It's like trying to solve world peace!

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I’m going to continue to moan about the enormous task of managing the channel known as “community”!

Why do I call it a channel!? Well, because if you’re an organization like Microsoft, and you build stuff that people use (and sometimes like), then you are going to inadvertently or advertently (I think I just made up a word) feature in some kind of multiple person meeting.

Why is this a problem I hear you ask?

Well, because people are funny (and I don’t mean ha ha). And I’ve noticed this more and more.

So here is my formula for community:

1) (Persons > 1) + Passion/Interest for Something = Community, where Something could be a product, technology, activity

Now, there are two systemic anomalies inherent tot he programming of the community (picture me in a white suit with a Colonel Sanders beard)!

The first is possession; those who start the human phenomenon of Community x, get very possessive. They don’t necessarily want anyone else outside of the community coming in and playing with things, talking to their people, flicking their switches. Jeez, just because I have my 26th birthday party (yeah, I wish I was that old) at the pizza shop down the road doesn’t mean I want Giuseppe giving me advice on how to run my family.

The second is meddling. See, if the “Something” in the community equation is actually produced by an organization, they generally want to have something to do with the community based on their “Something”. But then the first issue (possession) comes into play, and you get an all out shamozzle. Again, why do you get a shamozzle? Because generally the intentions of “Something”’s producer isn’t necessarily around a passion/interest for the “Something”, it’s around making sure that more people become passionate/interested in “Something”, and that the people who already are passionate/interested in “Something” stay that way. Now, that’s now community (as defined in my formula)! And that’s why you get a problem!

Now if you’re confused, check this out! If you’re not, then you’ll know where I’m going with this. Anway, I’m happy that I’ve exhausted this out of my system, enjoy the rest of your day :)