Dear Fren,
Thank you for your referral. We value your comment, and have forwarded it to the relevant department.
/s
Just a general comment on internet forum communities:
<initiate unsolicited diatribe>
I've been involved in online communities for the good part of 3 decades. I've been involved as an initiator (owner), moderator/admin, participant. I've been involved in excellent forums, mediocre ones, and fortunately not too many terrible ones.
Online communities live or die by culture. If the culture is toxic, participants will come and go very quickly; if the culture is healthy and productive, the forum will live, become the basis for a healthy and productive community, and eventually go on to establish a lasting tradition.
Culture in an online forum is best formed via an interaction between mods on one hand and participants on the other, centering on the purpose of the forum.
Some of the best online communities I've been in are those where there is active community engagement and the community as a whole carries the central thrust of the forum. Mods/admins frequently set the tone, and clip the hedges as they need it, but the main role of the mods in such a case is to ensure that the purpose of the forum is maintained and not infringed. But unless participants embrace, live and contribute to the spirit of the forum, it's going to be a struggle. In other words, things go best when participants themselves adopt an attitude of responsibility towards the forum, as opposed to sitting back and just thinking, "oh, the mods are the bosses; they bear all the responsibility here."
Think government. "That's the government's job"-type thinking is a serious problem in the current day. Citizens are meant to build the nation and be responsible for the nation Certain limited functions are (should be) delegated to the government to look after, but unless the average Joe and Jane citizen actually adopt a sense of responsibility for the nation, things go down the gurgler. (Please open front door, observe world, to verify.)
Thus, I think it behooves us as participants to discuss, reflect on, and engage with issues that affect the ongoing well-being of OUR community here. We do this by expressing our views, in cooperation with each other and with the Council Office, or simply being a conscientious participant (as you have indicated).
Case in point: below, uk9994 wrote "this is bubbles page, and it's up to him". I think this view is fundamentally problematic. This is NOT BB's thread. He curates it, and manages it for us, but if this is not OUR threat/chat, etc, then who are we? Slaves? Servants? Children? Responsible participants (in terms of attitude), or simply consumers who benefit from the efforts of others while we sit back and enjoy?
GAW may be administered and moderated by mods, but it belongs to US, all frens who engage here. As long as we uphold and promote the forum purpose, we are qualified to stand as full participants and collective owners of what we do here. That's the spirit that created the USA, and that's the one the whole world is starting to realize we need to adopt everywhere.
In my opinion.
But what do I know? I'm a goofball.
<end unsolicited diatribe>
Dear Fren,
Thank you for your referral. We value your comment, and have forwarded it to the relevant department.
/s
Just a general comment on internet forum communities:
I've been involved in online communities for the good part of 3 decades. I've been involved as an initiator (owner), moderator/admin, participant. I've been involved in excellent forums, mediocre ones, and fortunately not too many terrible ones.
Online communities live or die by culture. If the culture is toxic, participants will come and go very quickly; if the culture is healthy and productive, the forum will live, become the basis for a healthy and productive community, and eventually go on to establish a lasting tradition.
Culture in an online forum is best formed via an interaction between mods on one hand and participants on the other, centering on the purpose of the forum.
Some of the best online communities I've been in are those where there is active community engagement and the community as a whole carries the central thrust of the forum. Mods/admins frequently set the tone, and clip the hedges as they need it, but the main role of the mods in such a case is to ensure that the purpose of the forum is maintained and not infringed. But unless participants embrace, live and contribute to the spirit of the forum, it's going to be a struggle. In other words, things go best when participants themselves adopt an attitude of responsibility towards the forum, as opposed to sitting back and just thinking, "oh, the mods are the bosses; they bear all the responsibility here."
Think government. "That's the government's job"-type thinking is a serious problem in the current day. Citizens are meant to build the nation and be responsible for the nation Certain limited functions are (should be) delegated to the government to look after, but unless the average Joe and Jane citizen actually adopt a sense of responsibility for the nation, things go down the gurgler. (Please open front door, observe world, to verify.)
