:arrow_right_hook: with a :boom:

Ciao ciao Harmos! It's Mat here and this is going to be a lengthy blog. I've decided it will be important and somewhat interesting for me to pop on and talk about the future of this community and things I'm planning.

My first paragraph will be of virtually no relevance to anyone, but I thought I'd may as well include it because it might provide some context to what I'm thinking and doing..?

So, in England we have been in a lockdown for nearly 3 months now. I think for myself it was so though especially in January and it was hard to get through. But hey, here now! Our schools reopened fully and pretty normally last Monday which is excellent and great step forward for me.

I think the pandemic, especially in the last few months, has really changed alot of my perspective and values in a way. I don't think there's every been a time in my life where I have valued everyday things so much. I think it's made me alot more appreciative and want to do so much more. It's strange, but fills me with an overwhelming optimism for the year ahead. Some of this might be reflected in what I'm striving for within this community. :sparkles:

Blabbing out of the way, it's over 4 years since I first became a leader on this community. (Oh, how I it!!), and I've seen the ups and downs. I would say the activity here nowadays is probably the lowest it has been, but something I'm keen to point out is that the small amount of active we still have are a great, tight-knit bunch. Many of us have been for years and it is lovely.

We have a very low member growth rate, average is about 1 a day, and if I'm being perfectly honest that is not something which worries me or any other of the team significantly. Brutally, the Harmonizer fandom is extremely dead. It's still strong, but with the girls doing very little these days, I can totally see why. There's only so much you can post before there's nothing left. I think what our aim needs to be is increasing activity and not chasing new who won't be active.

Maybe this is an isolated thought, but I do think that music fandoms (i.e; Directioners, Arianators, Swifties) aren't what they used to be. I think it was a mass trend that peaked around 2016, and that's not to say these fandoms don't exist, but I don't think it's like it was. In the last year I have felt extremely disconnected from like "Harmonizer" and I see myself more of a chill fan nowadays. If you look back at 2016 me some days I'd spend all day listening to 5H or Taylor and posting things. I don't do that at all anymore and it's a sign of the times really, my priorities and time is much different these days.

Something I think we can consider is widening the posting guildines around here. As I say, alot of us still here have been for a while, or are very involved in the community, so this isn't a bad idea in my opinion. This has not been discussed with the team, so don't take my word for it, but something we could look at is allowing more posts about other singers, shows, life, whatnot. As long as it's not excessive, sensible and moderated, I don't really see an issue.

I'd be interested in hearing what you guys think of this idea.

Now, onto what I'll be doing within the community. Many months ago (maybe even years?) I was very active and consistent as a poster in this community. I'd be lying if I said I was the busiest person in the world, but also if I claimed to be super idle (I had to google what the opposite of busy was then :joy: ). But what I've decided is I'm going to attempt to combined a few things into blog and try and do it at least fortnightly. Similar to my "Monthly Blogs," but I'm going to adapt it and include sections like Good News, a debate, discussion, opinion. Like my own newspaper column? Who knows. It will be better than what I used to do. Sometimes putting a lot of effort into many blogs can be quite draining, so compressing it into one will be good.

We have discussed reforming the Harmo Dots system here recently, but nothing has come of it as of yet. I think it would be interesting to trial a new system because there's a lot of fun that can be had if we can manage it and keep up 🤔

Similarly, I think there's a lot of development we can have with this community, despite the issues we face. We used to have a lot of fun challenges, like #ImOnAGroup.. I'm sure there's more. You can be very creative within communities and you just have to do what you can with what you have I think.

I think something which I'll look at doing in the next few days is just cleaning up the community, in of chats, shared folders, catalogs. Refreshing and redeg is always a good thing. If anyone has any colour suggestions or photos then I'd love to see them.

Think that will do for now! I'll probably add more thoughts and ideas in the comments so stay tuned.. Please let me know any suggestions you have! This is OUR community and we're gonna do this together :punch: . Let's start a new and exciting chapter! stay safe guys :two_hearts: