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going back to places that might not agree with your opinions, cultural
perspective, or any number of things (such as if they knew you were
gay/lesbian, a woman/man, handicapped/or not, ...)?
T
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What do others think about this? Is it possible for “the few” to assert
their will on the others? What
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was different about this event as opposed to the harrassing boy scouts
that encountered the
>
opposition of other list members?
Actually, as I indicated obliquely, a surprising number of people jumped
onthefewself-appointed'censors'.Someweresupportiveoftheirefforts,
but many were not.
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The other comment I would like to hear more on (from anyone) is on
“forming a community” vs. a
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group to “discuss academic concerns.” What's the difference? Why is
there a difference to some
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people and maybe not others?
I think a group doesn't become a community until it faces a common
problem that threatens the group's existence and they come together to
dealwithit.Forexample,thenewsgroupxxx.yyyyy.xxxwasstartedabout
a year ago for pacific islanders and others with an interest there could
have a place to meet and 'talk'. It started off well, but soon was innun-
dated by massive, inflammatory cross-posts from unrelated groups, with
off-color topics like 'asian women like ...'.
Recently a core group has begun an effort to turn the group into a mod-
erated group, with the principal goal to filter out the off-topic and unre-
lated cross-posts. (I couldn't read the group if my reader didn't have kill
filters. My kill file still cuts out over 50% of the total traffic, but it was as
high as 80%.) We are trying really hard to bring this off and although it
means significant shared hard work, we think we will do it.
So, I think some underlying bond or challenge or reason to be together
needs to be there.
B.
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Are we saying that on-line groups go through the same evolutionary
process that any other group
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we might belong to does?
