Just checking in to see if anyone else is not getting notifications of comments left in their community? For example, I got a notification that Donna commented on a post, but then not that Miranda had, on the same post? This has happened quite a few times and I've nearly missed comments and questions. Because it happens fairly regularly I now have a quick eye over my posts or they would be missed.

Yesterday in Research Lab, I asked how we can tell whether our members are actually getting what they came for. And wouldn't you know it, our conversations have given us even more to think about! ❤️ @Dennis L Stewart asked how we get quiet members to start talking. @Elsebeth Fogh shared about a member who prefers reading, reflecting, and putting what she learns into practice in her everyday life. And @Alex Beviss reminded us that we tend to see our communities through our own experiences, and sometimes our vision needs a little adjusting. The corrective lens analogy was perfect, Alex! 🙌 After teaching for so many years, I've learned that quiet can mean a lot of different things. I've watched people sit quietly, take everything in, and go on to do remarkable things with what they've learned. I've also seen people sit just as quietly because they were confused, uncomfortable, or afraid to ask for help. Here's the thing. From the outside, those two experiences can look exactly the same. So how do we figure out what's really happening? I thought this would be a good opportunity to introduce something Todd and I use when we're working through questions like this. We call it our Thinking Map.🤔 It's nothing complicated. Just five steps that help us slow down, get curious, and make better decisions. Notice → Understand → Design → Try → Learn Let's walk through it together. We NOTICE that some members aren't participating much. That's what we see. But we don't necessarily know what it means yet. So we try to UNDERSTAND. Instead of assuming they need another activity, we might ask ourselves what we actually know about their experience. Then we DESIGN one small way to learn more. Maybe we reach out to a couple of members and simply ask. What's been helpful to you here? Is there anything you hoped to find that you haven't found yet? We TRY it. Then we LEARN from what they tell us.

I've had a few conversations lately that have me questioning something. How do we really know whether the people in our communities are getting what they came for? We can see who's posting, commenting, and showing up. But that doesn't necessarily tell us whether anyone is making progress. I was talking with another builder today about her quieter members. She realized that some of them might actually need a place where they can learn without feeling pressured to participate. But that raised another question for both of us. How do we tell the difference between someone who's quietly getting what they need and someone who's quietly struggling? I don't think we can answer that just by looking at activity. That's what I'd love for us to explore together this week.🔍🧭 Have you ever learned something about a member that surprised you? Maybe they were getting more from your community than you realized. Or maybe you discovered they needed something you hadn't considered. I'd love to hear what happened and how you found out. We might learn quite a bit from comparing our experiences. ❤️

In today's Skool update call, the team clarified that growth boost ads are ineffective for Freemium groups. They confirmed there will be no individual ads and minimal advertising overall in Freemium accounts. They also noted that implementing free trials has proven difficult, even with a 7-day deadline in place. Currently, free trials are underperforming across most groups. What do you think all this means for Freemium groups on Skool moving forward?

I was just looking through my community members and noticed that I have about 10 members that haven't been active on the Skool platform at all from between 100 -300 days. Do you know if this affects any of my discovery rank or engagement stats? I can't find much info on Skool about whether it's best to just leave them in your group or to remove them? Has anyone else been down this path yet?