response 299 of 480:

Dec 14 17:43 UTC 2006

Regarding #296; Oh, I don't know.  I'm not ready to throw in the towel just
yet.  But to each their own.

Regarding #297; I suspect that in a narrowly defined sense, grex is doing
that.  There are a core group of 20 to 30 users who, as I said, will keep
grex alive.  But I really think that claiming the grex is furthering the
public knowledge or advancing science are stretching reality at best.  Grex
is quickly becoming a provencial backwater; are there people doing things
*for* grex?  Sure.  But what is grex doing *for* anyone else?  I think that
the criticisms that grex has no real vision are perfectly valid.

The articles of incorporation articulate a purpose, but it's rather vague.
I guess what I'm asking is narrower in focus; where I ask what is the
purpose of grex, feel free to substitute, what is the *character* of grex?
Is it a system that is all-inclusive, really making an effort to be relevant
on the modern Internet, or a playground for that same 20 or 30 users who
have been here all along?  The answer to that question really clarifies
where the priorities for the system lie.  If it's the former, then there are
some significant problems that need to be addressed; in particular, if new
users are really the lifeblood of the system, then how come there isn't more
of an effort to encourage them to become involved?  If the latter, then I'll
agree with Mary Remmers that everything is peachy, but don't be surprised
that there aren't a lot of people interested in playing.

I think that a lot of the grex population really, truly, strongly believes
in grex, which is great, but some of them also aren't willing to look at
themselves to see if maybe, just maybe, there isn't a cultural problem on
the system.  Sometimes, belief can be so firm that one blinds oneself to
other realities, even though someone is screaming at them that things aren't
the way they see them.  It seems to me that any attempt to say otherwise is
interpreted as a viscious attack against something they hold dear.  There's
little objectivity around here, and I think that is a problem that's just
going to grow over time.

Let me rephrase the problem in a totally different way: has anyone stopped
to think about why there aren't more new users who become part of the
community?  You'd think as the total number of Internet users increases,
you'd see - perhaps not a corresponding increase - but certainly not a
decrease of new users.  So why has membership decreased?  And why can't
people even consider that maybe it's a problem with the way the grex
community operates?