Hey everyone, new mod here. I’d like to hear you on a few things, in order to make this community grow:

1. Who should be the primary target audience of this community?

We could tailor it primarily for layperson or for people with deeper Linguistics knowledge. Or we could simply let it roll.

2. Which type of moderation do you guys like? Stricter or laxer?

A stricter moderation would include rules like “quote your sources”, “no crack theories” (proto- or pseudo-scientific hypotheses lacking methodological rigour), stuff like this; it would also mean that I’d discourage off-topic a bit further.

3. “Almost no crown or cross” rule: yes, no, indifferent?

By “almost no cross or cross” I mean that posters would only be able to talk about politics and religion as much as necessary for the subject of Linguistics. For example you’d be still fine posting something like this, but you wouldn’t be able to discuss here the Marxist side of the matter, only the Linguistic one. Just an example, mind you.

4. How much do you know about Linguistics?

Are you a grad, undergrad, informed layperson, or just curious? Are there areas that you feel confident on, like Sociolinguistics or Phonetics or something like this?

5. Which type of content do you want to see here?

Papers? Videos? Discussions? Historical Linguistics? Sociolinguistics? Phonetics and Phonology? Since mods are IMO responsible to nurture a community, I don’t mind looking for stuff to post here, but I’d like to know which one.

Thank you!

EDIT: I’m reading all your comments, even the ones that I didn’t reply to, OK?

  • @[email protected]
    2•2 years ago

    1. A mix would be nice, especially while the community here is so small. On a side note, somebody needs to make /c/linguisticsmemes asap.

    2. While I did value /r/linguistics’ more strict academic focus, it also made the place a bit dreary at times. So maybe “stricter but not quite as strict as /r/lingustics”?

    3. I agree with this rule completely, though I wonder which issues you will choose to consider political/not political.

    4. I’m a professor in a lingustics-adjacent field, with extensive knowledge about historical linguistics methodology and a variety of modern synchronic theoretical methods in various other subfields as well.

    5. All of the above. Especially while the community is small, I don’t see much benefit in being too exclusionary.

    Thanks for doing this - people like you who have the time and willingness to build communities here are what will make Lemmy successful long-term!

    Edit: I just saw your comment below (and now also the sidebar), and I think “One way I can implement this is by a simple “keep on-topic” rule, but enforce it a bit harsher for subjects bound to bring divisions outside Linguistics into the table.” is the perfect way to approach the problem.