Got your attention didn't I! I can heard you all out there. Some of you are saying "Oh no!' , some are saying "Great, who needs her!" and still others are saying "Who cares.". This article is actually not about me. I have heard of and heard from several people that are talking about abandoning Gather. I guess they feel Gather has become to commercial. There are to many people joining that are concentrating on getting points for GC's (gift cards) or getting the cash option. I was invited to Gather by a person from another site through a referral link, she told me here is a good site to earn GC's. Being that I try to be a supportive person (and figured it would help her on her quest if I joined through her referral link), and I am always interested in finding something that is new and different to me on the internet, I joined. If she only knew what a great gift she gave to me!
On Gather I have found many types of people. I have been honoured with the friendship of some really lovely people that I would probably never, because of geography, have met. People who have opened their hearts and minds to me. I have been awed by the artists on Gather. (commercial break, yes this is the place where I plug one of my groups, "Post Art - Any Medium" http://artisgreat.gather.com/ , if you are an art lover, an artist of any type, or both, please join and share with us!) I have been challenged by the thinkers on Gather. While I may not necessarily agree with them all the time, I thank them all for sharing their POV (point of view) with the rest of us. Thank you for challenging us to think. One of my loves is the law (ok, second and last crass plug, "The Constitution And The Law" group, again all are welcome http://constitutionlaw.gather.com/ ) and I really enjoy reading all of the articles on law and politics, especially considering this is an presidential election year here in the U.S. And yes, I even like the games, sometimes amusing, sometimes informative. Ok, there are times when the quantity of them may be a little high for my taste, but my feeling is there is room enough on Gather.
Here is my question for those who are considering leaving Gather. Those who are not thinking of leaving can join in also. What is Gather? I don't mean a website, but what is it really? Is there so little room on Gather that we cannot find space to accomodate those who are inclined toward art, philosophy, politics, freebies and fun? Is space on Gather so sorely limited that Gatherites must strike out in search because their manifest destiny philosophy of Gather has not come to fruition? I would love to know the answer to these questions. To me there is room for all this and more on Gather. Sometimes those of us that take ourselves seriously need to be silly and vice versa. I would like to think that Gather is a online community that uses tolerance as one of its basic tenets. Or as the psalm says "To everything there is a season". So I see it on Gather.
P.S. Two things. First I was accused of using "big words" in another article I wrote. I will be honest with you. I use an online dictionary for spelling and to refresh my memory on word usuage all the time. I recommend the site http://www.bartelby.com/ because it has all kinds of tools to help you (and I think some of them are fun!). I don't mean to offend anyone here, but an ignorant person does not know what a word means, a stupid person does not bother to find out. There are NO stupid questions. Make friends with words, they can be fun. Second, I am not going to name the person who invited me to Gather, but want to thank them from the bottom of my heart. You have given me one of the greatest gifts a person can give and I am indebted to you.
recommend this
email
print
link to this page
Comments: 75
Most people want community, friends and yes gift cards. I think learning to use the feeds has made my gathering more fulfilling. Even those people who write articles that are more than a paragraph like getting gift cards. But, they also like to have meaningful connections.
I have been here for two years and I can't tell you the number of "I'm leaving" articles I have seen in that amount of time. Basically, almost none of them really leave. I guess a few really have left but I don't know who and I don't miss them.
Ditto to what Lera said, this may be the first time for you to witness the black icons, but if you stay around very long you'll see it happens every few months like clockwork.
Oh, and Gather doesn't give credit for referrals anymore, they haven't for a very long time now...just an FYI.
leave?! -better: to walk out of my house, and toss a match on the gasoline i've poured upon the property...
at this point, i could care less if anyone threatens to leave this site. if they mean anything to me i know how to reach them and vice versa.
You have captured a lot of the Gather experience.
I see it as a group of interlocking communities — I have some main interests, some sometime interests and there are always some surprises.
Of course, but there are some changes that Gather makes that are not conducive to easily accessing material in which one might have an interest beyond the more popular posts. I don't use the feed often, though it's hardly rocket science. It's certainly not because I don't know how to use it. Playing with it for a short time upon its implementation made it usable. I just don't like its looks and I think it cheapens the experience. When I do use it, it's set for articles, and only from a certain subset of connections. I circumvent the feed with my own ways of gettng to articles that are of interest. The upcoming changes will probably force me to have to do more work to find these.
The same people have been leaving Gather since it started. Some of them have come back with different names. I'm glad you made the 2nd 'crass plug.' That might be something to interest me. See, that's what I'm talking about when I say that things of interest are not easily accessed. I should have been able to easily find out about that group without having read this. I will check it out. Thanks!
