FUNNY FEELING
Sunday, May 28, 2006
Online Communities
Online communities amaze me to no end because they really do what the Internet was supposed to do from the very beginning. The first time I got online was back in 1992 in a computer class in college. My roommate, Matt, was a Deadhead and we found this bulletin board which had listed very show that they played since 1964(?)and the playlists. The users in the bulletin board comprised mainly of people who were very serious about their music and recorded their own live shows. The board was just text, no images or sounds. Just the latest band news, tour dates, and a community. Through the board, Matt and I began trading master tapes through a guy in Cupertino, CA who knew the sound guy for the Grateful Dead. We were in heaven.
Anyway, online communities are now very mainstream and you can now find a blog or forum for any topic from LA Tacos to Brooklyn brownstones. You can see where my heart is by the blogs I read.
Funny thing is I rarely ever visit forums. Just the word "forums" mean discussion and that means commitment of my part. I don't have much to say and usually I found what I was looking for. The one time I did visit a forum was when I was looking for a solution to a problem that wasn't covered anywhere else. A few years ago, my wife and I ran into a problem with the Immigration office. The office lost our papers and gave us the runaround about how to file a search in the INS office in Vermont. We didn't knwo what to do. In a moment of desperation, I looked into a discussion group about immigration and posted a question whether anyone else had encountered this problem. A few days later, replies started to come through. One of the replies suggested we write a letter to our state senator. So I drafted and mailed two letters to NY senators, Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton. One week later, we received a response from the office of Chuck Schumer telling us they have decided to look into the problem. One month later, the INS office wrote a letter requesting an interview and everything was well on its way. We were elated!
The lesson I learned from this is that forums are great for advice, tips, questions. However, lurk around to see if your question has been already covered before you post it again. Forum readers can be someone who is a professional and willing to share his or her expert knowledge to help answer questions. One of my favorite sites for design is Typophile which has an impressive forum, wiki and even more impressive, boasts users the likes of type designer, Matthew Carter. Another great design forum is Speak Up.
Forums are also great for inside knowledge and opinions from everyday people. Recently, I googled "Sunspots" for my Interactive Objects and Spaces class and some of rich information came from others in the Sunspot World Forums site. While the site is relatively new, the great thing is that the Site Moderators are very responsive and patient to new users.
Unfortunately, forums are also places where people get to flame others anonymously. During the dotcom crash a few years ago, FuckedCompany was a site where laid-off employees get to rant about their work situations. Ironically, office workers learned more about the dire state of their companies from FuckedCompany even before management let them know. Postings quickly turned ugly and personal, sometimes targeting individuals instead of the companies. The thing about FuckedCompany was they didn't moderate their forums and allowed flamings to grow.
As an user, I will most likely fall under the reader category, rather than the poster category. Naturally shy and probably not an expert in anything important, I tend to lurk and glean knowledge from others. However, the thing about forums is that once you've received help from one kind soul, you are more likely to offer help to another.
Anyway, online communities are now very mainstream and you can now find a blog or forum for any topic from LA Tacos to Brooklyn brownstones. You can see where my heart is by the blogs I read.
Funny thing is I rarely ever visit forums. Just the word "forums" mean discussion and that means commitment of my part. I don't have much to say and usually I found what I was looking for. The one time I did visit a forum was when I was looking for a solution to a problem that wasn't covered anywhere else. A few years ago, my wife and I ran into a problem with the Immigration office. The office lost our papers and gave us the runaround about how to file a search in the INS office in Vermont. We didn't knwo what to do. In a moment of desperation, I looked into a discussion group about immigration and posted a question whether anyone else had encountered this problem. A few days later, replies started to come through. One of the replies suggested we write a letter to our state senator. So I drafted and mailed two letters to NY senators, Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton. One week later, we received a response from the office of Chuck Schumer telling us they have decided to look into the problem. One month later, the INS office wrote a letter requesting an interview and everything was well on its way. We were elated!
The lesson I learned from this is that forums are great for advice, tips, questions. However, lurk around to see if your question has been already covered before you post it again. Forum readers can be someone who is a professional and willing to share his or her expert knowledge to help answer questions. One of my favorite sites for design is Typophile which has an impressive forum, wiki and even more impressive, boasts users the likes of type designer, Matthew Carter. Another great design forum is Speak Up.
Forums are also great for inside knowledge and opinions from everyday people. Recently, I googled "Sunspots" for my Interactive Objects and Spaces class and some of rich information came from others in the Sunspot World Forums site. While the site is relatively new, the great thing is that the Site Moderators are very responsive and patient to new users.
Unfortunately, forums are also places where people get to flame others anonymously. During the dotcom crash a few years ago, FuckedCompany was a site where laid-off employees get to rant about their work situations. Ironically, office workers learned more about the dire state of their companies from FuckedCompany even before management let them know. Postings quickly turned ugly and personal, sometimes targeting individuals instead of the companies. The thing about FuckedCompany was they didn't moderate their forums and allowed flamings to grow.
As an user, I will most likely fall under the reader category, rather than the poster category. Naturally shy and probably not an expert in anything important, I tend to lurk and glean knowledge from others. However, the thing about forums is that once you've received help from one kind soul, you are more likely to offer help to another.