning:

A simplistic topical areas from the top of my head… they need fleshing out. This is what should be curated and not the actual topics for discussion. Suggestions can also be requested in order to update the list…

Mobile
Funding
Payment
Coding
Hacking
eCommerce

And/Or, have a ‘Similar Threads or Related Section/Category’ - This is to bring sanity to the threads.

Radar shouldn’t follow a popular approach that’s out there but seek to achieve uniqueness.

My $1 :slightly_smiling:

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Radar people can go in sha. Anyways :memo: :memo: :memo:

23

Hmm.

One thing has happened that I’ve noticed. A lot of people ‘lurk’ now. They open Radar, read but say nothing. I’ve talked to a few people that do that. The main reason they give for this is that they’re afraid of being attacked.

People come to Radar A LOT - our stats tell us that. What we as a community need to do is to find a way to make Radar safe for people.

TechCabal bears responsibility here but Radar was meant to be a self-policing community. If the community can’t say “we want people to open up here”, it’s not going to work. I really enjoyed reading people like @sugabelly and @onyeka (even if we didn’t agree on a lot) because technology isn’t just about one point of view.

I know that @xolubi is busy at YC; so I understand his reduced participation here but this would have been a great place to learn about what he’s learning. @Jason_Igwe_Njoku has practically exited his company in under 10 years - don’t we think that he has stuff to show us?

I would love to urge the community to own Radar - it’s yours - and make it a more welcome for individuals; even when we don’t agree with them.

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Dude, even in civilised countries, somebody has to be responsible and you can’t just place responsibility on the “community” to fix itself. The tribe has to have a leader to fight on behalf of the people that are “afraid of being attacked”.

So far I’ve noticed that PapaOlabode has assumed the role of the responsible adult on the playground and I do hope you guys have reserved a 10% stake of Radar for him for when you cash out.

If you sincerely do believe that Radar’s lack of contribution problem is due the fact that people are being too “afraid of being attacked” and not being scared of exposing thier advanced level of stupidity then you should be highlighting the way forward not expecting the community to fix itself. I think that is called “taking ownership of a problem” which is the responsibilty of a founder in a Startup…

Another 50 cents banked. I guess we are now up to $3

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@PapaOlabode for president!:bow: His wisdom is why i pop in most times

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26

This reads as: “we can’t be bothered to commit more time and energy into fixing/improving this even though it’s our brainchild”.

The same way Bankole appointed moderators that never post, then when I complained about a situation to him he said “it’s up to the community”.

Sorry guys, these are not good enough responses. But this forum’s really not a do-or-die affair for me, honestly. So, you do you.

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I’m almost 100% sure I didn’t ask the community to fix itself.

Again, this asking the community to fix itself business. That’s not what I said or tried to say AT ALL. People have told me personally that they were afraid of being attacked - even people that you might consider smart.

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Please enlighten me on the meaning of above statement. It sure seems to me that you were delegating responsibility to the "community"or maybe I am not smart enough to understand the sentence.

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Well that went downhill quickly! That’s not what I meant at all. I’m really sorry to EVERYONE if that’s what it’s looked like; wasn’t my intention at all.

I’ve read this thread a few times since it started. It’s very hurtful. I’ve also had a few offline convos with people on here and not all of them have been pretty.

Do we, as TC, have a responsibility to Radar, to TC? :100:
Have we fucked up some of this? :100:

Was I trying to pass this off to the Radar community? Nope. And I’m sorry if it came off this way. We do want conversations to be had here.

Conversations beyond the comment sections of TechCabal.
Conversations we possibly couldn’t start.

I’m not the fountain of all knowledge; I’m going to screw some things up. And it’s obvious that some things have been screwed up here. But all I was trying to say was that, it’s not going to just be us - myself or Banks - that will protect Radar from descending into the abyss. We’re going to need help. That’s all I was trying to say. @Tola

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Lol, @ Presiden,thx! Might stay for life like Paul Biya! Ahh @Tola our Ojota skills too much…used me as a dagger to stab TC in the back. God dey!

But jokes aside, my perspective (also timely disclaimer since Tola cheekily mentioned compensation), from serving in the past as Chair for ACCA UK Financial Services panel, is that one’s personal contribution, can impact a community. It’s that simple. Which means we can all play our part (like everyone’s doing right now). And people ‘lurking’ outside, can come in and do your bit as well. The more, the merrier.
.

Ultimately that’s the beauty of Radar, you get to share ideas, experiences and perspectives. And of course, connect with people!

Now this is not to exonerate TC itself. As several people have pointed out, you can’t expect the community to run on auto-pilot. And definitely can’t abdicate your responsibilities. It’s like having a house party and the host is not around, things can quickly degenerate into a riot. To be fair, we speak privately, and I know you’re taking all the points raised very seriously. So we all await new changes with noticeable improvements.