Thus, I think it behooves us as participants to discuss, reflect on, and engage with issues that affect the ongoing well-being of OUR community here. We do this by expressing our views, in cooperation with each other and with the Council Office, or simply being a conscientious participant (as you have indicated).
Case in point: below, uk9994 wrote "this is bubbles page, and it's up to him". I think this view is fundamentally problematic. This is NOT BB's thread. He curates it, and manages it for us, but if this is not OUR threat/chat, etc, then who are we? Slaves? Servants? Children? Responsible participants (in terms of attitude), or simply consumers who benefit from the efforts of others while we sit back and enjoy?
GAW may be administered and moderated by mods, but it belongs to US, all frens who engage here. As long as we uphold and promote the forum purpose, we are qualified to stand as full participants and collective owners of what we do here. That's the spirit that created the USA, and that's the one the whole world is starting to realize we need to adopt everywhere.
In my opinion.
But what do I know? I'm a goofball.
<end unsolicited diatribe>
Dear Fren,
Thank you for your referral. We value your comment, and have forwarded it to the relevant department.
/s
Just a comment on my own philosophy vis-a-vis internet forum communities:
I've been involved in online communities for the good part of 3 decades. I've been involved as an initiator (owner), moderator/admin, participant.
Online communities live or die by culture. (If the culture is toxic, participants will come and go very quickly; if the culture is healthy and productive, the forum will continue to live and becomes a tradition.) Culture is formed by the interaction between mods on one hand and participants on the other.
The best communities are where there is active community engagement and the community carries the central thrust of the forum. Mods/admins can set the tone, and clip the hedges as they need it, but unless participants embrace, live and contribute to the spirit of the forum, it's going to be a struggle.
Think government. "That's the government's job"-type thinking is a serious problem in the current day. Citizens are meant to build the nation, and certain limited functions are (should be) delegated to the government to look after. Government is NOT the ruler.
Thus, I think it behooves us as participants to discuss, reflect on, and contribute to the ongoing well-being of OUR community here by expressing our views, in cooperation with the mods and owner, naturally, but certainly, the community is key.
Below, UK9994 wrote "this is bubbles page, and it's up to him". I think this view is fundamentally problematic. This is NOT BB's thread. He curates it, and manages it for us, but if this is not OUR threat/chat, etc, then who are we? Slaves? Servants? Children?
GAW may be administered and moderated by mods, but it belongs to US, all frens who engage here. As long as we uphold and promote the forum purpose, we stand as full participants and collective owners of what we do here. In my opinion.
But what do I know? I'm a goofball.
Dear Fren,
Thank you for your referral. We value your comment, and have forwarded it to the relevant department.
/s
Just a comment on my own philosophy vis-a-vis internet forum communities:
I've been involved in online communities for the good part of 3 decades. I've been involved as an initiator (owner), moderator/admin, participant.
Online communities live or die by culture. (If the culture is toxic, participants will come and go very quickly; if the culture is healthy and productive, the forum will continue to live and becomes a tradition.) Culture is formed by the interaction between mods on one hand and participants on the other.
The best communities are where there is active community engagement and the community carries the central thrust of the forum. Mods/admins can set the tone, and clip the hedges as they need it, but unless participants embrace, live and contribute to the spirit of the forum, it's going to be a struggle.
Think government. "That's the government's job"-type thinking is a serious problem in the current day. Citizens are meant to build the nation, and certain limited functions are (should be) delegated to the government to look after. Government is NOT the ruler.
Thus, I think it behooves us as participants to discuss, reflect on, and contribute to the ongoing well-being of OUR community here by expressing our views, in cooperation with the mods and owner, naturally, but certainly, the community is key.
That's why I post this comment here; I know mod(s) will see it, but I am also very interested in raising a discussion of the topic with those who avail themselves of the many benefits of this particular chat.
But what do I know? I'm a goofball.