Hey folks (if folks there be)! I’m one of the new mods for this small community. I’m not by nature a huge poster of content (too many interactions with STRIVES, too many briefings on CUI/ITAR/Limited Rights 🤐)… but I feel like y’all are even tighter-lipped than me.
So. I’m going to throw this post out, looking for signs of life. Interested to know whether there’s a niche this community could be filling, interested to know whether the content creators have migrated back to Reddit. Interested to know if there’s a feature or element of the site that is hindering participation.
If this goes unanswered, I’m probably going to propose to have the community eliminated (is that even a thing?) or taken private and held in trust for the next group that want to have a go. A dusty, inactive channel is a bad look when the agency and the world of space in general is so vibrant.
Right on, then. I’ll start looking for some content creation bots, pull in some feeds from the agency, maybe NASAwatch for some color.
Actually… if my SATERN training has been good for anything, it’s hammering home the value of inclusion. How do you feel about the idea of getting one member of the community to rep for each of the mission directorates? Job would be to watch the feeds, throw something into the community when it pops. I can probably rep for ESDMD, but I don’t even really know what ARMD stands for. :)
Eh, I disagree that dusty, under-used spaces are a negative, when you're on a spiffy new thing like this that nobody has heard of yet. (and that still feels like alpha release software)
I subscribed here with the idea it would be slower and quieter than the generalist space subs, but would be where I could come to discuss NASA-specific missions if I wanted.
Like, if I find an article on a NASA mission, I'd post it to a larger space sub. If I have a question about that mission, I'd post it here and wait.
You’re just not going to get the same engagement here as you do on Reddit. I never really paid attention until all the spez nonsense but even small communities on Reddit have hundreds of thousands of people subbed. The bigger subreddits have millions of active users.
Sadly most people are simply too addicted to Reddit and there was just not a great alternative during the spez drama. But lemmy did get a boost and the groundwork is being laid for this place to have a solid infrastructure for the next go around. And make no mistake, spez will find a way to do it again in the future. When that happens if lemmy has great apps that are easy to use and a thriving small community it will be a totally different story.
It’s truly a shame though. A guy like that can just blatantly disrespect an entire community and they collectively go ‘welp we are fine with this please do it more’ . Pathetic.
Regardless, small niche spaces do have their utility. Genuine experts generally don't like hanging out with all the pleb fans, it's just too much of a pain in the butt. Just go take a look back at r/space and look at some of the answers people come up with.
Orbital mechanics is just not an intuitive thing. Yet people think they "get it" without having to put the effort in. When there's millions of them, it becomes overwhelming.
Here though, an expert can hang out, see one post a month, and actually engage if they want. I'd thus expect more actual NASA employees and experts to be found here than in a larger community. Because normal people are annoying.
They always say that the breakdown is something like 1% of people post, 9% comment on posts, and 90% read/lurk. My experience with space/NASA communities is that an even smaller percentage post, but a bigger percentage comment on those posts.
Like someone else suggested, I think if you post links to NASA-related news and programs, you'll see a decent amount of activity.
I'm a mod/co-creator of the [email protected], [email protected], and [email protected] communities. I'm definitely in favour of keeping this NASA sub alive, and I'll try to cross-post relevant content when I can.
There’s definitely relevant crossover, but I’m also okay if members of both communities focus any zeal for Musk in your domain. I’ve got a lot of respect for Glynn and her team and SpaceX is definitely having their Apollo moment - and they have a gift for keeping the press excited in a way that’s generally good for the whole world of space exploration.
But… (fair warning) I’ve worked SLS and the NASA govt reference design for HLS. My personal feelings on the “just give all the work to Elon” storyline are therefore a bit complex. Regardless, welcome to the community - all engagement is positive. :)
Yeah, I understand. Most of the activity on the SpaceX community so far seems to be focused on the operations of the company rather than the antics of its CEO, so I don't expect too much trouble. Please let me know if you notice anything out of line. We don't want to brigade.
My personal feelings on Elon as of late are also... a bit complex, as you put it.
I'm mostly just excited about the prospect of human spaceflight beyond LEO again. Can't wait for Artemis II and III, as well as future Mars missions!