A forum for All About Berlin

Immigrants need a space to discuss the challenges of settling in Germany. Those discussions should happen in public, so that others may benefit. It should be a helpful and welcoming space.

I am building a forum for All About Berlin. It will be a community where immigrants get help from peers and experts.

Openness

Currently, most immigration talk happens in private Facebook groups, Telegram channels and WhatsApp group chats. Answers are given once, invisible to insiders, often lost in a stream of ads and suggested content.

Those who would benefit from that knowledge will never find it.

Reddit is a notable exception: it’s a public forum for now. This probably won’t last. Reddit is training the the AI models that is killing its traffic. Bots are infesting its communities. Sooner or later, they will also go private.¹

This forum will stay public, come what may. Its explicit goal is to amplify the wisdom of the crowd. Helpful answers will be accessible to all, without restrictions.

This will be a challenge. AI crawlers have gotten really aggressive, to the point of killing websites with the weight of their traffic.² Keeping this website accessible to humans means weathering a deluge of bot traffic.

Kindness

I want this place to feel nice. It should have a culture of kindness and helpfulness. Behaviour that would not be tolerated in person should not be tolerated online.

Moderation will make or break this forum. I put a lot of faith in it. Snarky or unhelpful comments should be quietly removed. Repeat offenders should be shown the door.

Moderators should be more like librarians than like bouncers. They should patiently guide people to existing answers and make newcomers feel at home.

Helpfulness

In due time, experts should have special profiles. Their contributions should be highlighted. I see a way to align incentives. It would both highlight their authority and encourage them to contribute more. A lawyer can gain visibility and find new clients by being a helpful contributor.

And how will we pay for that?

Most likely, we won’t. This community will not be profitable, but it will be cheap to run. I expect it to stay a small and cosy corner of the web.

We could probably generate a small income by wrapping product mentions with affiliate links. A Commerzbank mention could turn into an affiliate link to their website, so if someone opens a bank account, it would go towards our hosting and moderation bills.

Fears

A few fears have kept me from starting this community earlier.

My biggest fear is having to deal with drama. Moderation is unpleasant, thankless work. Hell hath no fury like an anonymous user scorned. Placing myself in the middle of internet drama means I will catch strays. It will get personal. I am afraid that the stress of moderation will seep into my personal life.

My second biggest fear is the time commitment. All About Berlin rarely requires my immediate attention, but a community will. I don’t want to be dragged out of a vacation to swing the banhammer.

I was planning to have paid moderation right from the start, but my discretionary budget has dwindled significantly, so I must handle moderation myself.

Why now?

I should have started a community years ago. When ToyTown Germany vanished, I should have filled the gap. We would have a wonderful, vibrant community by now.

The second best time is today.

The conditions are far from perfect. We’re facing stronger headwinds. How will we handle the relentless bot traffic? Will anyone join the community if they get all their answers from Claude? Will Google surface our answers at all?

Frankly, I just don’t know. I am scared, but this is important to me, so I will do it anyway.