Comment Re:It's about Cherry Picking. (Score 1) 507
I think most people believe that the ability to contribute to a conversation means they are somehow encouraged to contribute, even if they don't have much to say. I don't believe this myself, If I have nothing of value to add to a conversation I will not do so.
Humans are social creatures, so the desire to communicate your thoughts is understandable. However, some form of self control should be valued. Look up to good contributions, and look down on valueless ones. Only a good community of people that understand those values can expect to keep a good signal ratio.
Of course, a good community will often be recognized as such, and eventually be dragged into a mire by the rest of the internet. Due to the open nature of the internet, and most communities, it is near impossible to prevent that form of decline. Look at sites such as Digg and Reddit, when they were new they had a smaller and news-focused community. Those communities grew because of their quality, to the point where that quality suffered. Looking at the front page of Reddit, very little resembles the original intent of the site: User-generated news. Now it harbors memes, jokes, videos, and discussion barely worthy of note. In it's hayday, it would have reasonable discussion, interesting articles, and varying viewpoints. Now it lacks most of that, emphasizing "social" over "news".
Humans are social creatures, so the desire to communicate your thoughts is understandable. However, some form of self control should be valued. Look up to good contributions, and look down on valueless ones. Only a good community of people that understand those values can expect to keep a good signal ratio.
Of course, a good community will often be recognized as such, and eventually be dragged into a mire by the rest of the internet. Due to the open nature of the internet, and most communities, it is near impossible to prevent that form of decline. Look at sites such as Digg and Reddit, when they were new they had a smaller and news-focused community. Those communities grew because of their quality, to the point where that quality suffered. Looking at the front page of Reddit, very little resembles the original intent of the site: User-generated news. Now it harbors memes, jokes, videos, and discussion barely worthy of note. In it's hayday, it would have reasonable discussion, interesting articles, and varying viewpoints. Now it lacks most of that, emphasizing "social" over "news".