Looking back at 2024 on the network

Happy new year, everyone. Now that the holiday quiet is over, I wanted to share a proper look back at 2024 on the network, the good bits and the bits I'd rather forget, and ask for your input on what comes next.

What worked

• Smaller, focused spaces. The ones with a clear purpose, like the Patient Support Network and Music Lovers, grew steadily without much help from me. The broad catch-all ones didn't.
• The courses. Thank you to the testers who worked through Community Management 101 and Moderation Essentials in November and sent me pages of notes. Both are better for it, and they're already what new members mention most in their introductions.
• Volunteer moderators. Thank you to everyone who took a shift in Moderators HQ. Response times on reports went from days to hours.

What didn't

The welcome flow was too long. Plenty of people signed up, saw a wall of options and never came back. I also let the events calendar go stale for most of the autumn, and our notification emails spent weeks landing in junk folders without me noticing. Both are on me, and I'll write up the email fix separately.

The focus for this year

Fewer features, more follow-through. I'm shortening the welcome flow, keeping at least one event on the calendar every week, and spending more time in UNA Builders answering questions instead of just shipping things.

What would make this place more useful for you? Reply below, even if it's one line. I read every comment.