Thanks for the shoutout tng. I had been following this discussion as it developed. I've told numerous people about hubski. A few sign up to respond to my blogs via DvH but don't seem to linger. This all leads me to wondering what it means to "get it." It could be that all kinds of people get it -- but not everybody has that particular yearning. What leads people to fall in love with their hubski friends and spend time encouraging them, commenting on their thoughts, finding and posting things that might be interesting to them, and eventually seeking them out in meet-ups -- even if it means staying sober enough to go back across the border and drive for four hours towards the dawn? We definitely need new people because so many people seem to drop by, seem to truly get it (think littlebirdie), but then leave because their longings take them elsewhere. For some reason, we who have stayed find something particular that suits our on-line time, our technology, our interests, our passions, or our need for distractions -- whether it's the #weeklymusicthread or #vaguequestionsbypablo or tng's podcasts. I doubt that even mk can quantify what getting it and keeping it involves. At least not yet.
I can't quantify it either but whatever "it" is takes a while to find. I recall inviting all of my friends to Hubski when I first came on board and only a few actually signed up, scrimetime, bgood79, lucky_cabbage all of whom use Hubski in different ways and at different frequencies. A lot of people just didn't see a need for it in their lives or thought that whatever need they would derive from it was already being satisfied from Facebook or elsewhere. I could try and persuade them that Hubski was different but the truth is, unless you actually invest time here, you'll never figure out how or why it's different. Also, for some it may not be an enjoyable place. You can't satisfy everyone. mk and I have talked about what sort of metaphors and analogies adequately encapsulate Hubski and he once remarked that you cannot read a page of a book and expect to get the entirety of what makes it special. Hubski is similar, at least to me. You can't visit the global feed and know that veen has been traveling abroad or that mike has shared poetry and math art or that humanodon is sharing his struggles with Obamacare and ecib is roasting coffee beans in an old popcorn popper while NotPhil is a genius when it comes to the culinary might of a microwave and kleinbl00 is posting in depth commentary on a number of topics and posts a novella ..... I could go on. These people, these topics and characters emerge and almost form a sort of side narrative that, if you let it, can enrich your life. It's a hell of a cool place to hang out. But that is kind of hard to see when you look at a page on a screen. Like most things worth while, it takes time.