response 145 of 186:

Dec 4 17:32 UTC 2003

I know a lot of people who use grex and they won't interact with other 
people. One friend (who no longer uses grex from what I can tell) told 
me he didn't like interacting with other people especially in party 
and on bbs because all of them seemed to be talking to each other 
about things they knew and people they knew. Agreed, he may be a 
little thin-skinned (I personally have never had a problem in party 
for the most part, though one user's comments about restricting party 
to English speakers because of all the Indians that would get on and 
talk in Hindi, pissed me off. However that was one user. Not a big 
deal) A lot of the items in Agora are AA based - the spotted item, the 
lunch item. Again. I personally think that these items are great. But 
another user told me how she hated them because they seemed to be 
rubbing it in her face that grex was for AA, and not to forget it. 
(This was from a member that was around from at least 1996 if not 
earlier)

These are petty things, true. But the idea they are giving non-local 
people is that Grex is primarily for AA and the vicinity. Again, I've 
had this conversation with someone else, and it was pointed out that 
this was a recent development, not present in the old days. I agree 
this may be the case. This sentiment wasn't present in the early 90s 
when there were a LOT of non-local people in the userbase. But the 
general feeling of people logging on now seems to have changed. If it 
doesn't seem to bother people around here, and they think they're 
doing fine without making people feel welcome, that's all well. But if 
you do think you're creating a community that welcomes everyone, no 
matter where they're from, then sorry. That's not the case. There are 
people that will not participate because they don't think they belong. 
(Not me, I'm here posting, so I guess I do have some feeling of 
belonging).

The question is 
a) Do we really want non-local people (both non-AA-ites and non-
Americans) to feel like they belong.
b) Is it worth it to make the changes (either in attitudes, prices, 
general content etc) to make other people feel like they belong?
If the answer to either of these questions is No, then this discussion 
need not be pursued further.

(I picked 2000, a little at random, maybe because I was around briefly 
in 1997-1998 and returned full-force in 2002. 2000 seemed like a good 
enough turning point, though it could have been earlier or later)