The WELL Host Manual
Collected and received wisdom from one of the oldest online communities.
https://www.well.com/articles/well-hosts-manual/
https://www.well.com/articles/well-hosts-manual/
Collected and received wisdom from one of the oldest online communities.
https://www.well.com/articles/well-hosts-manual/
https://www.well.com/articles/well-hosts-manual/
Wow! I first discovered The WELL ... back in the Dark Ages of the Internet, as an email list (and later, a corollary Usenet community). I had no idea they were still around!
ReplyDelete#readlater
ReplyDelete(I need to parse my comments later for unresolved subs and readlaters...)
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ReplyDeleteI find myself wondering about how well this scaled... and the self-selecting nature of communities. As in, if you read through all that stuff, and still want to participate, you are a certain kind of person.
ReplyDeleteDrew McCarthy Extremely valid points I'm also considering.
ReplyDeletePat Kight
ReplyDeleteThe Well is still going?? !!
My Gasted is truly Flabbered!
;)
How can we use youtube as G+ substitute? Everybody wants something similar to G+ except facebook.
ReplyDeleteCorneliu Carabella
ReplyDeleteHere is one way....
This is a collection on G+
plus.google.com - User2User-LIVE! Video Vault
Here is the same collection being preserved on YouTube
https://youtu.be/2trdom5brPM
Each day a short intro vid with actual links in the description and then those vids put in a play list.
Drew McCarthy There are several decisions the WELL have made that strongly influence its direction.
ReplyDeleteI believe it's now paid (don't quote me). It doesn't allow anonymous / pseudonymous contribution, so tends to favour those who can or care to post as themselves online. That's a cultural norm that's swung back and forth a few times over the history of the Net, and in many regards reflects a much simpler (and far less inclusive) time, though the restrictions were less those imposed by the participants or gatekeepers than those of socioeconomic status, interest, and technical capacity. The early online world was both tremendously self-selective and threw up high barriers to access, often in ways that the participants seemed, and often still seem, oblivious to.
(I'm not arguing that this is good or bad. It is different from today, though.)
The WELL is also old, and its core membership have been around a long time. I'm not sure how much fresh blood comes on board, though I suspect it's not a lot. This is a common problem with long-lived online networks and social groups. I've seen a few of these over the years, and it's a common problem.
There are several dimensions of this. You tend to get a highly self-selected group -- the people who remain are the ones who like things the way they are. Others either left or never arrived in the first place. This can create a fairly close-minded community.
The idea of intentional communities, often considered as utopias, and their apparent tendency toward failure is one I've explored. There's an exception to the general rule: academic institutions, and their associated communities (particularly "university towns"). A key distinction of these is that most of the population has a fairly rigidly-enforced limited tenure. Students matriculate ... and then a few years later, graduate (if they've not already dropped out or transferred, and a large share do, often 40%+). Staff and faculty are longer-lived, but may also come and go.
The military, with its recruitment and tour-of-duty concept is similar, and maintains a fairly constant pipeline, again with longer-lived officers and cadre.
As with other examples: I'm generally not endorsing or criticising, unless I say so specifically. The WELL _have seen a lot, and may offer useful lessons, also likely cautionary notes. But the specifics and particulars of the community should also be considered.
I'm disappointed that there's little on the site from after 1999. I'd have thought there might be some more recent lessons learnt as well.
When I was a member for a short while, uh, some time after Transparent Society by David Brin came out, it was already paid membership, if I remember correctly.
ReplyDeleteI go back once a year in early January to read Bruce Sterling's "State of the World" address. They're generally quite entertaining if also irritating. Although there's the usual pull from the grey beards to talk about the USA as if USA == World.
ReplyDeleteHoward Rheingold used to run a similar virtual community which I now can't find again. It sticks in the mind because I was online there through the night of 11-Sept-2001. That community had 2 rules based on his books and philosophy.
1) Assume good intent.
If you think you've been attacked or slighted, it could well be a simple communication failure.
2) Own your words.
If somebody else misunderstands what you said, it's your fault. And you can't take those words back.
Julian Bond One of Rheingold's communities is now known as Minds, which has seen significant mention in this forum.
ReplyDeleteI'm given to understand it's moved on quite a bit since he was significantly involved. (I'm not sure if he presently is or isn't.)
Edward Morbius I think it was "Conversations" on the Electric Minds site.
ReplyDeleterheingold.com - electric minds | Conversations
It was a private community with no public visibility and the content is long since gone.
Julian Bond "Electric Minds" is the precursor to Minds, I believe.
ReplyDelete