A Question and an Idea
Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2008 9:26 pm
I was wondering... and don't worry, it's mostly harmless this time.
A recent post and a conversation I had with the Redhead (Mrs Watchwolf for those who might not have guessed) got me to thinking. (Where's that danger music coming from...?)
But seriously...
We are a community. We've said it enough times. Some of the younger people here might not feel that way but somehow I get the feeling these are a very small minority.
When thinking along those lines I asked myself a question: What if something "happened" to one of my friends here... what if one of us came to some sort of harm? Would any of us have a way of knowing? Or would that person just drop off the radar and never be heard from again? That would basically suck.
I know I would certainly want to be aware if one of us were to come to any harm. Just to know, at the very least, and maybe to offer some sort of help or support to the family etc of one of our own if at all possible. And I would most definitely want people here to know if I were suddenly unable to be here for any reason.
Personally, I've been on the Internet since around '95. Internet communities were beginning to grow roots and people from all over the world were finding out they had a lot more in common that the media and governments had ever let on. The internet became a powerful tool for so many purposes, and far from the least of these, it became a home for a world-wide community of people who could see past inconveniences like politics and religion and see people for who they are. A strange thing started to happen: People found out they cared, close bonds developed, friends were made... even relationships were forged. Few may know that this is how Watchwolf and RedheadTiger met in a now-defunct community called Firefly and eventually were joined.
Well anyway, I got to talking to the Redhead. I made sure she has a link to the Void and my website credentials so she could come in here and let people know if I was in the hospital or got run over by a truck or whatever. I figure there might be one or two folks here who might want to know... whether to mourn or rejoice I dare not venture a guess.
And so to the question: Well OK, two questions:
Does anyone here agree that the Void Community is close enough that most of us here would want to know what might happen to one of our own?
And if so, have you]/i] got a way to make news known if you were not able to tell us yourself?
These questions got me to thinking about a solution.
I think each and all of us have at least one person in our lives who might have an idea how important this place is to us. And I'll bet we also have a friend here in the Void who we feel is close enough to trust with some level of personal information. With these two bits, we can form a network where no one will ever disappear and not be heard from again.
I think it might be a good idea for each of us who might not have already thought of it, to... well, to think about it.
And I was also wondering if anyone here thinks it might not be a decent idea to have some sort of central place to make that kind of information known? Now sure how or where... but that's what brainstorming is for. If it's an idea worth working out, maybe we can come up with a solution.
But at the least, would YOU want us to know if something happened to you? And if so, how?
A recent post and a conversation I had with the Redhead (Mrs Watchwolf for those who might not have guessed) got me to thinking. (Where's that danger music coming from...?)
But seriously...
We are a community. We've said it enough times. Some of the younger people here might not feel that way but somehow I get the feeling these are a very small minority.
When thinking along those lines I asked myself a question: What if something "happened" to one of my friends here... what if one of us came to some sort of harm? Would any of us have a way of knowing? Or would that person just drop off the radar and never be heard from again? That would basically suck.
I know I would certainly want to be aware if one of us were to come to any harm. Just to know, at the very least, and maybe to offer some sort of help or support to the family etc of one of our own if at all possible. And I would most definitely want people here to know if I were suddenly unable to be here for any reason.
Personally, I've been on the Internet since around '95. Internet communities were beginning to grow roots and people from all over the world were finding out they had a lot more in common that the media and governments had ever let on. The internet became a powerful tool for so many purposes, and far from the least of these, it became a home for a world-wide community of people who could see past inconveniences like politics and religion and see people for who they are. A strange thing started to happen: People found out they cared, close bonds developed, friends were made... even relationships were forged. Few may know that this is how Watchwolf and RedheadTiger met in a now-defunct community called Firefly and eventually were joined.
Well anyway, I got to talking to the Redhead. I made sure she has a link to the Void and my website credentials so she could come in here and let people know if I was in the hospital or got run over by a truck or whatever. I figure there might be one or two folks here who might want to know... whether to mourn or rejoice I dare not venture a guess.
And so to the question: Well OK, two questions:
Does anyone here agree that the Void Community is close enough that most of us here would want to know what might happen to one of our own?
And if so, have you]/i] got a way to make news known if you were not able to tell us yourself?
These questions got me to thinking about a solution.
I think each and all of us have at least one person in our lives who might have an idea how important this place is to us. And I'll bet we also have a friend here in the Void who we feel is close enough to trust with some level of personal information. With these two bits, we can form a network where no one will ever disappear and not be heard from again.
I think it might be a good idea for each of us who might not have already thought of it, to... well, to think about it.
And I was also wondering if anyone here thinks it might not be a decent idea to have some sort of central place to make that kind of information known? Now sure how or where... but that's what brainstorming is for. If it's an idea worth working out, maybe we can come up with a solution.
But at the least, would YOU want us to know if something happened to you? And if so, how?
Im going to throw my twopence worth in here. No doubt some of us are members of a variety of "social" sites - My sister got me connected to Facebook. Now here me out on this one. I was a sceptic at first until Mrs Zeb started to make contact again with many friends from her sorority and folks from her college days and a variety of associated friend from her past and their families - the result of this is that we have "hired" a local coffee shop / live music venue for the night and its open to all of those who can come. Now we are not kids so its not been one of those stupid "party invites" made by these mad teens who end up with unwanted gate crashers - its all been done separately through emails and by telephone. The point is that Mrs Zebs "friends list" now contains 30 - 40 plus members. 