Jeff, another sheep being led to slaughter P., Jul 15, 2008, 4:28pm EDT
That's me to a tee, Jeff. Bahahahaha .......
Love your black icon. How original. lol
i like Gather for all the different things we can find here.
there are groups from everything from baby names to zoo visits and everything in between:)
I had no idea that you and Lera were ...well...intimate. Gather can also be quite a learning experience sometimes. Off to make those cucumbers....
As for upgrades, I am a n00b here relatively speaking. But, it seems to me if enough people do not like a certain upgrade and voice their opinion, well there at least should be a response from the "powers that be". Gather needs us just as much as we need it. I am not trying to foment revolution here, but if a product has flaws then you should fix it. But, in order to do this you must sometimes hear from people who use your product to see what those flaws are. So we as consumers must participate in the process.
I wrote this article because to me it is bewildering that anyone cannot find their niche here. I have not figured out what Gather does NOT have by way of people, articles, images and groups. There seems to be something for everyone. I think its a point of NOT making Gather conform to what we as individuals would make it. Ok, I am going to exclude myself from the last comment, Hubby says I find just about everything fascinating. I think he's right. I agree with those who say its what you make of it that counts. I see Gather as kind of a "free for all". Yes, it can be a daunting task to find your way around here. But, the excitement is not just in the destination, it is also in the journey. Thank you for the comments and I will try and keep up.
For every good member that leaves 10 "name a word with a in it" or "why I hate Obama" take their places.
http://friendsofdanh.gather.com.
Our goal is to help you further your exposure and to support other gather members.
I came to gather for friendship and was pleasantly surprised to find that I could also get a few gift cards to keep me in books. This month I am conducting a personal experiment to see how many points I can earn in one month...just curious.
;0)
If you are here to find great writings, want to offer your writing for review, help, critique then that is what you will find. You will be able to get what you want and give wht you want. It will be all that you want, right here on gather.
If you want to stir up controversy, agitate people, then good for you. Gather is that too. You can do that if you wish.
If you are here because you are bored, then you have found a great place to conquer boredom. How can you be bored on a site that has so much available.
If you want to spread your own brand of- religion, philosophy, hate, politics, love, then gather will work for you, too.
If you are just here to hang out and make friends, then gather is for you too.
If you love gardening, flowers, photography, grandchildren, saving money, going to yard sales, crafting, nude pictures, erotica, poetry, birds... well, almost anything that one can be interested in, gather is for you. You will find others simpatico with you.
You see, gather is for everyone, if each of us would realize this and take it to heart, then we would know, there is room enough for us all.
Gather is what it is, to each of us.
Yes, I'm trying for the cash option this month. It's fun. If it wasn't fun, I wouldn't bother. I like the diversity here. I can get into a good debate, maybe grab some laughs, or idle my time away with games and such. I'm not always in the mood for a deep debate, but when I find an article that really gets me going I say what's on my mind.
I have written stuff for fun and what I think were decent articles. I have also put up photos of my pets. That's the great thing about gather. You can read or look at what you want and skip what you don't.
(I'm avoiding the topic of the day, until the next upgrade.)
Whether you are in Gather or not, you sure can make a writer and sum up all your talents into print. It sure will excite the world.
As for any bit of pain you may have encountered from any quarter, it sure is worth, for not all have the talent you have. Even Taslima of Bangladesh is very much in demand by and once she is settled will mint dollars to excite the world. So go ahead in Gather and make your worth translate into goals and dollars. Come, begin anew. This is from New Delhi, India.
There is always going to be something in your environment that you don't like. This is especially the case when there is a diverse group of people. Rather than getting your panties in a wad about what other people do or do not do, accept that there are some things you can do nothing about, change the things you can, and move on. As long as your living, then it's not the end of the world.
And Chana, if someone has problems with big words, please do not dumb down to appease. I did when I was married to my ex. It made me feel like I was someone other than myself. I was not comfortable. I also enjoy big words and can be a huge stickler for proper grammar. As long as you aren't talking down to others, nobody should be offended.
I recently wrote a gather rant-n-rave article, when I came to the realization that I better change how I gather, if I want gathering to remain an enjoyable activity for me.
So I can say that I wholeheartedly agree, Gather has something to offer for anyone.
It isn't perfect and there is always room for improvement, but hey, I like the many interest groups here on gather and I enjoy my friends and after I finally found out about them, also like my points and the book reviews and photography and writer groups and even the poetry, some of the politics too.
The best part is you can keep on finding new great people, interests and groups. So unless they make it way too hard to communicate with my friends and find what interests me, I am happy to stay.
I get to read news that I otherwise would not know about. It's such a diverse community here and room for everyone and their interests.