Online communities are a wondrous thing. They expand the boundaries of our lives in unexpected ways, and they offer all the benefits of physical communities and more. But they suffer from one major limitation that I've experienced twice in just the past week. Join me over the fold for some thoughts. And Mojo!
We often feel like we know each other here, but in an emergency situation it's easy to be hit with a major roadblock: we might not even know your real name or where you live. This is surprisingly easy to overcome when people work together. Here's a couple of stories from the past week that show what I mean.
I'm a member of a motorcycle touring group oriented around a bulletin board system. Much like DailyKos, people talk about issues, ask for advice, give reports of the riding they've done or are doing, and frequently organize real life meetings for dinner or for riding adventures. Everyone feels like they "know" others on the group, even though they may not even know their "real" names or even where they live.
Last weekend, a wave of concern reached a peak because of a missing rider. She had been posting updates about a trip she was on, riding her motorcycle through Mexico and South America. She had been having mechanical difficulties and turned back towards Texas. In her last update, she had crossed the border and was waiting for help to arrive. She gave no details about who was coming or where/when. And then nothing. For two weeks.
We did not know her real name or any contact information at all, other than an email address. Several people had tried emailing her, with no response. And even with a phone number or email address we had no assurance that either would be useful for someone known to be outside their home turf. We set out to find out more.
It didn't take long to amass a lot of useless information. We found her real name (not so useless, particularly as it was unique enough to be easily Googled), the town she lives in, where she used to work, what she was going back to school to study, her blog, the names of her family members (with phone numbers that were out of service). All of this was fairly useless information for our purposes.
But she had a personal GPS locator device on her trip, and her blog had a link to a map of check-in points from it. Using that, we were able to identify a particular house that she appeared to stay in for more than a week, before the signal moved again and then disappeared. Knowing a couple of people in the group who lived in that general area, we asked them to go check it out. This turned out to be unnecessary, because one of them knew the person who lived in that house. Small world. The missing rider was quickly found and came back full of apologies for dropping off the group abruptly. There was a sigh of relief all around.
A similar thing happened just yesterday with one of our own. judiann posted a diary that concerned several people due to the more-incoherent-than-normal nature of her writing. She seemed to be trying to work out an issue with food stamps, and the situation in general caused several members of the community to have great concern for her well-being. But beyond her username "judiann" we had little to go on. Mining her past diaries for clues, and a few Google searches later, we had a "real" name, and even phone number and address. Someone phoned her to check in. She is in no immediate danger, however it's clear she needs some help, and I think that we've found someone in her area who may be able to reach out to her.
These types of events make me very emotional. They show in the most profound way the best nature in all of us. And they remind me that when it comes down to it we take care of each other. That's the kind of community I'm proud to be a part of.
Today is mojo for community
Mojo Friday Guidelines
- If you comment you have to recommend all comments. (in order to receive mojo you have to give mojo. It's only good mojo manners.)
- Everything you say may be taken as a joke (so if you ask a question, expect a silly answer)
- You must recommend the diary (and pimp it unapologetically)
- You don't have to comment to recommend.
- You can't steal my idea (right, like that ain't goin' to happen)
- Please, no pictures or YouTubes until after 300 comments. Now, after 300, use a little common courtesy and be responsible in the number.
- Mojo mojo mojo mojo, mojo mojo mojo.
- TexDem (our benevolent sponsor) and MKinTN (that's me) are not bound by the guidelines. Heh.
Mojo Friday Time Shifters Goals (watered down from Mojo Friday Goals)
A. At least 40 different commenters and 300 comments by 2:00 PM PST.
B. 50 recommends for each comment, at least.
C. Get on the Recommended List (this requires some strategic planning by you guys, refer to guideline #3)
D. At least 50 diary recommends. 100 would be better, spread the word.
E. And always, fun fun fun.
F. Have at least 75% average participation rate as seen here in the Mojo Friday Postgame Comment by Yours Truly.
G. Have at least 10 kossacks over 90% participation (see here for some tips).
H. Overload the servers with recommends, not to mention dominate Top Comments Mojo list. (we do tend to mess with the site with all of our recommends at one time)(also, to dominate the Top Comments Top Mojo we need at least 50 comments with over 200 recommends, see guideline B)
I. That's enough for now. (Have a suggestion? Post it.)
MKinTN posted a diary to help everyone achieve greater success called How to Succeed at Mojo Friday Without Really Trying.
For those of you new to MF (Mojo Friday) we have our own lingo about a few things. Thank's to MF'er Jez (the link will explain) go to this diary for a little more fun and explanation. Official Mojo Friday Snecktionary.