During the time I have been back, since my last absence (undercover, then-I'ld-have-to-kill-you-stuff, government denies all knowledge etc.) I have found ADISC is in fact different from just being a larger TBDL; many of these differences are as subtle as they are significant, and have taken a while to discern. There is a bigger younger contingent; I have no stats to back this up in terms of median or average age; I am going on my impressions. Now it may well be that statistically, nothing's changed from the 20-something dominant crowd I am used to. There are, to be sure, more people with professions that imply being 25-30 at least. There seem to be many more who admit to middle age, as I do. However, %ages don't tell a whole story. A population with 48 Democrats, 48 Republicans and 1 Communist (and say 1 environmentalist, and 1 anarchist - to make 101 - damn anarchist!) does not behave in the same way as 4900 Democrats, 4900 Republicans, 100 environmentalists, and 105 anarchists (damn anarchists! someone's double-voting!) Individuals, small groups, large groups, and collections of small groups all behave a bit differently; with our size of membership one person may well be in all the above. One anarchist might mean occasional vandalism, or self-published pamphlets being printed, handed out, and dropped unread, to the dismay of the environmentalist. 100 anarchists have meetings, cells, and collective action. 1 environmentalist picks up after the anarchist; 100 environmentalists can get anti-littering bylaws enacted.
Cliques are appearing: or just clumps. Groups of like-minded people. This is fine - I am not complaining - there's room for all, especially with the variety of forums, sub-forums, and threads we have. This is a perfectly normal bodily function of a healthy, growing ADISC-organism. I am saying it makes a difference. For one thing, our mods sometimes appear spread thin: unavoidably with an increasingly heavy workload, and continued high hiring standards. I no longer feel I should direct newbies to check out Administrative Stuff, as a hip-hop-happenin' place to be. It is just not as all-abuzz as other places, the way it used to be, where a greater number or %age of people cared about goings-on there; whether that is cause or effect, the upshot is that there does not appear to be much experimental admin is going on, definitely not as much as used to be. To be fair, much of that experimenting was to achieve goals that are now achieved or at least require less fiddling with: the rep system is stable, the admin roles are delegated and fulfilled, (Full-filled! hee hee) and the influx of new members continues un - or only a bit abated. (Say, when they come in spouting offensive *chan language; have an unsavoury heritage, or if they have opinionated, abrasive colourful voices that can no longer tolerated.) (There are now so many of us that nobody - without authorization from the highest levels - gets their own font. Handing out such privileges used to be arbitrary, but nobody minded when individualists could claim squatters' rights on a font or colour; now if you privilege one person the others feel they have a right too, so it is just easier to dispense with the whole privilege. As applies also, it seems, to teddies with their own colourful fonts.)
Fiddling with administrative stuff is also different with 200 active users than with 1200 active members and 5000 total. I note the resurgent conformity-police movement. This is endemic of a larger population which is more stringently subject to local by-laws. Before, cultural norms spread as memes member to member, more, and though codified, this was more meant as a guideline to be referred to. Now the code is moving towards being more of a law. Used to be I knew the local fruit on the beat, who would let me park in no-parking zones as he knew I had my reasons. Now I don't even see whoever is neg-chalking my tires. The grammar-nazi thing seems not recognize the exceptions that used to be part of our culture, even define it:
1. Wordplay by wordsmiths
2. Infant speak
(maybe we need special BB code tags to mark these two categories? Get your tags at city hall! Now there is a small administrative fee!)
3. Young, (like 13? 15?) or ESL (English as a second language) - people - or other can't-help-its.
Good writing is of course a cultural institution here, and one I like; but we are formalizing a social institution into not just a codified but an externally regulated one. We have an award of recognition for our most stringent Grammar-Nazi! Now it has capitals! Our award is an award of recognition - but how long before it is an award of congratulation? Grammar-Nazis, we salute you! Wait, the grammar police are scowling and tapping their neg-reps at the ones who didn't salute... Soon there will be fines... And Liberal-funded schools to improve the minds of newbies... since they will be heckled...
I don't think monkeying with our awards or the values they represent is the way, or at least an effective way, to fix or promote our social values; many - may not think they need fixing at all. Those awards reflect our values. They were voted on by a very respectable democratic system of primaries (nominations) to be later followed by the general voting. Democracy go awry? Can't. Ever.
If it does, is the democratic process to blame or something deeper in the society? I say something deeper; there are trends I don't much like, though I am aware that such apparent trends may be partly a product of my fevered brain or due to my awareness of the small fraction of ADISC I keep an eye on. Regardless (not irregardless - I am a lawful raccoon) I am not blaming anybody; such trends may be unavoidable in a larger society. They may be the result of disconnections occurring between groups and individuals, and because a handful of mods are kept busy with their own bailiwicks with less duties overlap, and their collective vision is somewhat fractured.
What does it mean when certain bunnies, foxes, wolves, bats, - even cows - who used to show up, at least in certain quarters at certain times - regularly, or even intermittently - but often enough to have a real, interactive presence have quietly disappeared? Even if they went of their own free will, does this not say something about our ecosystem? If so, what? (I miss Kuzzy too, though didn't get to know him as well as I would have liked, nor as well as I should have.) It means certain of our elder folks find the new environment disagreeable somehow.
Now, at least, I think I understand Redtails better when he says
I might just as well be the only one, but I really didn't like tbdl, it felt creepy because everyone was so close. I mean it felt like everyone had to couple with everyone for it all to work. Adisc offers much more freedom in this and it makes me feel more comfortable people aren't constantly on my neck
I think we are talking about similar phenomena, though what I liked about TBDL he didn't care for so much. Don't get me wrong- I like ADISC very much, and enjoy many of the features it has compared with TBDL. I most certainly am not ADISC-bashing, though I half expect to find a brick through my window tied to a note that says "Love it or leave it." (On the other hand, that would imply 1) people bothered to read my long, essay-like post, and 2) they cared enough to get riled up. Dobbs bless any such types!
Another thing about many of our recent immigrants. Many of them I am sure are genuine, but not highly emotionally vested. (This is not the same thing as simply being emotional.) One sign is the anonymoussy (analagous to "truthy") usernames: dlguy123, diaperfan222, Deecolon - though this is just a sign, not a sure sign. I don't want our earnest but naive recentlings to go harass the anonymousies over their names. Or any mousies. Many of them are shy, or at least not sure how to comport themselves; this suggests many of them are young and already know they are a bit non-mainstream, and are Quite Aware What They're Going Through - and don't wanna be picked on in the place you go to not to be picked on. Others see a Naruto - or some such - nucleating point, like the bench at the bus stop (the one with the shelter) and gather their in their waterproofs, out of the rain, strangers who already know each other. Others come to read the wiki-books from our library that used to be for sale (free) in the bookshops and don't interact as much: there's less need to. Many of them drop by more as tourists than as dwellers, though equally frequently; another symptom of urban sprawl; unsure of the stability of local property-values , where social policy (traditional or explicit) is starting to contradict, just a little (to start with) local by-laws and regulations; they are unsure of the mad raccoon talking to himself in the park,; and a little afraid to ask the elder statesmen busily going about their business.
And these are my pet theories to do with why, and how, I think TBDL is different from the brave, new, ADISC.
We have out own political correctness. Never used to, in quite the same way
