Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: We're going to wind this down

Author:Dave Winer
Posted:12/23/1998; 7:19:39 AM
Topic:We're going to wind this down
Msg #:1705 (In response to 1704)
Prev/Next:1704 / 1706

Yeah but it totally overloaded me. You wouldn't believe how much email it generates and how much of it is personal, and how people just can't hear "No I don't want to know about your bad marriage."

The most offensive messages, to me, were the ones that said that this board belongs to them. It's amazing how quickly strangers try to take ownership of something that doesn't belong to them. There's a presumption on the net, an unhealthy one I think, that says that everything belongs to everyone. It's so obviously untrue. The machine the server runs on is mine. I paid for it. Same with the software that's running on the machine. Same with the writing I put on the machine. All of it is mine, it is not yours. Psychologists call this a "boundary issue". I don't think it even needs to be discussed! My stuff is mine, yours is yours.

Another thing that's really frustrating is that people "threaten" to resign, as if I was powerless to say goodbye to them. As soon as someone threatens, I write them off completely. It's so powerless. It assumes I care whether they are here or not. I care about you Jimmi, because we're friends. I *want* you here. But other people assume I have to want them. This is unstated and untrue. I want great writing and thinking. I have no stake in the presence of people I don't know.

Anyway, I was hoping that by osmosis, without me having to write a Constitution, which as I have said, is a very big job (and begets more flames, been there done that), I hoped that my writing would attract great writing. It has done so in the past. The mix of mediums needs more adjusting. I'm thinking maybe we should hook ContentServer up to the DG software and add a review/edit cycle as we used to have with the Mail Pages.

Still looking for the right formula...

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