Regarding the WordPress community, where's the spice?

  • Unknown's avatar
    davidcharleston · Member ·

    It seems like the forums here are just staff support to resolve user issues, but are there any fora or threads on WordPress to discuss and debate actual-world issues?

    Under “community”, there are two categories “WordPress support” & “WordPress forums”, but it seems like they’re one and the same. I know the “ideas” section mentions “Conversations about blogging”, but there doesn’t seem to be any debate about the themes and issues up for discussion. I don’t see any users going back and forth on the election cycle, moral issues or what’s in the news as in a discussion club. Is the only way to engage or have an argument on WordPress is to comment on some blog post (and hope not to get blocked)?

    I entered writing, in part, to engage and reason with people. But in 4 years on WordPress (on my main account), while I could have posted more, I received barely any feedback. And no conversation. My needs to engage on the truth of issues have mostly been met in discussion clubs elsewhere. I’ve been developing my writing and communication skills there. So, as a result, I haven’t spent as much time here in the past two years. I’m not sure where to look for regarding matters raised above.

    I also took my time and haven’t tried to be an elbow room megaphone in the community, preferring for others to say hello first, and when I needed help with a login issue recently was the most back and forth I got in all my time here. At the same time, I was elated to discover recently it’s possible to invite members to follow me and build one’s readership, but I’m not even sure where to even look for them other than random “Reader” entries. Might there be some club that hosts threads for argument and debate?

    I wouldn’t be here if I thought it wouldn’t help me build a readership/following and get hired as a writer down the line. I also refuse to write into the void and be ignored. I am looking forward to substantive feedback.

  • supernovia · Staff ·

    Hi @davidcharleston, thanks for the feedback! We’ll mull over expanding topics for our support forums, but in the meantime have you seen the tips here?
    https://wordpress.com/learn/get-connected/

    For example, you might follow a topic you’re interested in:
    https://wordpress.com/tag/astronomy

    Or browse to a current issue:
    https://wordpress.com/tag/ukraine

    The Reader lets you search for topics, too.

    You can read what people are saying, like the articles you really enjoyed, follow the sites you love, engage through commenting, or even write your own blog post that references a post you read. Typically, the article author will receive notification as a pingback, which they can choose to approve as a comment on their article if they’d like:
    https://wordpress.com/support/comments/pingbacks/

    You’ll find the people you love to engage with over time.

    The key as I’m sure you’re aware is to be absolutely authentic in your engagement: any “bulk” actions can be interpreted as spam and blocked.

    Here’s another article about traffic building:
    https://wordpress.com/support/getting-more-views-and-traffic/

    Want to give those tips a try and let us know what works well for you?

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