Compared to other forums, user activity on this forum has declined significantly in recent times. There are now only a few visitors, often fewer than 100, and many of them appear to be newcomers asking basic questions. Where have the advanced users gone? The community feels much less active and engaging than before.
Coming from more vibrant communities like Privacy Guides and the Graphene OS Forum, I noticed this forum feels quite dull in comparison. I just created my account yesterday, but the lack of discussion and expert participation is immediately apparent.
I can only speak for myself, but I have been balancing my online public activity across multiple Discourse forums (except for the Tor Project Forum):
Kicksecure Forum
Privacy Guides Community
Qubes OS Forum
VanLUG Forum
Whonix Forum
I have to be efficient and carefully choose topics that do not require committing extensive resources to resolve them, so that means online discussion is basically off the table at the moment. In addition, I have a physical presence in my local community, such as VanLUG:
I was preoccupied last night dealing with various Linux/VanLUG technical discussions and issues. Tomorrow is an OWASP Vancouver event and this Saturday is a VanLUG board meeting plus a technical presentation about Ansible. I have multiple incomplete and ongoing projects within and outside of VanLUG, so I spend most of my available resources dealing with them instead of others’ issues.
Yes, I’ve noticed the same thing and, as i have moved from beginner to more experienced, I visit less.
However I find this behaviour common on privacy, security and freedom forums as well as meatspace ones. I believe it relates to the political alignment of those who gravitate to such forums as well as to the moderation philosophy. And to the difference between early adopters vs the masses
There are still some excellent posters. If you have a question i suggest replying to one of them or @ them. There are a few posters on here who have contributed substantially to my knowledge and the quality of my qube setup
Also searching for older threads can yield much better information as long as it is not outdated
I had to wait roughly 3 days before my first post was reviewed and approved.
That is not good that it takes such a long time. And it could be part of the reason activity goes down.
More moderation control over content = less activity.
If moderation increases = activity decreases.
If moderation decreases = activity increases.
Is reduced traffic a plus or minus? I look at this forum frequently to learn something new and log on when I have questions. For me, Qubes has become remarkably solid so I rarely log on. A plus.
I’ve hoped to contribute more of my productive time to Qubes for a long time now, there’s a backlog of things I mean to get to, but the intention keeps running up against the exigencies of life during a period of geopolitical instability. More immediate moral responsibilities. It would be dumb to extrapolate from my individual experience, but this is the case for me. If the world could settle down – which is not going to happen – then I would be posting more and taking on bugs in the issue tracker, I believe.
First posts for @trust_level_0 are usually always subject to approval across Discourse forums. Once you have reached @trust_level_2, you can access the All around Qubes category, where I personally keep up-to-date via subscription since there is less traffic in it. I also handle prettifying the HCL Reports category’s posts in the background.
I found QubesOS more and more working reliable and nothing that can be tweaked or imprived …but…quite alright in terms of challenges and improvements.
There is a good topic on Reddit about Qubes and 2026 threat model…quite peculliar if can say so.
That’s not about the post getting technical, it’s about staying on-topic. The community is small, like @FranklyFlawless said, some have limited time, keeping things on-topic is very useful. See also:
Do you have a link to that?
I suppose that most of the time, the mods are taking action because some user flagged a post (like I often do). And for me, relaxing, and thus being overwhelmed, would mean leaving the forum.
Compared to other forums, user activity on this forum has declined
significantly in recent times.
I just created my account yesterday
How do these two square with each other? Are you an old-timer who’s
spent a lot of time in QubesOS forum and thus know about its older
membership activity; or, are you a newcomer making some suppositions
about how qubesos forum’s past activity history is like?
The community feels much less active and engaging than before.
I am an old-timer, with a few years of presence in the forum under my
belt. I definitely see a lot more weekly activity coming to my email
inbox from QubesOS forums. Imo, the message counts and the thread
counts are increasing. I am also seeing a lot of newer accounts around
here.
Coming from more vibrant communities like Privacy Guides and the
Graphene OS Forum, I noticed this forum feels quite dull in
comparison.
That’s your opinion. Is it a bad thing to be dull, and un-exciting?
Not necessarily so, imo. This isn’t your “internet friendship club.”
Here, is more like, “take care of your business, and do your chit-chat
elsewhere, club.”
More moderation control over content = less activity.
If moderation increases = activity decreases.
If moderation decreases = activity increases.
[… 13 lines elided]
Such a simple-minded approach. What kind of “activity” are you talking
about when you make this claim? Would a high spam, low quality, much
political bickering about “muh I am being oppressed in qubes os forums
thread No#78” be satiating to your hunger for activity?
People have way too much free time in their hands, man.
