Thanks A Lot, Humans

A few weeks ago, the Washington Post ran an article about a seemingly idyllic social network that sounded like the Internet pre-blog-hate sites. I don’t need to name them — you clearly know them and how people piled on certain bloggers. But before Facebook and Twitter and before those sites, blogging felt like sitting on the front porch, talking. Everyone in the ALI community was my neighbour. I went from blog to blog, collecting wisdom, nodding, and generally feeling like I had a community of smart people to ask questions and gain support.

So, I was thrilled to read about the site and a little jealous that it wasn’t in my state. But when I went to Google the site, I saw a very different reaction from users online who complained about how the site was just as tense as my own neighbourhood listserv despite the dek promising “unkindness is strictly prohibited.”

Are humans doomed to ruin every community we create to connect with one another? It sort of feels that way sometimes.