Comments on: All Tangled Up in Solutions http://henrysthreads.com/2009/06/all-tangled-up-in-solutions/ Thoughts on Religion in the World from a passionate, moderate, liberal charismatic Christian Tue, 15 May 2012 14:29:36 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Lifewish http://henrysthreads.com/2009/06/all-tangled-up-in-solutions/comment-page-1/#comment-128711 Lifewish Thu, 25 Jun 2009 20:05:05 +0000 http://www.energionpubs.com/wordpress/?p=2209#comment-128711 Nice post. I find this sort of stuff really interesting. For me, of course, it doesn't matter whether the focus of a community is religious; its dynamics are likely to follow similar patterns to other groups. I particularly agree with your comments about the dashboard thingy. Keeping one eye on your "score" is all well and good, but what if the thing people want from you is to be treated as more than just a statistic? Communities are built on relationships, and relationships require more than just an intellectual involvement. Now there is an argument for tailoring your approach to your audience, and sophisticated market research can assist in this. There may be people who agree with your mission, would fit in well with your community, but e.g. are too old to drive in. Good market research would uncover this, and you could then respond by getting members to offer each other lifts. Ultimately, though, to build a community you need the arrogance to stick to your guns. Act confident and people will generally assume you're in the right*; vacillate and people will quickly conclude you don't know what you're talking about. With enough backbone and elbow grease you can plant the seed of respect that lies at the root of any strong community. * This incidentally explains why I'm generally <a href="http://metasyntactic.blogspot.com/2009/06/effectcause.html" rel="nofollow">skeptical of received wisdom</a>. Nice post. I find this sort of stuff really interesting. For me, of course, it doesn’t matter whether the focus of a community is religious; its dynamics are likely to follow similar patterns to other groups.

I particularly agree with your comments about the dashboard thingy. Keeping one eye on your “score” is all well and good, but what if the thing people want from you is to be treated as more than just a statistic? Communities are built on relationships, and relationships require more than just an intellectual involvement.

Now there is an argument for tailoring your approach to your audience, and sophisticated market research can assist in this. There may be people who agree with your mission, would fit in well with your community, but e.g. are too old to drive in. Good market research would uncover this, and you could then respond by getting members to offer each other lifts.

Ultimately, though, to build a community you need the arrogance to stick to your guns. Act confident and people will generally assume you’re in the right*; vacillate and people will quickly conclude you don’t know what you’re talking about. With enough backbone and elbow grease you can plant the seed of respect that lies at the root of any strong community.

* This incidentally explains why I’m generally skeptical of received wisdom.

]]>