That community sort of feel, like a local pub, with some new people and always the good ol' regulars reminds me of how forums felt when I first started using them - stick around long enough and you start to recognise names. But I think hubski goes one further - I think it takes absolutely far less time for this to happen on hubski than it does on messageboards/forums. I like that.
That's a really good point. Once you start learning names, which is hopefully fast, you started expecting where they might crop up in discussions and their unique ideas and approach. That is of huge value to a community. The expectancy of friendly faces.
I discovered Hubski about 1-2 weeks ago, and really enjoy it so far (even though I am a little quiet). It reminds me of when I first signed on to the Internet in 1994, how the communities were small, but close and respectful in dialogue. Much more signal than noise. I wish the founders nothing but success -- but I also hope Hubski doesn't grow so much that it loses its culture. (Perhaps keeping the culture in the long-term /is/ the measure of success!)
that requires barriers to entry, either through obscurity or a vetting process. Otherwise eternal september happens.
You are the barrier to entry. Who and what you follow is what builds your feed. If you consistently see unsavory users in your feed you can "ignore" and or "mute" them. You can do the same with URL's and tags. In short, if your feed sucks, take stock of why and change it. erin is right, whether or not we can maintain this overall culture is the measure of success though, from where I sit. But, should the idiots intrude conceivably you may not even notice.