thread: 2013-06-12 : Status is Your Toy!
On 2013-06-18, David Berg wrote:
"The best creative communities are built on a majority of working relationships and a minimum of status ones."
Amen! You have no idea how bewildering it was when I first came to the internet mining for practical advice, and hoping I might contribute some in exchange, and wound up in all these weird conversations where so much else is going on. "I know the answer to your problem. Now let me lecture you instead of saying what it is." Huh? What?
Over the years, I've continued to run into this sort of awkwardness on forums, but less so when I'm not working on anything. Chatting about fun gaming, for instance, always seems smoother and more natural. Maybe there's less status at stake when the conversation's less goal-oriented? If so, a side effect of groups that aren't just about work might be to decrease work discussion over time, as the members (those who aren't there to fight for status, that is) will find it less pleasant than non-work discussion.
