Honestly, this feels like trying to program ourselves out of a fundamentally social/human issue. I think that the best way to design a strong-lasting platform is to not over-complicate it. I would look to successful forums, those that are still running or ran for many years. How did they maintain their community?

Ultimately, I suspect that the answer ultimately comes down to the growth curve. Slow and steady growth where new users get assimilated into the platform’s culture is likely how this works.

I think your logarithmic curve is an interesting idea, and if you do implement it, I’d be interested to see the results. However, I don’t know if it will be enough to “maintain” a community. In fact, you may end up with the opposite problem if the algorithm is successful. You’ll have a community that doesn’t change where the oldest accounts rule.

My new supervisor, the day I met him, was talking about how space data centers are a great idea (“because it’s so cold up there!”) and will be amazing when they’re online. That’s the moment I realized he was breathtakingly stupid. He may not believe in thermodynamics, but thermodynamics believes in him.

I guess I shouldn’t have expected much given that he has a degree in finance and has worked in consulting for 10 years.