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<blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 1756162" data-attributes="member: 177">Well, first off, there's no such thing as a &quot;lowly registered user&quot;.&nbsp; The only thing that separates a registered user from a community supporter is a bit of spending cash.&nbsp; In about a month, I'm getting married.&nbsp; That means I'm short of cash and when my membership runs out in October I'm not terribly likely to have the bucks to spare to renew it.&nbsp; Then, I'll be just like you.&nbsp; Well, as far as I can tell, that's how most people start out.&nbsp; I felt the same way when I started posting.&nbsp; I had posting habits similar to those you describe.&nbsp; At some undefineable point, the feeling that I was talking to nobody dissolved away.We must remember that while this place is a community, it is a largish one.&nbsp; When I talk about &quot;community&quot; here, I don't mean the feeling that I'm known by each and every member, or that I know everyone who posts, or even a large fraction of them.&quot;Community&quot; in a fannish sense is something a touch more distant than that.&nbsp; It's a knowledge that we are all here for basically the same reason, and that we have a few things in common with the other folks here, and that we are willing to work together in some siimple ways to help each other enjoy ourselves a little bit.&nbsp; Honestly, nor do I.&nbsp; But it is the camraderie that makes the place function.&nbsp; I don't come here for it, but if it weren't here, I would not return.&nbsp; Without comraderie, the place would degenerate into every other flame-filled online forum, and it would become nigh useless.For a very, very long time I was not a community supporter, and I did not feel such pressure.&nbsp; I am not sure where your feeling is comeing from.Well, that's largely because every once in a while some folks (publishers and fans alike) do start getting a little ungrateful.&nbsp; They forget that this place runs on volunteer labor, and start to feel they are entitled to things.&nbsp; Humans, by nature, tend to slide into such behavior unless they are occasionally reminded that there's things beyond themselves to consider.As for asking what people feel about the place, and what they want - isn't that what this thread is all about?&nbsp; In large part, isn't that what the whole Meta Forum is about?&nbsp; I'd be interested, but I have some doubts.&nbsp; My doubts (and the reason I said EN World doesn't need to refocus) lie in one simple fact - there's 22,000 registered users and some hundreds of them are active.&nbsp; While we have our commonalities, we also have our differences.&nbsp; Lots of them.&nbsp; We're talking about &quot;herding cats&quot; here.&nbsp; It seems most reasonable to give them some broad frameworks - like the dividing lines among fora - and from there allow them to collectively find what they want.&nbsp; Anything else is highly likely to be problematic.If you have thoughts as how to get these cats to all move in one direction, and I think that direction is a useful one, I'll be all ears <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile&nbsp; &nbsp; :)"&nbsp; data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

[QUOTE="Umbran, post: 1756162, member: 177"] Well, first off, there's no such thing as a "lowly registered user". The only thing that separates a registered user from a community supporter is a bit of spending cash. In about a month, I'm getting married. That means I'm short of cash and when my membership runs out in October I'm not terribly likely to have the bucks to spare to renew it. Then, I'll be just like you. Well, as far as I can tell, that's how most people start out. I felt the same way when I started posting. I had posting habits similar to those you describe. At some undefineable point, the feeling that I was talking to nobody dissolved away. We must remember that while this place is a community, it is a largish one. When I talk about "community" here, I don't mean the feeling that I'm known by each and every member, or that I know everyone who posts, or even a large fraction of them. "Community" in a fannish sense is something a touch more distant than that. It's a knowledge that we are all here for basically the same reason, and that we have a few things in common with the other folks here, and that we are willing to work together in some siimple ways to help each other enjoy ourselves a little bit. Honestly, nor do I. But it is the camraderie that makes the place function. I don't come here for it, but if it weren't here, I would not return. Without comraderie, the place would degenerate into every other flame-filled online forum, and it would become nigh useless. For a very, very long time I was not a community supporter, and I did not feel such pressure. I am not sure where your feeling is comeing from. Well, that's largely because every once in a while some folks (publishers and fans alike) do start getting a little ungrateful. They forget that this place runs on volunteer labor, and start to feel they are entitled to things. Humans, by nature, tend to slide into such behavior unless they are occasionally reminded that there's things beyond themselves to consider. As for asking what people feel about the place, and what they want - isn't that what this thread is all about? In large part, isn't that what the whole Meta Forum is about? I'd be interested, but I have some doubts. My doubts (and the reason I said EN World doesn't need to refocus) lie in one simple fact - there's 22,000 registered users and some hundreds of them are active. While we have our commonalities, we also have our differences. Lots of them. We're talking about "herding cats" here. It seems most reasonable to give them some broad frameworks - like the dividing lines among fora - and from there allow them to collectively find what they want. Anything else is highly likely to be problematic. If you have thoughts as how to get these cats to all move in one direction, and I think that direction is a useful one, I'll be all ears :) [/QUOTE]

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