It may sound obvious, but I just wanted to point out there's another place where a degree of social interaction is possible - these very online worlds of the TMF.
The positive thing a lot of us have remarked about social meets is that whatever else happens, people come away with a sense of peer support about their interest in something that's a bit on-the-fringes. In other words, there is a genuinely cool aspect to just chatting or sharing a beverage with others on Team Tickle.
Then there's the cynical view, which is socialising is just something to participate in as a means to an ends....
I think how we choose to function on these boards and the PM system is a good reality check for where we sit between those two ends of the spectrum.
Since signing up here in November 2007 I've achieved the mighty total of 37 inward and 45 outward PMs. Those inbound ones involved about 10 different people and outbound looks to be around 15.
Buried in those meager stats is one important thing - I've never left a 'greetings' message completely un-answered. When someone says a passing 'Hi', they'll get a response in-kind, even if it takes me a while to notice and reply (obviously 37 messages in 2.5 years equates to pretty patchy attendance from me!).
As to the imbalance between the 45 and 37 - a few cases things moved across to a webchat setting; a couple of the extras were just a 'ps' that needed no response.
And lastly, some were messages from me of 'Hello' or 'how's things?' that went completely ignored.
It's always unwise to over simplify a situation. But that said, I think a good rule of thumb would be if that we have time to log in and post to the forums, then shooting off a a 7-15 word reply so as to not leave someone's hello gesture hanging is probably also do-able.
That to me is a part of keeping the flicker of a flame alight on our long term goal of feeling vaguely like an Aus community. To not bother seems cynical - like it's only worthwhile replying to things that deliver a strategic benefit towards that elusive tickle meet.
Feel free to discuss (or.... to ignore
)
The positive thing a lot of us have remarked about social meets is that whatever else happens, people come away with a sense of peer support about their interest in something that's a bit on-the-fringes. In other words, there is a genuinely cool aspect to just chatting or sharing a beverage with others on Team Tickle.
Then there's the cynical view, which is socialising is just something to participate in as a means to an ends....
I think how we choose to function on these boards and the PM system is a good reality check for where we sit between those two ends of the spectrum.
Since signing up here in November 2007 I've achieved the mighty total of 37 inward and 45 outward PMs. Those inbound ones involved about 10 different people and outbound looks to be around 15.
Buried in those meager stats is one important thing - I've never left a 'greetings' message completely un-answered. When someone says a passing 'Hi', they'll get a response in-kind, even if it takes me a while to notice and reply (obviously 37 messages in 2.5 years equates to pretty patchy attendance from me!).
As to the imbalance between the 45 and 37 - a few cases things moved across to a webchat setting; a couple of the extras were just a 'ps' that needed no response.
And lastly, some were messages from me of 'Hello' or 'how's things?' that went completely ignored.
It's always unwise to over simplify a situation. But that said, I think a good rule of thumb would be if that we have time to log in and post to the forums, then shooting off a a 7-15 word reply so as to not leave someone's hello gesture hanging is probably also do-able.
That to me is a part of keeping the flicker of a flame alight on our long term goal of feeling vaguely like an Aus community. To not bother seems cynical - like it's only worthwhile replying to things that deliver a strategic benefit towards that elusive tickle meet.
Feel free to discuss (or.... to ignore
)
