# The Community Pool



## Angel Tarragon (Apr 13, 2005)

I was wondering if a moderator could announce the opening of the community pool sitewide?


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## Darkness (Apr 13, 2005)

Sorry - the closest approximation of an announcement I can achieve would be editing a note about it into the sigs of the top 5 posters.


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## Morrus (Apr 13, 2005)

I don't want to sound stupid here, but.... huh?


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## Darkness (Apr 13, 2005)

I'm not entirely sure there _is_ a point to get here.


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## Umbran (Apr 13, 2005)

What, the Hivemind not lively enough, that it needs to have mods pimping its threads?


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## Jdvn1 (Apr 13, 2005)

I think he's looking for a community-wide thread.


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## Mark (Apr 14, 2005)

Jdvn1 said:
			
		

> I think he's looking for a community-wide thread.





*OR ELSE...*


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## Umbran (Apr 14, 2005)

Jdvn1 said:
			
		

> I think he's looking for a community-wide thread.




Well, then labelling it "Hivemind" was the wrong thing to do.  No matter how open and welcoming the Hivemind feels it is, it is still a fairly specific subset of the community.  Folks who aren't interested in being part of the subset aren't likely to take part.


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## Jdvn1 (Apr 14, 2005)

Umbran said:
			
		

> Well, then labelling it "Hivemind" was the wrong thing to do.  No matter how open and welcoming the Hivemind feels it is, it is still a fairly specific subset of the community.  Folks who aren't interested in being part of the subset aren't likely to take part.



The Hivemind tries to be open and welcoming, but I agree with you.  Although, to a Hiveminder, the label makes sense.  Do you think "General" would be a better label?


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## Umbran (Apr 15, 2005)

Jdvn1 said:
			
		

> Do you think "General" would be a better label?




If the intent was to reach beyond the Hivemind, then yes,General would have been a better bet.  

I mean, the "Hivemind" name, while genre-appropriate and humorous, is probably itself a turn-off to some folks.  In the sci-fi and fantasy genres, a hivemind typically has connotations of conformism and overbearing the individual, rather than openness and acceptance of differences.  

I think perhaps the Hivemind needs someone to handle PR for them


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## Darkness (Apr 15, 2005)

I blame Piratecat.


...for the name.


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## Jdvn1 (Apr 15, 2005)

Umbran said:
			
		

> I think perhaps the Hivemind needs someone to handle PR for them



... What, Oozes aren't warm and welcoming?    

I don't know the story behind the name "Hivemind" but I guess it does give some negative connotations.  I don't think there's much we could do about it now -- I think Hiveminders are attached to that name.


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## Greylock (Apr 15, 2005)

For the record, "Hivemind" sometimes refers to regulars of Randomlings forum. The two monikers used to go hand-in-hand, but not so much anymore. Few are regulars of both nowadays.

Throwing that out there 'cause alsih2o recently called me a Hiveminder.


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## Rystil Arden (Apr 15, 2005)

Jdvn1 said:
			
		

> The Hivemind tries to be open and welcoming, but I agree with you.  Although, to a Hiveminder, the label makes sense.  Do you think "General" would be a better label?



 I agree.  The Hivemind seemed pretty OK with my recent foray of interloping.  At least so far.  But when I first saw the name, I did think it was a bit odd.  One turn off is also sometimes the high post count.  I like to be courteous and read everything in a thread before I contribute, which is one of the reasons I haven't been able to say anything in Shilsen's fascinating Paladin thread--its just so long.  I think the key to the Hivemind though is that you don't have to read everything.  That's one majour plus for jumping right in.


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## Umbran (Apr 15, 2005)

Jdvn1 said:
			
		

> I don't think there's much we could do about it now -- I think Hiveminders are attached to that name.




I don't think there's much that _should_ be done about it.  If the Hiveminder's like the name,  that's all that really matters.  They just shouldn't use it when they want general participation.


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## Jdvn1 (Apr 15, 2005)

Umbran said:
			
		

> I don't think there's much that _should_ be done about it.  If the Hiveminder's like the name,  that's all that really matters.  They just shouldn't use it when they want general participation.



Well, but the Hivemind _always_ wants general participation.  At least, the more the merrier.  So something should be done about something, but I don't know what.


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## Len (Apr 16, 2005)

Jdvn1 said:
			
		

> Well, but the Hivemind _always_ wants general participation.  At least, the more the merrier.  So something should be done about something, but I don't know what.



The Hivemind will just have to live with the disappointment of my non-participation. Nothing they can do about it.


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## Darkness (Apr 16, 2005)

I think it's better if not everyone participates. We have like 1,000 users online at most times.


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## Darth K'Trava (Apr 16, 2005)

Darkness said:
			
		

> I think it's better if not everyone participates. We have like 1,000 users online at most times.





And it can be a pain keeping up as it is at times.....


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## Jdvn1 (Apr 16, 2005)

Well, we obviously can't force people to contribute to the Hivemind thread, but I think it's cool when non-regulars post.  Sometimes there are multiple conversations and that's cool too.  You don't have to keep up.


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## Darth K'Trava (Apr 16, 2005)

Jdvn1 said:
			
		

> Well, we obviously can't force people to contribute to the Hivemind thread, but I think it's cool when non-regulars post.  Sometimes there are multiple conversations and that's cool too.  You don't have to keep up.




Alot of times, in my case, it's CATCHING up....   

And I'm a relative newbie to the whole hivemind thing.....  So I dunno if I'm a "regular" yet....


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## Nightcloak (Apr 17, 2005)

Jdvn1 said:
			
		

> Well, we obviously can't force people to contribute to the Hivemind thread, but I think it's cool when non-regulars post.  Sometimes there are multiple conversations and that's cool too.  You don't have to keep up.




This is the real plus to the Hivemind.

It's like an open door community of gamers. I jump in when real life gives me spare time, but feel no pressure to post when RL keeps me busy.


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