I'd say join a writing group. Somewhere you have a few peers that just talk about writing in general. About things you're stuck on or struggling with. I'm sure there are free lectures from other authors you can listen to that would be similar to doing a college course.

Past that- I have to say, we are all our own worst critics. You'll always be able to see your mistakes and see where things aren't quite the way you want them. Somebody that doesn't know exactly what you WANTED to say can see what you DID say, and they will think you did so intentionally. They'll assume you're the expert and will assume your work is quality. Even other authors, as they probably suffer from the same thing.

Finally, when it comes to getting out what you want to say- that's always been a place I struggle as well. I tend to write and rewrite things time and time again. Edit over and over again, and I'm not even a writer!
Don't be afraid to come back later. Don't be afraid to rewrite what you had. Don't be afraid to delete it all! The story can still be there as history. Your characters might have done what you wrote in the past, and it never has to have physical words describing it because you, the author, know it happened even if you can't quite get it down. This can still affect the current events and allude to a mystery behind the story that readers can imaginatively fill in or give them food for thought that will leave them wondering each night.

@Padre_J_Roulston @Lano
It's not supposed to require moderation for replies for long term users. For some reason this wasn't applying to Lano. However, this should be fixed now. :)

It was. 😞

It looks like it died around 1am MDT and I got it back up and running around 8:30 MDT.

It always dies right as I go to bed. 🙄
Been planning on getting a lot of that automated, but haven't had time.

Good idea @soco - Added:
https://help-qa.com/faq#sect22

Very well put, Padre!

I think the only thing I would add- is there is always a way to say something in a nicer way. Also no matter how much you disagree with something or somebody, that is no reason to belittle them or their ideas.

I've seen a lot of political debates here lately. The reason they are not allowed is because they always end with somebody offended and they are never educational. They use berates to tear people down for having a different opinion. If you disagree with somebody and you cannot hold your tongue, please, just move on. You are not helping.

I use Slack very regularly (like a few times per hour).
I'm not sure what you're referring to when you say you haven't set it up to QA yet though. We may need more info to help you, otherwise the snippet @BA1 shared should get you what you need.

That site is being sat on by somebody- it's the type of person/group/company that buys sites they think may be high value and then resells them at high costs. Think of it like the people that bought all of the toilet paper at the stores, and then tried to resell it for 10x the price. Yeah. Same thing. 😒

That was one of the domains I originally looked at, but because of the private seller, I didn't even try to negotiate with them. I've had a pretty poor experience in the past trying to talk to those people, so now I just figure a way around it instead by getting a different domain.

Commonly what will happen is if you send an inquiry, they'll ask you to make an offer. They have a number in their head of what they will accept, but won't tell you in hopes that you offer more. If you offer less, they'll generally make you a counter offer which is 2-3x the price they are hoping for (which, again, is probably 10x the "reasonable" price...) and it becomes a lose-lose haggle match where you eventually might think you got a good deal but still wound up getting the goods for a significantly marked up price. To give some rough estimates, a cheap domain is usually around $5-$20 per year. Privately owned marked up domains can cost $500+ a year, PLUS they make you pay an upfront cost that is commonly around $2,500 depending on the domain. Not saying that's the case for this one, just my experience.
Can you tell I'm a bit bitter about it? 😂

But yes- the name Help-QA came up because it was available for a reasonable price that I could afford without worrying too much about any money coming in. I never expected donations or financial help supporting the site, so wanted to keep it cheap, but still something that more or less fits. 😄
Technically, we can have as many different domains as we want. It's very easy to hook up multiple domains to the same place. It just becomes a matter of purchasing/subscribing to the domain in question.

I don't think HelpBot expected many ties. 😅

I always feel so alone here... .8 replies with 7 unique users
“We’ve all been exposed....... .8 replies with 7 unique users
Help me figure this out....... 23 replies with 6 unique users
Does anyone have any tips o... 10 replies with 6 unique users
Im glad you all got your T.P.. .6 replies with 5 unique users
Ozone generators can kill a... 13 replies with 5 unique users
UPDATE UPDATE Guns and ammo... .6 replies with 5 unique users
Home network safety in a sh... .6 replies with 5 unique users
I kept on smelling leather ... .7 replies with 5 unique users
Why is this happening?........ .8 replies with 4 unique users
I miss the old help........... .4 replies with 4 unique users
I never change my avatar...... .5 replies with 4 unique users
You will be O.K............... .4 replies with 4 unique users
In the not so distance past... .5 replies with 4 unique users
Billy Joel's song Piano man... .6 replies with 4 unique users
humanity is a disgusting pl... .9 replies with 4 unique users
Is it ok to smoke weed duri... .8 replies with 4 unique users
Coronavirus and Agoraphobia... .4 replies with 3 unique users
I have two bosses............. .3 replies with 3 unique users
What is an NSFW post?......... .5 replies with 3 unique users
No matter what I say on fac... .5 replies with 3 unique users
If all you wanna do is act ... .4 replies with 3 unique users
Working from home and feeli... .5 replies with 3 unique users
been a while.................. .6 replies with 3 unique users
Does anyone know how to wor... .2 replies with 2 unique users
Just when im thinking creat... .6 replies with 2 unique users
I'm using one of those blac... .5 replies with 2 unique users
Hi i was a spammer, but Dan... .3 replies with 2 unique users
We're all just time traveli... .2 replies with 2 unique users
I'm getting a volunteer jo.... .2 replies with 2 unique users
Will a man of God step up a... .2 replies with 2 unique users
What a nightmare.............. .2 replies with 2 unique users
Has anyone ever used a body... .1 reply.. with 1 unique user
so is that 1k stim pack che... .1 reply.. with 1 unique user
Marriage is like drowning: ... .1 reply.. with 1 unique user
Im feeling quite upset today.. .1 reply.. with 1 unique user
Sometimes I wonder if this ... .1 reply.. with 1 unique user
Never mind, my BIL is helpi... .1 reply.. with 1 unique user
hmXGpyEjacdtBwr............... .1 reply.. with 1 unique user
I leave for five minutes...... .1 reply.. with 1 unique user

These are the posts from the last 200 replies. You can see that even though Help me figure this out has 23 replies, there is only 6 people talking, so the posts with 7 different people talking are higher up on the list.
Right now there is tie, so the most recent is grabbed.

Ooh. A question I can answer. 😁

The "Currently Popular Post" uses an algorithm to determine which is the most "active" post currently.
A few of the things this needs to account for:
* The Popular post should still stay popular even if a long time goes by.
* It should take into account only recent activity.
* It should NOT mark a post popular when 2 people are talking back and forth (making a lot of replies)

Taking all of this into account, the algorithm is:
Take the 200* most recent replies from age appropriate posts. Group those replies by the user who made them. Count the number of users per post. Mark the currently popular post as the one that has the most users that have recently replied on it.

* 200 is a hand selected number that I chose. If the activity of the site went up, it would make more sense to use a higher number.