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In lugnet.general, Thomas Main writes:
> My main concern here is _who_ it excludes and why. Are there people out there
> that are interested in LEGO, have come by this site and been turned away? I
> think it is likely to assume that that has been the case. What are some of the
> reasons that people have not stayed or gone away after experiencing this
> community? Here are some of my thoughts (this is all speculation, btw):
>
> Is there a culture here that makes it seem inaccessible to the casual fan of
> LEGO? Are the number of newsgroups too overwhelming? Too much
> compartmentalization? Are there unwritten rules that newbies are afraid to
> violate? Or does it seem worth the trouble to get to know them? Is there a
> "way things should be" attitude from long-time members that intimidate
> newcomers?
For someone who has shyed away from the community over the past year or so,
I feel that I may be able to answer some questions:
I believe that the culture here includes everyone, especially the casual fan
of Lego. But I think that the reason (for at least me anyway) for turning
away IS the shear number of newgroups and people. When I began posting here
about 4-5 years ago, the number of us was smaller and you would find those
people who you grew to knew and become friends of some sort. The people who
would always reply to your posts and just be generally nice. After many
years, the community has become very large and I feel that this sense of
getting to know people has become hard to find. The fact that there are so
many people in so many posts makes it difficult for the casual poster to get
to know someone. And since there are so many threads/posts/topics, it
becomes really easy for your post to become lost in the jumble. For example,
when I started visiting this site, I was the 5th person to post in the brand
new mecha channel. I found that to be my hang-out of sorts and I got to know
the other people who posted there (Mark Sandlin, Mladen, Eric Sophie, etc
etc). But now the fact that it's so easy for a thread to be lost, a new
person who posts may feel sad that he has been overlooked and then just give
up. I don't think people turn away because of the unwritten rules or
anything like that, just a sense of being overwhelmed. At least, that's my
interpretation anyway.
~Nick
www.swatonline.org
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