AusLegal
I think this comes down to how we use the !australia[email protected] community. At the moment it seems to be flooded with news - is that a good thing or a bad thing?
We have a !news[email protected] community for news but no-one uses it - is it time to shift the conversation of news content over there? With less news content and just discussion content we could people might be more interested in sharing their opinions or asking for advice instead of going to one of these smaller communities where they probably won't receive much interaction.
Certainly, news content has been very important here and most discussions here are prompted by news stories. So on the one hand moving most news content to c/news might strip the Australia community of much interaction, but on the other hand since these are still relatively early days, it might be easier to do it sooner rather than later.
But as you said, since their aren't many people on here posting original content, opinions or questions I would say that opinion pieces or seeking discussion of larger issues would be welcome in the Australia community. For example:
- Foreign interference through social media is an active threat. Here's what Australia can do
- Why are so many boys and men feeling alone and in the cold?
- Families distressed after 'highly misleading' video used by anti-Voice campaigners goes viral
Would all be on-topic for c/australia. But:
- Burger giant Wendy's signs deal to open 200 Australian stores by 2034
- These Australians are happy to get on their hobby horses — and they're keen for others to do the same
- Australian government lifts humanitarian intake cap to 20,000 visas
- Mushroom mystery: family lunch leaves Australian town reeling after three deaths in suspected poisoning
would be more on-topic in c/news and/or Australian Politics.
I brought up political content in c/australia in a comment on this post, however the OP was concerned that if we split off into niches the community might not grow as well. I'm thinking of doing a sticky post to invite discussion over there on this topic and perhaps follow it up with a poll to see where everyone else sits.
EDIT: probably should have previewed the formatting first
There is a recent one currently in Aus which is both environmental and political
Actually looks like a couple:
- NSW Labor accused of ‘fundamental breach of trust’ over logging in promised koala national park
- Thousands of Labor members take climate challenge to Albanese
In both cases discussions are more likely to be focused on the political aspect, however would be of interest to both communities. A solution would be to have it posted to politics, cross-posted to environment and locked with link to politics post. Since you can still upvote/downvote locked posts, it wouldn't get lost.
To get around these problems there would have to be some ordering like: politics > environment > australia > news. But it would have to become simple and obvious enough that there is very little moderation work.
To move posts do you have to crosspost, then lock or delete in the original community?
That's what I think, though it is preferred if the OP can crosspost it so they get the interaction (replies).
I respect the hustle sir/mam/per.
I understand the "build it and they will come" mentality. Without a place to start those discussions, I presume they won't start at all.
I suppose it's a bit of a question about how do we define what a sub is for and let people know? Even then, no guarantee people will run with it.
I think legally-themed communities are prone to falling into the pit of people asking for legal advice on the internet at the best of times. I know the mods at the auslaw subreddit, despite as clearly as possible saying "no legal advice, no real lawyer is going to answer you," spend plenty of time removing legal advice requests or people saying "not asking for legal advice, but hypothetically, if I had a kg of meth down my pants, could the police search me? Just hypothetically?"
I think it is meant to be like Auslaw, just not many people posting that kind of content here unfortunately
It exists to be whatever the subscribers need from it. If it isn't fulfilling the needs of the people we can happily create a community that might. For now, it is yet to find its feet.