Hi Dave! Long time reader first time commenter. I don’t think you get enough appreciation over here and would like you to know this made me snort-laugh (in a sad dystopian way). Thank you, internet manager!

You are so talented and multifaceted! Sometimes we need to release what isn’t serving us to make room for something new. It doesn’t mean all the connections are gone - just evolved. Look what you brought to life. The world you created! Where will all that wonderful energy go next?

I found it very hard too. A live environment is full of unpredictability and on top of that there are def social dynamics at play. It’s like a festival where several acts are vying for attention and while it was important for me to see if I belonged it showed me my strengths play better elsewhere.

Well I must like annoying posts then because I appreciate seeing your posts on my feed. 🫣

No but I assume they are buried in a landfill?

I hope mine are someday rediscovered like ancient arrowheads. Used for murder or mincing garlic? That’s for the museum goers to decide.

All great picks! Not a film but I loved how in Pixar’s Win or Lose each character has their own animation style. Ex: Kia floats when confident and sinks when discouraged. Very cool visual.

Now that’s a compensation package I would put up with a lot for.

You really are a whiz at the golf games!

I guess I’m just sick of people saying their “community” is “open to all” - no it’s not! It’s a bubble that’s open to some. That’s okay. That’s still needed, but we’re really losing the meaning of the word community. Community includes more than people who think, act and behave just like you.

You don’t have to be friends with everyone and yes - some will extract more than they give. But shouldn’t it be organized where contributions aren’t weighted? Isn’t that really the opposite of capitalism these ideas are derived from? That we all need to be carried at times?

Maybe intolerance is the only excluding factor. So what if community built up on a block around Old Man C - who isn’t the most pleasant (but still tolerates you) even though you contribute to his mutual aid fund? Isn’t that the point?

I guess what I’m getting at is - IMO if you really want to create community - you have to make it so inviting / amazing that diverse people willingly and enthusiastically join AND step up. I think often the focus on “fairness” in resource sharing is too high because the mindset is still capitalist

Plenty of in-groups exist:
- Religious groups
- LGBTQ+ resource centers
- Country clubs
- Black owned business collectives
- Mom groups

They serve specific needs, have expectations or costs - they are not communities in the way people are currently throwing around the word.

Presently you have an ever growing group that society is not serving and gaps that need filling.
You might already have a sense of community in friends / family, online, maybe in a neighborhood or city group. Maybe you built one yourself but ask yourself, is it a community or an in-group?

Most current societies are not communities but are loosely sold as the idea of individual freedoms and tolerance of others at scale (supposed to work for a majority). Laws “protect” that idea but are set by those in power. (Big over simplification)

Many groups want to model what is possible “in community” but end up creating expectations of members that are too high. At some point the incentive to join / or to remain and the expectations to be a member collide and there’s a stop. Maybe (big maybe) you have a good bubble but that’s it.

IMO from a fractal perspective (building small to big) groups are usually developed around need or identity and because of that there are expectations / rules about being in-group.