What is a community? How can you tell if you belong to a community? Are there different ways of belonging to a community? What communities do you belong to? Why?
why does it seem to you that a person stays part of a community even if s/he doesn't interact within the community itself but only with other people who do? (referencing your "lurking and occasionally sending an email" role)
I don't think you have to be a politician to be politically active. Likewise, I don't see a need to post in a newsgroup to interact with people who you met there and share common interests with.
The reason *I* consider myself part of that community comes down to the fact I care about some of those folks (present company included), and I would make some effort to visit with them if I happened to be in the same location. We have a common interest which provides a basis for friendship. (OTOH, there are some regular posters I wouldn't drive across town to visit, and in fact I don't.)
In a more general sense, I think that a lot of people who are members of various communities only interact with portions of the community at a time. I'm willing to bet that Al Gore has only met 1% of all registered Democrats in the US, but nobody questions his membership in the Democratic party. People who are not "public persons" might reasonably interact with a smaller percentage of a large community, and still consider themselves members.
I'd like to add to my original statement above, and point out that in fact I'm a member of the community of all US Marines, not just the retired ones, and that gives me a strong connection to all others who claim the title.
Eh, my mother would tell me to stop looking at my belly button and go do something useful!
Likewise, I don't see a need to post in a newsgroup to interact with people who you met there and share common interests with.
Agreed, but do you automatically feel there is still a community connecting you with such people? Or does the community become irrelevant at some point and the people become friends?
Is a political party a community? Why? Just because everyone who belongs agrees they belong? Is a community just a common name or interest? Is anything else implied? You say you have a strong connection to US Marines. What does that connection entail for you and why?
do you automatically feel there is still a community connecting you with such people? Or does the community become irrelevant at some point and the people become friends?
A bit of both. I feel a community connection with those people who know me from most of the communities I claimed. The exception would be the Marines, but that community is a special case, bound together by a shared purpose and common goals. In the general case of communities, I've always held with the "It's not the place, it's the people." view. If I have friends somewhere, that's what matters to me. In specific, you'd be welcome in my home but jimbat wouldn't be.
Is a political party a community?
A loose one, I think. There's the common interest factor, and common goals. Certainly among the party precinct workers there is a strong bond of shared work and experience.
Is a community just a common name or interest?
It might be. Or it might be much more than that.
You say you have a strong connection to US Marines. What does that connection entail for you and why?
It entails most of my adult life, from ages 18 to 40, when I was an active (or reserve) member of the Corps. Even in military retirement I have to be available for lifelong recall. If you could see what happens when someone who spent some time in the Corps, however long ago, realizes that I'm a retired Master Sergeant and the transformation that takes place as they 'fall in' it is amazing. I feel a strong obligation and responsibility to my fellow Marines, and I know that they feel the same toward me. This is one community that goes far beyond the loose interactions that I see as being the minimum necessary criterion for 'community' to exist in general.
I feel a community connection with those people who know me from most of the communities I claimed.
How does a "community connection" feel different from some other kind of connection?
In specific, you'd be welcome in my home but jimbat wouldn't be.
Interesting -- is there something about me, beyond my membership in alt.poly, that makes me welcome in your home? or would any member of alt.poly be welcome unless they proved themselves to be a troublemaker like jimbat? (for me it would be the former -- membership in alt.poly would make me more likely to invite someone, but it wouldn't be enough by itself).
Your description of the Marines fits my personal definition of a community pretty well -- I tend to think a community doesn't exist unless there is some sense of commitment among the members to each other's well being; and that a person isn't a member of a community unless some large portion of the community members feel that commitment to that person.
is there something about me, beyond my membership in alt.poly, that makes me welcome in your home?
You're someone I like, based on observations over time. I think of you as "good people" as I do the majority of a.p. regulars. But it's not just participation in a.p. that would satisfy my criteria for inviting someone to stop by if they were in town. I need to feel that they're someone I'd like to spend some time visiting with.
I've had a lot of a.p. and a.c. folk visit over the years. But I don't think I could ever bring myself to do something like Starport, because that's just a little too "y'all come" for my preferences.
and I guess the mutual community allows said observations, thus making the connection community-based?
Precisely.
I've had many gatherings of net.folks at my house. Even an occassional Callahans type realspace. But I don't like the idea of inviting people on nothing more than the basis of them inhabiting a newsgroup. The ideal of "friends we just haven't met yet" is not always born out in reality.
