The Comedy Open Mic Newsletter - State of the COMmunity

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Greetings

This post is a result of observation over many months, it's an issue that has gone long unaddressed mainly because I (@amirtheawesome1) have had taken time away from the COMmunity during a specific period which included a lot of growth in terms of numbers. However, this growth in numbers didn't coincide with a growth in comedy post quality, in fact, I could make the argument it met a serious decrease in the quality of comedy posts that turned us no different than any general-topic community such as GEMS

Now, this is obviously not a knock on GEMS as it is one of the largest communities on the platform, however, it does mean that Comedy Open Mic has lost much of its uniqueness which set it apart

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Growth in the number of subscribers is obviously a goal among the community's goals, but definitely not one that is the most important, in fact, in comparison to what the community is trying to accomplish, I would argue, that it is not even important.

As implied in the name, the COMmunity is built on creating a place that is not unlike a comedy club. A platform for people to show off their comedic abilities through written posts. Those posts could range in topic which is what we hold similar with communities like GEMS, but definitely should include a large portion of comedy, and that's what set us apart and even allowed us to create many partnerships since the community's creation.

Posts in different communities can or can't be comedic, but this one it can't be anything other than comedic. Topics can vary but comedy has to remain a main pillar. Do we still have comedy-based posts? Of course, we do. But, that takes us to another issue in the community at the moment

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We've already established what sets apart this community from other general-topic communities, now let's talk about what sets it apart from other comedy communities.

Other comedy communities on this platform are simple joke-based communities. This means they include basically one joke, one punchline. You can see that in the form of posts including only one-liner or a simple meme format. While here, and as said before, it's meant to mimic a stand-up comedy set that can performed in comedy clubs.

Once that's abandoned, there's really no reason for this community to exist. So, unlike what your girlfriend does say in bed, length does matter. Overstretching what is easily a 50-word post into a 400-500-word post doesn't make the post belong here. Comedy posts here need to be more thought-out. This takes me to the final point of this post.

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Going back to a previous point, comedy is the main pillar of this community, it's a non-negotiable. But, it needs to be a longer form than what we are seeing in the past few months. Also, it needs to be more variable, this is why it is important to check out others' posts before posting your own. As we speak, there are three posts about food literally stacked on top of each other, and there are countless posts with the theme "my country does this", which separately could mean something productive, but collectively just means the community is running out of ideas.

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The Comedy Open Mic community will go through a certain revamp. The community leaders will be doing their role in that, by providing specific guidelines of the kinds of posts we'd like to see in this community. In return, we will ask our resident comedians to work with us in accomplishing the goal of creating a community that is similar to a stand-up comedy club.

Obviously, we don't want this community to perish, but if the substitute is for it to become far removed from its intended identity, then that is an end we are willing to accept. So, for the time being, we are entering a more strict era as we get our cards in order.

Stay Tune for the Guidelines Post



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18 comments
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This is a very great idea, setting a guideline for the kind of post that should be posted into the community will go a long way to help in creating good comic posts and one would know what he or she is targeting while writing his or her comedy. Our eyes are widely opened waiting for those guidelines.

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A nice one. This has been one of my best community and anything that would help it grow should be taken serious too.

Thanks for the post

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Great step toward the right direction. I look forward to those guidelines from the COMmunity moderators. The revamp is what this platform needs for now.

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I appreciate every contribution the comedy team have showcase and I believe it is for the growth to enable it expand and progress in a better way.

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Growth in numbers didn't seem to mean growth in quality and we are trying to combat that.

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I am curious to know the guidelines of what a comedy post should entail and so, waiting for the next post to highlight in details too. Of course, this is a comedy community and post published should relate directly to it and not otherwise. I shall be expecting your next post, sir.

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The guidelines will aim mostly to decrease the number of lazy/low-quality posts first. Through our "Comedy School" initiative, we will try to help those struggling but still want to try out comedy posts.

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(Edited)

Honestly, I was expecting something like this. Even those with good comedy skills have reduced their quality of dishing out what would crack the readers, simply because of the type of posts that's paraded on the hot list. It made me reduce my participation. Comedy can be, but shouldn't be necessarily what happened to you or someone, or must be a true life story, and that's what we see here all the time; one of the reason for decline in aquality. A stand up comedian cook stories that would make people laugh, and wrap it around something. The aim is to make people laugh, and anything outside that is gibberish.

A comedian said one of the difficult thing in life is to make people laugh, and truly, my dad is a case study. No matter how you crack a joke, someone like my dad would never laugh, but just tell him he's handsome, and you would see him laughing and smiling like a fool. (He's ugly)Lol

I really support the revamp that's about to take place. Most of our posts now lack flavour for which the community was created for. We are all in this together and all hands should be on deck, if we all want to keep the community alive.

Looking forward to seeing the new guidelines. One love

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Stagnation was expected to be reached at a certain point as the community grows, the problem is that it happened here at the worst possible time with only one person trying to run the community for months.

With the new guidelines, we aim to tackle two birds with one stone by specifying the requirements which would in turn lead to lazy posters away. Would that cost us in the number of active members? Yes, and it is kinda the goal as the community's purpose is always quality over quantity. A purpose we believe proved its necessity by looking at the community's status. Obviously, no community wants to have low numbers, but what is the point of having thousands of members when quality posts are basically buried under tons of generic, as you phrased it, lack of flavour posts?

I really support the revamp that's about to take place. Most of our posts now lack flavour for which the community was created for. We are all in this together and all hands should be on deck, if we all want to keep the community alive.

The community will also do its part in providing posts to help those seeking to improve and sharpen their comedic abilities through our new "Comedy School" initiative. If it works, great, if not, we'd rather see the community die off rather than becoming generic and flavourless.

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I write in the community rarely. I think in my nearly 3 years journey I have published only 3 posts here. The reason is that I don't feel my posts upto the mark of being titled as comedy.

I hope the revamp would be beneficial

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To be honest, a lot of the fault falls on us. In the beginning, there was an idea of creating Comedy School types of posts that would serve as a great help to those struggling, but the idea was abandoned for a variety of reasons. We will bring that idea to life and use it as a reference in the future.

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This is good as it'll make the Community better with a standard note.

Awaiting the guidelines

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So to sum up your post . NO WHY DID THE CHICKEN CROSS THE ROAD

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More like, don't give me a roadmap of the chicken's means of crossing the road with the chicken's background story and what is everyone wearing without it being comedy-driven.

Is it just me or the above actually would make a good idea for a comedy post?

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Setting a special well to follow guideline on what to post is very important and myself have been longing for this adjustments long ago.

Before now, I observed that many posts in this community are faraway from comedy yet, they will receive support without any warning.

Thanks for setting matters straight.

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