I'm pretty sure I've said this before and I'm pretty sure I'll say this again - hubski is an insular community. Any small community is insular because you get to know people. You notice when a new, active person comes in and you notice when an old, active person goes out because at this scale screen names do not provide anonymity - they provide a fresh start. As time goes on, who you are becomes associated with your new name and you lose your sense of anonymity and gain a sense of vulnerability. It seems like the people who publicly leave hubski do so as a result of some crushing vulnerability. I think that's the nature of the site at this size. As long as it remains a small community where you know every active contributor, it won't feel like a place you can escape to and the social obligation will become overwhelming to a few - as it does in all small communities.
I don't agree with your analysis but I think it's an interesting one. Maybe there are elements here which I would accept or adopt. Don't forget - over time, hubski will. I don't feel hubski at large knows me very well at all. There have been times hubski at large knew me better. But there's a lot about me, and most of it more impactful than not, that hubski will never know because I know I don't want to share it. Is it reasonable to assume the average user is more likely to share their deep and secret twisty inner weaknesses, vs not? I do agree anonymity inspires the sort of confessional behavior you describe but I guess I don't believe I really see that a lot here or partake in it. Maybe it's this word vulnerability you're using. Is it a user who falls to their vulnerability, or do other actors possibly aim at it?
You say there are things about you that are kept off hubski. It's true for me, too. To your question, maybe it's both. Users share their vulnerabilities, and other users comment on them, not even knowing it's a vulnerability.Is it a user who falls to their vulnerability, or do other actors possibly aim at it?
I think this is spot on. I'm not sure anyone in the main community is intentionally attacking, that would be trolling and to troll for so long and in such a subtle way would be true commitment. I think it's more that two personalities bang against each other and there's a reaction to the impact. kleinbl00 can be an aggressive personality, that's the reason he's well known here, that's the reason community members give a lot of weight to his approval, and that's the reason he's used as an example in a lot of these conversations. But he's just a human on a keyboard with his own human flaws. I think the problem comes when his human personality (or replace his name with any other personality on hubski) is confused with the personality of the site as a whole. And I'm not trying to single out kleinbl00, this exact thing happens over and over in communities online and off.