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Re: expressing my inner two year old
why does it seem to you that a person stays part of a community even if s/he doesn't interact within the community itself but only with other people who do? (referencing your "lurking and occasionally sending an email" role)
I don't think you have to be a politician to be politically active. Likewise, I don't see a need to post in a newsgroup to interact with people who you met there and share common interests with.
The reason *I* consider myself part of that community comes down to the fact I care about some of those folks (present company included), and I would make some effort to visit with them if I happened to be in the same location. We have a common interest which provides a basis for friendship. (OTOH, there are some regular posters I wouldn't drive across town to visit, and in fact I don't.)
In a more general sense, I think that a lot of people who are members of various communities only interact with portions of the community at a time. I'm willing to bet that Al Gore has only met 1% of all registered Democrats in the US, but nobody questions his membership in the Democratic party. People who are not "public persons" might reasonably interact with a smaller percentage of a large community, and still consider themselves members.
I'd like to add to my original statement above, and point out that in fact I'm a member of the community of all US Marines, not just the retired ones, and that gives me a strong connection to all others who claim the title.
Re: expressing my inner two year old
Likewise, I don't see a need to post in a newsgroup to interact with people who you met there and share common interests with.
Agreed, but do you automatically feel there is still a community connecting you with such people? Or does the community become irrelevant at some point and the people become friends?
Is a political party a community? Why? Just because everyone who belongs agrees they belong? Is a community just a common name or interest? Is anything else implied? You say you have a strong connection to US Marines. What does that connection entail for you and why?
Re: expressing my inner two year old
A bit of both. I feel a community connection with those people who know me from most of the communities I claimed. The exception would be the Marines, but that community is a special case, bound together by a shared purpose and common goals. In the general case of communities, I've always held with the "It's not the place, it's the people." view. If I have friends somewhere, that's what matters to me. In specific, you'd be welcome in my home but jimbat wouldn't be.
Is a political party a community?
A loose one, I think. There's the common interest factor, and common goals. Certainly among the party precinct workers there is a strong bond of shared work and experience.
Is a community just a common name or interest?
It might be. Or it might be much more than that.
You say you have a strong connection to US Marines. What does that connection entail for you and why?
It entails most of my adult life, from ages 18 to 40, when I was an active (or reserve) member of the Corps. Even in military retirement I have to be available for lifelong recall. If you could see what happens when someone who spent some time in the Corps, however long ago, realizes that I'm a retired Master Sergeant and the transformation that takes place as they 'fall in' it is amazing. I feel a strong obligation and responsibility to my fellow Marines, and I know that they feel the same toward me. This is one community that goes far beyond the loose interactions that I see as being the minimum necessary criterion for 'community' to exist in general.
Re: expressing my inner two year old
How does a "community connection" feel different from some other kind of connection?
In specific, you'd be welcome in my home but jimbat wouldn't be.
Interesting -- is there something about me, beyond my membership in alt.poly, that makes me welcome in your home? or would any member of alt.poly be welcome unless they proved themselves to be a troublemaker like jimbat? (for me it would be the former -- membership in alt.poly would make me more likely to invite someone, but it wouldn't be enough by itself).
Your description of the Marines fits my personal definition of a community pretty well -- I tend to think a community doesn't exist unless there is some sense of commitment among the members to each other's well being; and that a person isn't a member of a community unless some large portion of the community members feel that commitment to that person.
But I'm not sure about my personal definition.
Re: expressing my inner two year old
You're someone I like, based on observations over time. I think of you as "good people" as I do the majority of a.p. regulars. But it's not just participation in a.p. that would satisfy my criteria for inviting someone to stop by if they were in town. I need to feel that they're someone I'd like to spend some time visiting with.
I've had a lot of a.p. and a.c. folk visit over the years. But I don't think I could ever bring myself to do something like Starport, because that's just a little too "y'all come" for my preferences.
Re: expressing my inner two year old
(thank you!)
and I guess the mutual community allows said observations, thus making the connection community-based?
But I don't think I could ever bring myself to do something like Starport, because that's just a little too "y'all come" for my preferences.
I've occasionally done open events at my house but generally I agree with you.
Re: expressing my inner two year old
Precisely.
I've had many gatherings of net.folks at my house. Even an occassional Callahans type realspace. But I don't like the idea of inviting people on nothing more than the basis of them inhabiting a newsgroup. The ideal of "friends we just haven't met yet" is not always born out in reality.
Re: expressing my inner two year old