"gig" board support tools

[vcarl]

We added a #looking-for-group forum channel, which is getting some decent volume of posts to it. I think it would benefit us to collect some information about how people are using it and share out information about how to make use of it and what the expectations are.

We should add a features similar to what we have for #resume-review, where the bot posts an embed to each new post with some interaction buttons. The buttons should include a simple "I reached out" interaction, as well as a button for folks to follow-up and report how the interaction went. Clicking "I reached out" responds with an acknowledgement and asks them to follow up later, clicking "follow up" asks then to report back how it went with a set of multiple-choice options (options like "it went well and I'm contributing", "I couldn't find a way to contribute", "not for me", "person is soliciting paid work", "I think this is a scam"

[Simplyalex99]

Hi Vcarl, I'd like to hear your thoughts on the following comments:

We added a #looking-for-group forum channel, which is getting some decent volume of posts to it. I think it would benefit us to collect some information about how people are using it and share out information about how to make use of it and what the expectations are.

After careful analysis with AI and looking over sets of data, here is a summary of what is happening in LFG(Looking for groups):

TL:DR

Analyzed recent discussion threads and found consistent patterns of:

• High user interest in collaboration, learning/personal growth, and contributing

• Frequent follow-ups via DMs, but little public accountability or closure

• Some misuse of the space for unsolicited job promotion or unclear intentions

FULL ANALYSIS

1 . User intent overview:

✅ a. Skill-Building & Portfolio Growth
Users want to learn through doing—building projects, studying DSA, and contributing to open-source.

Examples:

“Let’s build a project together.”

“I’ve been wanting a study buddy.”

“I’m interested in contributing to this open-source UI library.”

✅ b. Networking & Collaboration
Many users seek small, focused groups or 1:1 connections for:

Accountability

Study sessions

Collaborative learning or co-building

These users often follow through with DMs and check-ins.

❌ c. Job/Commercial Misalignment
A smaller subset misinterprets the space as a job board or freelance recruitment platform.

Example:

“Looking for developers to build an AI-powered app (Startup!)”

“We have a team of 250+ developers…”

🔗 2. Engagement Patterns & Follow-Up Behavior

Behavior Pattern Observed

✅ High-Intent Replies Users reply to each other, follow up with DMs, and form groups with shared goals

⚠️ Message Skipping Some ignore pinned/context messages (e.g., not reading OP's expectations)

❌ Rule-Breaking Posts Some users post job ads or promotions despite clear non-commercial rules

3. ⚠️ Risks to Monitor

Risk Mitigation Strategy

Spam & Job Promotions Auto-responder + periodic mod reminders: “This is a non-commercial space…”

Ghosting in Groups Offer group best-practices or re-engagement prompts every few weeks

Engagement Drop-off Celebrate milestones: "Built this with a group from this thread!" → Encourages others

Conclusion

With this analysis, here are a few things we could do to enhance the LFG channel:

Due to mixed user intents, we could do the following to better organize channels:

• Create more tags in the forum so users can add/filter search
• Add templates depending on the type of intent, from collabs to skill building
• Create separate channels for looking for study groups, to group projects etc.

Mods need to constantly remind of non-commercial/job posts. We could do the following:

• Add automod to this channel
• Add job scanner to this channel

Users also need to be reminded of what's expected and what the OP(original poster) is looking for. Here is what we can do:

• Reply with a bot to the forum once to remind users whatthe OP is looking for or simply reply after x posts with an auto message of what the OP is looking for.

Ghosting, and others hijacking popular threads to promote their stuff could be resolved with the suggestion mentioned originally of possible action buttons. See response to the second reply below.

We should add a features similar to what we have for #resume-review, where the bot posts an embed to each new post with some interaction buttons. The buttons should include a simple "I reached out" interaction, as well as a button for folks to follow-up and report how the interaction went. Clicking "I reached out" responds with an acknowledgement and asks them to follow up later, clicking "follow up" asks then to report back how it went with a set of multiple-choice options (options like "it went well and I'm contributing", "I couldn't find a way to contribute", "not for me", "person is soliciting paid work", "I think this is a scam"

What do you think of the following?

• These action buttons will be ephemeral.
• We can use LRU cache to prevent spam from taking advantage of this system.
• The embedded post would consist of the following:
  • I reached out action button; we could bump this channel so show its activity with either an auto message saying "userA reached out to original post" or adding an active tag or displaying the number of engagements in the title. We could then remove these active tags if the thread gets inactive.
  • report button ; report to mods
  • follow up ; display another 4 action button of the following:
    • we connected ; we could use this to signal activity
    • ghosted ; used to show inactivity
    • not for me
    • soliciting for work; possibly notify mods

Not sure if we should log these action results and if so, where would be best?

[vcarl]

(sorry, had missed this! will review this week)

[vcarl]

The hardest part here is, if we add those buttons, what do they do? I'm generally down to merge something and while this analysis generally jives with my read on how the channel operates but I think I need more detail before I can comment too strongly.

We can use LRU cache to prevent spam from taking advantage of this system.

not sure I know understand your intent here, lru cache on what?

displaying the number of engagements in the title

Updating the title is going to post a message to the channel with the updated title, which will bump the thread afaik — no way to prevent both of those things happening, which I think makes that not work well as an option here.

"active this week" seems like a solid tag to add, tho I think what you describe here sounds backwards to me — "i reached out" shouldn't indicate activity imo, "i connected with the poster" should. More important to have signal about whether OP is replying than whether people are contacting them. Keeping that tag up-to-date is def important if added.

Otherwise, the direction here sounds good! More ways to let folks communicate about the posts in there, and get a sense for whether it's worth investing their time on, seems very good