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Is it just me, or has participation in Meta dropped off a lot over the last two years? It always seemed like about 10%-15% of users active on Main were also active on Meta. Now it feels more like 1%.

Anyway...

As of this post, the Community Ads 2021 post is 20 days old, has been viewed a whopping 186 times, with a total of 15 votes cast (and that includes the single -1 vote against my "we need your help in the Sandbox" ad... someone must really hate either me or participation in the Sandbox). What's heartbreaking is knowing that I'm personally responsible for three (20%) of those votes...

I'd make a community ad post inviting people to visit the Community Ads 2021 page to cast votes, but that's using what appears to be a broken system to fix said system.

I've occasionally seen "Welcome Back!" popups when I visit a Stack after a while. Is it possible to use that same engine to invite people to visit the Community Ads page? If not, are there alternatives? It seems our Stack could use a way to make announcements to people on Main without actually using an off-topic question to do it.

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    $\begingroup$ And you don't account for the amount of propositions, especially when looking on WB:SE only candidates x). I would have liked to make a long banner, but I have got no topic to work on, so... $\endgroup$
    – Tortliena - inactive
    Commented Jul 8, 2021 at 9:40
  • $\begingroup$ I think you're asking two separate questions here! $\endgroup$
    – elemtilas
    Commented Jul 12, 2021 at 2:38
  • $\begingroup$ Not enough for an answer: I don't really see the purpose or the need for community ads. I've seen the posts here in meta every year, but I've never actually seen a community ad. Today is actually the very first time I've ever even visited or looked at the SE main page (yay???) and I'm guessing the "community ad" is that little tiny box that says Aviation.SE has 21k thousand questions, blah, blah. Took me a while to even find that, because stuff over on the right column is most often useless information (same thing on Reddit), so focus almost never strays from the centre panel. $\endgroup$
    – elemtilas
    Commented Jul 12, 2021 at 2:50
  • $\begingroup$ I think this might be because googles take us straight to WB without stopping by SE first. Which makes sense for folks looking into drysuits for furries, but makes a lot less sense for advertising our community on SE's really lackluster front page. The googles do the advertising for us. $\endgroup$
    – elemtilas
    Commented Jul 12, 2021 at 3:00
  • $\begingroup$ As for your other question: probably just a periodic participation repositioning. $\endgroup$
    – elemtilas
    Commented Jul 12, 2021 at 3:04
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    $\begingroup$ @elemtilas That's odd... Before I took my hiatus I saw community ads every time I visited WB.SE. I've seen precious little of them since restarting my journey, which I basically blamed on the changes that made them harder (IMO) to use. $\endgroup$
    – JBH
    Commented Jul 12, 2021 at 21:03
  • $\begingroup$ I remember that hiatus. That was a sad time! Sorry, but I have no memory of community ads in actual use. :/ $\endgroup$
    – elemtilas
    Commented Jul 12, 2021 at 22:05
  • $\begingroup$ I didn't even have a clue how any of these things were handled until I read this post, and it's been a while since I checked on the meta about anything. And that's with me being at #5 in the standings. Some of the stuff here is relevant, but I certainly don't feel engaged in the running of the site. Maybe you need a badge on WB SE for connecting to the Meta on a certain basis (weekly, etc.) or some other kind of incentive. I still don't understand all of the "Monica" controversy, but it seems like a lot of the really engaged members quit being involved due to the unpleasant politics. $\endgroup$
    – DWKraus
    Commented Jul 12, 2021 at 23:45
  • $\begingroup$ @DWKraus It was unpleasant. But it's also the past. The idea of a badge is a good one - especially if it's a "you get it so long as you do it" type badge. I.E., if you don't look at 5 Meta posts a week, the badge disappears until you do. Then make the badge one of those used it indicate involvement during moderator elections. The only problem is that WB tends not to have many meta posts in a week. But I do like the idea. $\endgroup$
    – JBH
    Commented Jul 13, 2021 at 13:31
  • $\begingroup$ I was thinking more along the lines of the enthusiast/fanatic type, but while you CAN earn those on the meta, if you don't care about the meta, you won't do it. So make them badges on WB SE, and noobs will visit the meta/start good habits. Never good to take away a badge from someone. $\endgroup$
    – DWKraus
    Commented Jul 13, 2021 at 13:42
  • $\begingroup$ @DWKraus Unfortunately, badges are system-wide. That means making the suggestion on Meta Stack Exchange and hoping the SE Overlords notice. $\endgroup$
    – JBH
    Commented Jul 13, 2021 at 15:55

1 Answer 1

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  • I visit Meta WB SE weekly or thereabouts. But most of the time I have nothing worth saying, so that I cast an up or a down vote or two, and then I leave.

  • I don't look at advertisements. I don't care about advertisements. I saw the title of the question about community advertisements and felt no need to read it. I still don't.

  • I have never seen the welcome page of Stack Exchange. I don't think that anybody has any reason to go there. I'd say that welcome page of SE is the last place where I would place an advertisement, but then my expertise with advertisements is very limited.

  • The Sandbox is rather disfunctional. I do understand the technical limitations. No, I do not have a better idea.

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  • $\begingroup$ #1 & #2 are unarguable. #3 isn't what you think it is. It's a drop-down box that appears at the top of the normal Main page (if enabled) to welcome back people who have not been on that Stack for a long time or to post other announcements. It's something that would happen here, on Main, if it can be configured this way. #4 only works if experienced users are willing to be mentors. Most aren't. $\endgroup$
    – JBH
    Commented Jul 12, 2021 at 21:05

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