I joined this area? group? at the invite of a quiescent
member of one of the four Listserv lists I'm an active
part of, mostly by submitting this essay or that, primarily
about foreign policy. After eighteen years online, some
experience with interactive MOOs and MUSHs, this is
definitely not the same.
My notes last night use two phrases that I think sum
up my initial impression of gather - "constant immediacy,"
and "of the moment." It looks as though some 500-700
articles a day get produced here (I cannot even imagine
how many images in addition to that). Even if I had
nothing else to do, and even if I could limit my focus to
books, writing, history and politics, a) there aren't enough
hours in the day to keep up with that and b) I cannot
begin to submit enough material despite a voluminous
archive and an ability to produce a couple of pieces a
day when I'm motivated to even be a blip in a place like
this. This is discouraging. I noticed my ID number was
close to 360,000, which means a fair number of folks
are connected to this operation (a good thing, in my
estimation).
But, I've discovered that whether I'm pulling stuff out
of my archives, or posting stuff I just had sent to my
listserv lists and my private distribution network that
most of it doesn't register at all (and perhaps I delude
myself that I can write, although I've been told often
over the past two decades I can). After posting 36
pieces in eight days, and only a handful seeming to
register, I took the day off yesterday and submitted
nothing. Today, I decided to follow up on my thoughts
about this site.
It's a fascinating concept, perhaps with some of the
same risks and deficiencies of myspace.com (and other
such places), although it would appear that the
demographic composition of gather leans a little toward
slightly older folk than those who populate myspace
(I tell my students that they will never find me there).
I have been writing for 44 years, and online since 1989,
have finished two books (neither published) and have at
least nine more unedited manuscripts lurking in my personal
cyberspace. But, in this medium, I'm at a loss. I cannot find
that much to say in a week, let alone every day! These days,
I'm lucky to produce two to three pieces every week, writing
two on 12 June about Iraq surprised even me. From 1990-
1994, I did write two to three pieces every day, mostly about
Russia and the Middle East, but I don't have that kind of energy
most of the time now.
I suspect I will stay here, but not submit often - there doesn't
appear to be that much interest. It is a unusual and fascinating
community, but I know I'll never keep up in the way I do the
lists I belong to. Those tend to be more "stretchy," in that one
has time to ponder what folks write, and take time to reply.
Here, it would seem, if one doesn't whip out something right
away in response to the massive production that occurs on the
site, one gets lost in the dust of the thundering herd who can
keep up.
I recall in the Bitnet days that an early form of instant messaging
was available - SEND, address to address direct, later TALK, which
did the same thing, and then all the various mainframe and PC
security programs killed that behavior. IRC, MOOs, MUSHs and ICQ
came in behind that, and that was too much most of the time, and
amazingly banal and "now" oriented, often caught up with trivialities
like amazingly long exchanges about the latest "cool" .wav file.
Gather carries some of that freight too, although it's clear that
some really intelligent and thoughtful folks post in this place. I'm
but a small drop in a pretty good sized bucket on gather. Maybe
that's a good thing. I wasn't hoping to make a splash, but it is
disheartening not to even make a tiny ripple. CD
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Comments: 9
Joining groups you are interested in is a good way to cut down on the amount of material that shows up on your "My Page" "Articles For Me" tab. It took me a while, connecting to everyone and then going through and disconnecting from those whose stuff I had no interest in, joining every group I saw and then removing them because I found that I wasn't really interested in what was posted there. I'm not a "fluff" person so I tend to avoid those groups.
Gather has something for everyone, but there is no lack of talented writers so coming here to get a lot of notice isn't necessarily effective. But, coming here for fun and food for thought works out wonderfully well. Good luck with it and if you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask someone.
I have read some very well written, interesting articles, and some that are exceedingly boring and poorly written, simple words spelled incorrectly, and lacking even rudimentary grammar(and the thing is, if you use Firefox, it will spell check input just like a word processor).... but my point is that these articles were read and commented upon and rated. As far as I can tell, what I've written has been read by no one.
I keep feeling there are some tricks that those who have been "gathering" for a long while know, but I can't find a "newby" group anywhere, and the FAQ is fairly elementary.
I'll stick around, but like you, feel like a small drop in the large bucket.
One note about IM (instant messaging) that's kind of off topic -- I too felt it to be mostly banal and trivial, until we starting using it where I work. We have a "virtual workforce," meaning that almost any job can be located anywhere. I just changed positions, but I was supervising a team of 10 employees who were located in ten different states from the East Coast to Alaska. IM was a integral part of how we did business and interacted with other teams, and will be integral to my new position, too. For those of us who have been around the net for awhile, it's interesting to see how "web 2.0" is enhancing what we've been doing all along -- gather could be considered one of those "web 2.0" applications that is rapidly changing the infrastructure and face of the net.
Most of the networking I've done is by accident - finding articles I'm interested in by watching the comments list page, and then checking members previous articles to decide to make a connection or subscription with them. I think people have found me the same way.
I have to say Gather is more mature than other sites I have been to - a least people know how to write with punctuation! I like that about it.
Just keep throwing things out there and eventually something will stick with someone else and then your network will grow. Also (I have learned this before for sure) let your ego go, and remember no matter how brilliant you think your article is, if it just doesn't connect (or even get read) then that's life. Many brilliant books and movies have sunk without trace because people were looking the other way and missed it. Doesn't mean that they weren't great, just that their timing was off.
What facinates me bores other people stupid. That is life as well.
And it is a GREAT thing if you don't write an article every day, or even every week. Some people here do write every day and that is why other (better) articles get lost - they are quickly bumped off the top of the article list, so they may not be seen by others. And it is an awful lot to trawl through. But remember, if I find someone who has written one good article I keep tabs on them, and that is the way I find other good articles.
Quality versus quantity.
It is even harder for people like me outside the US and in a different timezone. I never get to see the peak times because I'm in bed. Of course, this may be a good thing.
Don't disappear! We need quality articles on this site.