molly.com
Thursday 26 July 2007
Community Requires a Great Platform
Lately the topic of BBSs and BBS Get Togethers has been coming up in conversation. Maybe that’s because it’s summer here in Tucson. There’s BBQ on the patio and beer in the fridge, and community chatter reminding us that face to face, personal conversation is important.
I’ve been talking to my neighbors over the fence. That’s a great platform, unless of course your fence falls over into their property. And my other neighbors play music really loudly when I want to sleep but that’s okay. I play music really loudly when they want to sleep. Somehow, it all works out.
Whether it’s a summertime BBQ or an online community, platform is essential. The web has taken a long time to remotely catch up with BBSs in terms of the type of community we can deliver. It’s all in the messaging, is my best guess.
Filed under: professional, humor, pop culture, society, community
Posted by: Molly | 6:31 pm |
July 26th, 2007 at 7:00 pm
The web has never really captured the “underground” feeling of BBSes. By its nature a BBS was a localised community, chances were that most users lived near each other. So meets were viable. Sure you had message nets which were global but that didn’t change the nature of the board *you* liked.
If you were on a BBS, for a start you knew it existed. You had technology that other people didn’t have. You were part of a group which was still small enough to be a real community.
For want of a better description they felt “safe” and fun. They were a haven for pre-internet technogeeks. You felt like you were communicating off the grid with like-minded people. There was no peanut gallery barging in at random - BBSes dealt with trolls far more effectively than the internet. Back then such private worlds were called fun, these days it’s called terrorism.
Maybe part of the success of BBSes was the fact that the cost of entry was higher - a BBS sysop was committing their own hardware, phone line, modem. They couldn’t just roll up a BBS the way people roll up websites. So BBS sysops put a lot more love and energy into what they did. They’d even commission ANSI from artists - compare that with how many personal websites actually get designers in!
Meanwhile users were buying unusual hardware (the modem) and committing their own phone line while online; and you had to sign up for most BBSes. You weren’t anonymous, you were joining the club. Compare that with browsing a website.
BBSes felt personal. The web tends to feel impersonal. IMHO
July 26th, 2007 at 7:47 pm
Maybe it is also in responsibility and accountability. Maybe something of value needs to be put onto the table and at risk if either fail.
Don’t know … have never grasped the concept of a “social” Web or social bulletin boards. BBS’s always reminded me of CB [citizen band] radios … all that “Good Buddy” crap.
July 26th, 2007 at 8:18 pm
One of the ideas that David Siegel had a while back (I believe it was him that came up with the idea) was the concept of a community around an apartment or condo complex. The idea was that everyone is together in a shared living space for the most part, but no one really talks to each other.
Everyone is busy running their own lives and interacting with their own friends, family, and Super Bowl parties.
By utilizing the tools of the Web (mailing lists/Google Groups, for example), the barriers of time and stranger-danger fall apart. And since there is a shared item–the living space–there is a construct for a stronger relationship than a random person you met through cyberspace that has a really good looking MySpace photo.
July 27th, 2007 at 5:07 am
well … lets give NAO a try. Goneonline in the days when (in Germany) the BBS scene went down. Rebuilt some years later. With a nice, bss-alike community-feeling
and of course a good slogan:
July 27th, 2007 at 3:47 pm
While words only account for a small portion of our communication any web / computer experience is always going to be behind the real thing. I guess they have their place and while everyone knows everyone it goes smoothly. Unfortunately nowdays there seems to be a trend towards the forum barb etc…
the key is creating and maintaining close relationship and probably not growing exponentially…
July 31st, 2007 at 4:00 pm
oh yeah, The www really tends to feel mega-impersonal
August 5th, 2007 at 2:47 am
I think lack of responsibility and lack of ownership fosters interaction. I’m on a couple of web forums, based on special interets, and people are free to participate or not, and no one ‘owns’ the forum except in a moderator capacity, and that person might not even be a contributor. No one is pressured. Works like a local pub. The blogging scene is more like everyone being ‘at home’, and I think this can work against spontaneity and participation. As for extending into the real world, most of the forums I’m on organize meetups even though they have an international membership. I have one regular reader of my blog, but I can be guaranteed ready interaction on any web forum I participate in.
August 10th, 2007 at 10:26 am
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August 10th, 2007 at 10:26 am
I could not find this site in the Search Engines index
August 12th, 2007 at 9:24 pm
I’ve had similar thoughts in terms of avoiding the “static” of what is deemed online communities now. The MySpace and Facebooks have become the defacto definition of the idea of online interaction - which is a very sad thing, especially for someone interested in Web standards.
I know there are a number of options for making your own canned community (phpBB, etc) - but it seems to encourage any grassroots level of niche community interaction, it must be familiar and easy now. It’s what people have come to expect.
I agree in that things have become somewhat impersonal, but given the right moderators and topics, I think small communities can still thrive with the same level of enthusiasm as BBS.
November 29th, 2007 at 12:52 am
I love athletics
November 29th, 2007 at 7:40 am
thank you sir
January 29th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
thanx
January 31st, 2008 at 10:17 pm
To a good first approximation, Obama seems to be the sort of nominee you’re looking for
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