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I've noted that older answers generally got way more votes, answers, and "solveds" compared to usual. I am a new user here so I envy what this site once had and would like to do something towards helping bring it back to how it was.

This trend seems to be taking place across a lot of stack exchanges. What could be causing this? Certainly, the older something gets, the more people hear about it, and the larger the community grows. It seems the trend is opposite, communities are shrinking. How can that be? What can we do to reverse that trend and bring it back up?

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This is my perception of one possible contributing factor. Note that my perception of what's going on in the community is likely highly colored by my own feelings and behavior patterns.

Coincident with higher activity levels on our core Q&A site, Mi Yodeya used to have significantly higher levels of community activity, including banter in our chat rooms and cooperation on communal projects such as Mi Yodeya Publications and an ambitious siyum project.

Monica Cellio was one of our moderators and also a leader in many of these communal activities. She was also a moderator of a bunch of other Stack Exchange communities. In late 2019, the Stack Exchange corporation summarily and permanently fired Monica from her moderator positions for reasons that many Stack Exchange participants consider unjust and injudicious and in a manner that many consider unfair and damaging. This and other destructive actions that the company took at the time led to an extended period of bad feelings across the Stack Exchange network.

I believe that community activity at Mi Yodeya dropped off significantly around the time of Monica's firing, and I think that there is a causal relationship between these phenomena. I suspect that some of the most active members of the community (me included) developed negative associations with this website and therefore lost some of their previous enthusiasm for building community here. That, combined with the loss of Monica herself as a leader and participant, may have contributed significantly to a drop-off in community and Q&A activity here and elsewhere on the network.

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    See also: judaism.stackexchange.com/a/111751
    – Isaac Moses Mod
    Commented Nov 24, 2022 at 15:58
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    I'm sorry you've all had to go through this. Social media is full of this in a world that doesn't have respect for treating people like mentchen and I genuine didn't expect that SE was one of the worst violators. I hope we can bring back some life and encouragement here though, the value of what's going on is worth it. Any suggetions about what we can do to improve the situation?
    – Rabbi Kaii
    Commented Nov 25, 2022 at 10:35
  • I concur with what you've seen. I've been a member here for years and the website has certainly crawled after what was done to Monica. I know she and some others went and started their community of questions and answers. Did that make headway?
    – Aaron
    Commented Feb 7, 2023 at 19:08
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    I remember the whole affair with Monica well. I considered her a good friend here and thought she worked hard to be even handed and respectful of everyone, even if she didn't agree with their viewpoint. The decision to remove her was a mistake. From what I know she was a resident in my state. There have been waves, from time to time, of people who attack alternative opinions with good scholarship from legitimate sources. It comes from intolerance and in my opinion, baseless hatred. FYI, Isaac Moses, like Monica, I hold the same of you my friend. Only blessings.
    – Yaacov Deane
    Commented Dec 12, 2023 at 17:50
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    @RabbiKaii An additional comment...over the years, I have also been the recipient of bad treatment by some. But I chose to remain and contribute because I believe the intentions (increasing and spreading Torah and trying to help one another) and efforts by Isaac and the other founders was honorable and good. Love and brotherhood of all the Jewish people demonstrates love of G-d.
    – Yaacov Deane
    Commented Dec 12, 2023 at 17:56
  • @IsaacMoses I still don't understand how the whole chat room thing works. And i miss the phone app. It was very convenient.
    – Yaacov Deane
    Commented Dec 12, 2023 at 18:01

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