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32

A few of the key issues raised, and some suggestions for addressing, I suggest other add ideas to solve these issues. @lordbanks I recommend you or someone you put on the job collate the suggestions and create a survey that the community can see and vote on the suggestions for each area. Others can add more key issues to the list

I then recommend the best crowd sourced solutions be implemented for each area, and trialed for a period. The community should then get the opportunity to vote up or down to keep the winning suggestion for each area. If a solution is voted down, the 2nd highest vote can replace it, and we continue until all categories are satisfied.

These selected solutions can then be codified into a simple list of rules that we all should live by.

Issue areas

  1. Gratuitous Negativity
  2. Room for improved curating of topics @princehumphrey Suggested some
  • Mobile
  • Funding
  • Payment
  • Coding
  • Hacking
  • eCommerce
  1. @onyeka Suggested improving moderation
  2. Curate good conversations

My suggestions solutions for each

  1. Use the private flag to communicate a grievance

  • After 5 flags, the person gets a warning for the comment made in a unique post

  • A second round of 5 flags after an initail warning will result in an account suspension for a defined period

  • After the suspension term is served a reinstatement can be made, if said reinstated party racks up another 5 flags associated with a new grievance. A much longer term suspension can be given.

  • Third strike - permanent expulsion

All penalties should be made explicit and published for all to know

2.I like the list suggested by @princehumphrey as a good start. Lets source others and put it to a vote @lordbanks

3.Appoint moderators, define a list of tasks, I’m sure we can google best practices for this

4.Lots of great conversations happen everyday on Nigerian twitter. Appoint content curators to pull in convos that start on twitter or at the bar for that matter. Share appropriate parts of the thread and let the Radar community kontinue. I suggest the appropriated conversation be stripped of names for privacy reasons. If the community does not pick up the convo after a defined period of time (1 day), delete it. Over time we will be able to measure the kinds of convos that get traction here. (Convo intake should also pass the moderation committee before they get posted)

My people contribute you suggestions to solutions on the four issue areas or critique mine, don’t worry I have this weird self-esteem issue where I hate myself, yet I still think I’m better than everyone else.

My approach may not be the best but its a start. Lets also add to the list of issue areas and suggested fixes.

33

I never understood this

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There have been no personal attacks here that I’ve noticed so, I don’t know. I like you guys but these here are just facts. You are not your product. No one is a victim here. If the people posted in here didn’t care this topic wouldn’t have 33 replies. We recognize its potential and feel it may be lacking of recent, so we’re pointing out pain points as well as also trying to offer solutions… Two things the admins should also be doing or at least encourage more with a promise to actually acknowledge or implement.

So far you and Bankole have provided half-hearted replies. I would have even been okay with a generic 'we’ve taken note and we’re going to discuss it or something’, or something more like the last paragraph you posted. Instead before that the vibe was more of a helpless shrug or mostly silence.

You also pointed out people IRL expressing their feelings of being attacked…

(Sidebar: personally, I already know I’m smart but not the smartest person, so I also like to challenge and be challenged in discussion without making it personal; I’ve seen firsthand here that many Nigerians don’t want to be challenged at all–not going to name the more well-known industry dudes that have shaded me on Twitter, one because I simply pointed out an error on his website–that’s not an attitude the community can fix, in fact we’re better off without people like that).

… conversations you appear to have had before this week, but not communicated to ‘the community’, implying that it may never have been said if this thread didn’t exist. Can hardly blame anyone else for that.

I know running a forum is hard. I’ve done it before. But the same community you guys are relying on also need the enthusiastic and interactive cooperation of its leaders.

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I agree a great deal with what has been said on this thread, by @87_Chuks, @PapaOlabode, @onyeka et al. Of recent, Radar has become quite boring for me… Partly because of those TC posts you keep seeing on the front page. I loved the idea when it started, but I soon realised that because of the huge number of posts TC makes in a day, Radar effectually becomes dull… You come to the front page and see up to 6 TC posts (with 0 replies)… I just get turned off.

I agree 100%. Quit shrugging off the matter. Yes, as a community, we have to do our part, but as the leaders of the community, to have to show us the way. We’re waiting on you, guys.
For my part, I know I’ve contributed my share of “gratuitous negativity”, I guess in trying to show off my own smartness, and I’m sorry for it.

I recall the tiff I had with @xolubi on a thread some time ago, and I apologise for that, too. It was petty of me and disheartening to the community, and there were better ways of handling the issues.

Radar used to be a really interesting community for me. It taught me a lot about startups and technology. When I first joined, I was elated to be in the same place as all these superstars. Now… I just log on, check out any new topics and log off, spending no more than three minutes here.

Yes, Radar isn’t a do-or-die affair, but it’s the first real tech community I’ve ever been a part of, and I love it (or I would, if it were less mean).

