Hi everyone,
Lots of great feedback and questions here -- thank you! To respond to a few specifics:
@RichardCallaby -- You expressed concern that courses could be unpublished when they're still generating value for instructors, resulting in instructor losses. We definitely don't want to risk anyone's revenue here, so the program is only targeting content that has little to no recent or historical traction with learners. Courses that have had strong past performance or that continue to attract even a few new students a month aren't at risk. Separately, I'm sorry to hear you "fear retribution" for sharing your thoughts -- please know that offering feedback here in the Community won't affect how your courses are featured or treated on the Udemy platform. We want this to be a space for all constructive feedback, positive or negative.
@Mufaddal -- We agree that not all topics require frequent updates to stay valuable. If you're still getting sales and engagement from new learners, your content won't be flagged for the program, even if it's been a while since your last update.
@NextGenHR506 -- Different instructors take different paths to getting their course off the ground -- for some without an existing audience, free coupons can be a way to get the initial social proof they need, but we hear you that it can be frustrating for those who don't use this strategy. Our ranking systems (and the new marketplace maintenance program) do differentiate between paid and free enrollments, so for now, it sounds like you're doing the right thing: focusing on driving engagement with the students you have and responding to their feedback.
Separate to this program to retire outdated and non-performing content, we're actually taking a closer look in the coming weeks at how different instructors use free coupons and how they affect students' behavior on the platform.
And finally @Joshua George -- Thank you for the tip and the vote of confidence! The plan here is to route students back to the topic or subcategory page the unpublished course belonged to. This maximizes the chance they land somewhere where they see other relevant (and fresher!) courses to check out.
Bella Almeida
Udemy Community
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