Lately it feels as if there's been a mad stampede of users out of G+.

Lately it feels as if there's been a mad stampede of users out of G+. More and more people are falling head over heels in love with one or another alternate service, pulling up stakes, and heading for the horizon.

This troubles me. G+ users were an unusual community; more thoughtful than Facebook, and kinder than Reddit. You pretty much had to be an interesting person to stay here while the Facebook juggernaut rolled on.

I have to admit something: I had pretty much given up on social media for the last six months or so. Facebook had become intolerable to me, with its frenetic shallowness and judgmentalism. Reddit was simply toxic. I couldn't help but see social media as a hollow replacement for the real-world, long-term social interaction that we as social animals have evolved to need: privatized, monetized, monitorable, and controllable. A roadblock to any chance of long-term human survival or a living decent human life.

But with the impending shutdown of Google Plus, I saw that people could actually work together online for a constructive purpose. That's a rare thing, and I value it. The thought of a community that can do that - and that cares enough to do that - being scattered to the winds makes me sad.

That's all I've got. I don't have an answer. Thanks for reading this.