Okay, gotta go. Tears in my eyes already.

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36

Here’s why I feel recruiting some users for content “under the radar” is a more rounded play, Bankole’s attention for news/development may not be centrally appealing for the ‘diverse’ radar crowd but the odds of that grows, when there are more than 1 hand on that deck to turn the dial for engagement.

Agreed, the founders should always participate but may not always start the threads.

Late last year, a thread on a UX/UI topic (rare topical since the year) got very active contributions, insightful comments but interestingly not one of the usual active members penned a post, rather it brought out all the desginers and UX enthusiasts in the house, however since then there’s one particular handle I haven’t seen drop a post here.

Seyi, you can do your usual drop-bys, the forum is a lot livley with Bankole’s heated stance sometimes.

Guys quitely recruit users that have a flare for interesting topicals for a more dedicated stream of engaging threads. There’s no shame in that, for crying out loud I visits dozens of content sites daily to check on what they’ve curated for my mind’s bait.

Rest your oars on user generated content and pace, and you’d run into trouble of halfbacked threads pinned on that homepage, soon the ‘kids’ will take over, and you’d left with Nairaland for tech [kiddies].

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So I made some observations and hopefully, this should mean something.

@TechCabal had a ‘0 Reply’ post titled ‘Uber in Lagos says you can pay with your debit cards again’ and a user (@Eftee) had a post titled ‘Uber says Cards are back, is this true?’. Both post created within the same hour.

One Post already answered a Question, while the other Post asked a Question already answered. A moderator could have found a way to marry the two related post.

NB: The primary reason @Eftee created the topic was to inquire the following: ‘Anyone know if this is true?’ and @lordbanks went all in to instigate the post. Turns out he’s taking advice about being more engaged with most post. Well-done. I’m not criticizing the act, I’m just wondering if it would have been cool to simply kill the post by @Eftee and have all discussions aligned under the @TechCabal Post. (In a way of moderating the content).

I remember how I unconsciously created related post on Radar when I newly joined Radar, and @xolubi bashed me. I learnt to always use the Radar’s Search Feature before creating a post. Multiple post one one ‘Theme’ reduces engagement.

Of course, engagement as a term is rather vague but it means what it means: and has always meant from the user engagement perspective to “strengthen the emotional, psychological or physical investment a user has in Radar“. What better way to do that?.

We probably all look at engagement as getting others to act. In the end it is. But to me, that action isn’t just clicking or reading alone. That’s the measurable stuff. Engagement is also about providing experiences and answers to questions and needs, still the primary task of content. When you solve someone’s questions or simply deliver what they expect and need across their journey on Radar, you also engage them as they get what they want.

Just like @onyeka mentioned; [quote=“onyeka, post:34, topic:4902”]
If the people posting in here didn’t care, this topic wouldn’t have ‘37’ replies.
[/quote] :grinning:

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Hello Guys,

Just another point. Radar is pretty much an online representation of the tech scene / energy / vibe in Nigeria.

If for whatever reason, this simple platform cannot generate the necessary momentum necessary to keep people engaged, then really, what does that say about the type of tech companies we are building or we will all build one day.

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Someone reading through this thread would think I’m a monster of some sort. Lol.

40

The need to buy us drinks is stronger than ever.

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Happy Sunday guys.

So last night, @seyitaylor rode on his white horse like a Roman Emperor, arrived on the thread, Hotels.ng is Still Completely Unsecured!, and decided, in his all-knowing capacity and power, to close the thread.

These were his reasons

  1. He’s not sure why the thread was so long

I’m not sure why this thread is so long though.

This was a thread that was raising very healthy conversations and was already impacting change. So, to him, it is quite strange for the thread to be long. So because it was so “long”, he decided to close it. When was the length of a thread a factor in shutting it down?

  1. He wasn’t sure what the point of the thread was

I’m not sure what the point of this thread

So @seyitaylor, after reading the subject of the thread and going through the conversation was still clueless as to what the point was? So he decided to shut it down. Now, I’m asking when was being clueless as a moderator a factor in closing a thread?

From my observations, the topic was never flagged. As with any thread, there have been opposing opinions but the conversations were generally very healthy. For once, I thought Radar could serve as a tool of change.

So what rules of Radar did the topic go against? Does it mean that the Radar owners/moderators can do as they wish because it’s their property? I can remember that until recently, @seyitaylor wasn’t even regular on his Abandoned Property, Radar, until this post was created and he was told in the face of his irresponsibilities. So he’s decided to prove that he’s in charge by going on a thread-closing misson?

I’m not here to beg about opening the thread. Forget about it. But if this unreasonable closure of thread happens again to any other person on Radar, then it might mark the beginning of my withdrawal from an authoritarian forum.

Enjoy your powers!

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