Re: comp.sys.apple2 yahoo group

["Sean Fahey" <a2fan@hotmail.com>]

"Michael J. Mahon" <mjmahon@aol.com> wrote in message
CcidnQFpH9GYP6jeRVn-rQ@comcast.com">news:CcidnQFpH9GYP6jeRVn-rQ@comcast.com...

> It's not "growth" that's the problem.  It's splintering an
> already small community into shards that are even more likely
> to be sub-critical mass.

I'm all for people trying to start more Apple II sites and resources. It may
seem like there is a division of resources, redundancy, etc. but I take it
as we're not keeping all our proverbial eggs in the same basket - we aren't
overly dependant on one resource, or susceptible to it's loss. Instead of
redundant effort, we have redundant backup.

I also believe that users will go where they feel most comfortable or get
the most value. Niches or SIGs form where people would likely be
non-participants elsewhere. I also believe that unless a site or resource
offers something special or unique not found anywhere else, or is REALLY
good at what it does, then people won't use it, and it will die off. All
that survival of the best, free market jazz etc.

I'll use A2Central as an example. Eric never planned on it being the center
of the A2 Universe - and whether it is or not isn't my point - just FYI, the
site gets a lot of traffic so it's safe to say it's popular. Someone could
make a bigger better site, add the same type of content plus a few
value-added features and then suddenly, A2Central would be rendered
obsolete, insignificant. A2C would have to either adapt, expand to survive
or fade away.

We can talk about community all day - because we are all here (or there)
united by our common interests - but aside from a really dedicated core,
most users are fickle and go where the "gettin' is good".