<b>The First-Post Friction Audit</b>

<b>The First-Post Friction Audit</b>
The gap between joining and the first post is where most communities die. Audit that gap like a checkout funnel.

Walk it as a new member and check each barrier:

☐ Is there an obvious place to post, or do they have to guess the channel?
☐ Is there a prompt waiting, or a blank wall?
☐ Does the last message look intimidating (experts deep in jargon)?
☐ Will their post get a reply in under an hour, or sink unseen?
☐ Is there a fear of "being the dumb question" with no permission to be one?

Fix in order — a guaranteed fast reply beats every other change. A first post with zero replies is a one-way exit.

The metric: median time-to-first-reply for new members. Anything over 60 minutes is bleeding people.

Save this for your next launch.