What would you want from a local sub for somewhere in the UK?

Posted by RainbowPenguin1000@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 28 comments

I’m a mod for a subreddit for a UK town and am trying to think of anything that may increase engagement or bring people to the sub so am asking - what would you like a sub local to your town/city in the UK to do? Weekly or monthly posts around local destinations? Shitposting threads? Meet up threads? Local news? Whatever you feel is a good addition mention it down below. Thanks!

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28 Comments

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DaveBeBad@reddit

As someone who occasionally browses subs for towns that aren’t too local but I’m visiting (usually gigs), I’m interested in: Where to park Where to eat What’s to do

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cup-of-tea-76@reddit

<local town> girls gone wild day

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Craft_on_draft@reddit

Definitely not, I don’t want to see Dorris from Morrisons piss flaps

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Shoddy_Juggernaut_11@reddit

If you're mod, dont be twat, allow jokes and be gentle to noobs and visitors who are genuinely seeking answers.

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Meet-me-behind-bins@reddit

Just mute the complainers and the doom merchants. Most local subs turn into hate subs within 6 months. They’re depressing.

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SentientWickerBasket@reddit

I quit Reddit for a long time because of this, and have come back with *very* careful curation. It was nakedly fucking pumping venom into my neck, it was. There's just no shortage of "I'm at the grand age of 24 and my life isn't very good yet so I give up before I even start and you should too". It's poison.

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circle1987@reddit

Curious. Are you Irish? You sounded Irish with the "into my neck, it was".

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SentientWickerBasket@reddit

Liverpool, which is basically the same thing.

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imminentmailing463@reddit

Absolutely. For any sub tbh, the content you keep off is probably the most important thing. Reddit has such a tendency towards cynicism, unpleasantness and negativity that you have to work really hard to prevent that. Keep that stuff away, and the good content will probably take care of itself. Keeping away the undesirable content is the important thing.

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chipscheeseandbeans@reddit

My best advice would be to broaden the focus of the sub to include more of the local area. I don’t comment in the sub for the small town I live in because I like the anonymity of Reddit and I’d be concerned someone I know would recognise me. But a sub for a whole county isn’t as much of a concern.

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Dazz316@reddit

I'd like it to replace my local facebook group. So i can finally quite facebook. News for local events. Engagement with local businesses. However, it wouldn't work without HEAVY moderation. Between the "OMG A CAT MEOWED AT ME, I THINK IT'S DYING" and the trolls that go for them, anonymity is going to make things 10x worse and it'd turn into a cesspool in 5 minutes. But if it doesn't happen, it'd be great.

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non-hyphenated_@reddit

>OMG A CAT MEOWED AT ME, I THINK IT'S DYING Posted on PETS LOST AND FOUND. Shared Scarborough hun xx

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Dazz316@reddit

are you ok!? Shared in Edinburgh!!!

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im-hippiemark@reddit

Local gigs, events, shows, art exhibitions, pop up things. Since the local paper stopped I have zero clue what is happening. Especially as I don't have FB.

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Lopsided_Soup_3533@reddit

Good moderators make the difference. The best subs I find strike a balance of allowing some silliness and not allowing trolls.

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_marimays@reddit

I'll be honest, I come to Reddit to avoid that sort of crap. I have never even tried to look at a sub that's relevant to my local area. You may be struggling with engagement because many Redditors share this view.

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CoffeeIgnoramus@reddit

- No advertising of any kind. There are too many variables to decide if it really is a good cause, or not technically profit, or if it's really a good deal for users. Paid advertising exists, you don't get to bypass it and use the sub as your personal client base. - no more of a controversial topic after it's been discussed once, and it gets locked the second it gets abusive. - more info about the local area, history, best food places, best visitor things, best traditions (all from discussions and seeing it pop up from different people so you know it's legitimately good). - no local news unless it's just nice. Because almost every news article on my local sub turns into 2 sides trash talking each other.

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burning-whisper@reddit

I think niche local stories/happenings (gossip is always welcomed). Discussions about upcoming local events. Shouting out great local businesses and ones to avoid

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matbur81@reddit

A weekly good news post

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JohnLennonsNotDead@reddit

Advertise local small stores, family run businesses etc

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CharringtonCross@reddit

I think I’d have to start from the beginning. Why do you want to increase engagement? What kind of engagement are you wanting to see?

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fishercrow@reddit

for my particular local sub, perhaps an FAQ, with things such as: - if you want to know why the police are on your street at 3am, perhaps check their twitter or the local paper tomorrow morning. otherwise we don’t know. - no, you probably wont get shot if you live in [area]. - the local cat cafe is bad. dont go there. and such things.

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tmstms@reddit

Tractors. Maybe an occasional Ocean Fish Platter.

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Moist-Film-8648@reddit

I would start populating it with as much relevant subjects that aren't in many other places on the internet, such as local news topics and destinations and stuff like that. If you use terms that aren't common on the internet it might draw in more people who Google the area. Also, engage with anyone who does post there as much as possible. I'd go to a place like that if there was one for my area lol.

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gerbilshoe@reddit

Lots of local content, like you see on local facebook groups. Nobody has posted in my town sub for 3 years :(

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Alarmed_Crazy_6620@reddit

Bins chat

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Suitable-Order6753@reddit

Our bins get emptied once a month now 😡 we also had pay £80 a year from July 2023 😡

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Suitable-Order6753@reddit

I know the Manchester subreddit also has a discord. The subreddit people do meet ups and allow people to make their own Shit posting yea to a certain extent if it’s based about that town. Most make a good laugh Help about issues or questions or recommendations such as “Where can I get the best spicy dip burger from? Or “Is this good for rent here?”