What do you want out of this community?

[Nascent Dynamics ( )]

I thought I would address some aspects I am working into the community.

Some people think the best way to go about social networking is to please everybody and try to be their friends. That is certainly a good idea and if members will do that for eachother, then all the better toward achieving the ideal of a member driven community. However, since I personally have different preferences and goals, it's easy for me to see how a friendly person might find themselves stepping on other members' toes, or even have some frustration with me. The main idea for me has been to set up an environment where I could freely be myself and enjoy the site as a member just like you. However, since I am the network creator, and I have projects in work such as the development of a service concept, I can imagine how my multiple roles might make reading me and what I'm up to confusing.

I am very comfortable with myself, how I do things, and what I do on this social network. So I welcome feedback, suggestions, and even debate. My feelings do not hurt easily, I have no intention of hurting yours, yet I stand by my views even if it may cause offense to others. It's where you represent yourself by being yourself that says more about you than you could write or explain to people.

Innevitably, especially in the early stages of networking here, there are bound to be people who take some offense by what others say or do. Sometimes, this can even be miscommunications due to language and culture since we are also a geographically broad reaching concept. I think, if you share and discuss what you are looking for out of this community, then you can alleviate some of that animosity and confusion over personal boundaries etc. Through the disclosure and learning that occurs in communicating and interacting over time, I bet many awkward moments, confusing notions, and uncertainties will naturally iron themselves out.

My personal preferences and interests are something I try not to impose on others, yet I represent in all my interactions...just like anyone else here may. I created Area Light as an environment where I could be myself and set up my business just like any other user. There is some crossover developing between Area Light and my own business- Nascent Dynamics ( )- I even see the site developing into an enterprise in itself some day at which point it will represent one of my proprietary business solutions.

Generally, I tend to keep myself separated from the business of Area Light, in some modes I operate as the CEO and this is a reflection of my modern business consulting expertise. I think the vision I have for the site is something that anyone could buy into not even knowing me, what I am about, and what I am doing. It's that much better with me and my activities...but you don't have to take my word for it!

I like to think this is a site where people can operate in whatever capacity they feel like whether personal, professional, or organizational...and do so with simply the open vision I spell out on the main page. Your experience here doesn't have to be about me or even what I am doing. Even I reserve some autonomy to be myself independent of those standards.

With that said, Area Light Member Services is more of a professional entity I have constructed to handle the service aspect of the site. I do not hide the fact that I currently am ALMS, but I also make it clear that I hope to staff it some day. I work on refining the service standards systematically to the point it can serve as a model to train whoever staffs it and so on. ALMS does very little to push its agenda on others anyway. Any member might jump in and use the site without much more than an occasional general courtesy from Member Services.

I have occasionally received comments on the personal vs. formal services dynamic. Thank you. I contemplate these deeply, though have a bigger picture and strategy to justify my methods you would likely not understand until you get to know me very well and looked deeply into my work. So while I plan on improving it and integrating a personal dynamic to it, this will remain an important theme of Area Light, me, and what I am doing. I remain accessible as myself, and I think I've already interacted with enough members to prove there's an authentic personal element to the site.

I encourage you to be yourself and do unto others as you would have done unto you. What you do to be a personal and friendly presence to other members on this site does move us closer to that vision. What you do to support the Area Light Member Services concept, albeit something that requires a suspension of disbelief for now, supports me and the vision I have for the site.

I know greeting people as the site creator and as a friendly presence can really leave a quality first impression and help the site to grow astronomically. At the same time, I have little interest in inflating my commitment to personal relationships with everyone. I am friendly, but just like most people I have encountered, I prefer to network on areas of interest and levels of interaction that suit me. So for me, I am not worried about making friends with everyone and boosting the growth of the site such an adjustment might imply. I will be happiest personally to meet people that really connect with me, challenge my intellect, and are glad to spread the word about who I actually am and what I actually do.

As a common thread, we are all free to be ourselves and try to do things our way. The results will speak for themselves whatever our agenda (or no agenda). We learn together as we go. While it is O.K. to be different, I agree with a general consideration to others. If for some reason you are hurt by my or other member comments and want to discuss them in private, please don't hesitate to message me privately. No offense is intended and I feel everyone actually deserve some acknowledgement for the energy they have brought in here. At the same time, I reserve the right to ban anyone I don't like. That allows me to assure members there is some common sense management onsite while not having to elaborate on protocols for interaction.

For me, I prefer a site that does not insult my intelligence, allows me to experiment, and does not blindly mass solicit itself to me. You may prefer to spell out the basics, establish an order to your preferences, and reach out to and follow through with a personal message on every gesture or comment someone makes, etc. For people who match your preferences, you will be what makes Area Light a great community. Other people might take it as an insult, an attempt to control, and essentially equate it to spam. For others, all you need to do is accept their preferences as part of the diversity of Area Light and know that you can be even very different and still support the unifying them of this community.

Now that you have had a chance to familiarize a little with what I am doing with Area Light, you might want to look into one of our forum discussions titled, "First Impressions". If you read some of the previous posts, you will probably note that I have received some outstanding testimonials to the social networking experience here and many personal compliments as well.

Area Light and Area Light Member Services is still a work-in-progress, but the tranparency is there for you to look into the work and thinking I am putting into it, and to even influence it to your preferences somewhat. For those members who stick around for some time, contribute to the idea, and support me in what I do and how- I do learn all about them, help them where I can, and support them to optimize their social networking experience with a lot of my personal time and energy. I think that says a lot about me. Together, I think we are doing "this". So thank you!

Finally, I have created Area Light Home as a group with the specific theme of discussing what each of us wants out of this community. So now that I have cleared the air a bit, why don't you share what you would like out of this community. I am always happy to discuss it.

Best,

Anthony

[Nascent Dynamics ( )]

Thanks Alvin,

I pretty much agree. I am seeing basically two ways you can go as a network creator- either focus on specific niches or have something for anybody. For my personal business outside of Area Light, I decided to set up niche sites and for my 10th (limit) Ning site I decided I should have something that is open for everybody and target my niche within it.

Since the very beginning I have sought out to welcome and comprehensively engage each member while not being solicitous nor a nuissance constantly pestering them. I'd been exploring other networks and one of the first things I noticed were a lack of direct welcome from the site management, little real interest in getting to know and work with me, people desperately trying to get me to pay them money for whatever, and little substantive correspondence- all I saw flooding my inbox were invitations to join groups and help them grow their networks.

So there you have Area Light Member Services, my personal secretary if you will, and a key role for managing this site once my personal business is up and running and I don't have the time to network with "everybody" who joins. I'm thinking much bigger and the relatively slow pace while I set up has been great for refining the idea and developing out the service concept standards to train and outsource out on. I've also long held the notion that people could do whatever they want in good taste regardless of Area Light initiatives (as I do with my own business), with the benefit of qualifiable services for free that you might otherwise normally pay for (at my personal time, expense, and energy), and these services all represent behaviors that are an example I will be happy to see others emulate to the rest of the community.

Finally, there is also what I personally want out of this community which is the freedom to be myself and pursue my own personal interests and preferences. I don't push these on people, but they are out there. Take for instance, the body of work I have put into so many members on this site and other networks to learn about and support the interests of others. I have been all about "you", but what about "me"? What I've learned in extending myself generously to others is that very often the favor is not returned. It's not difficult for me because I have a propensity to socialize with virtually anyone, on any level, and on any subject. It is rather time consuming though.

So a secretary would come in handy I think! This would be someone who could represent the services and culture I stand for on my behalf and refer me to those people who join that really want to interact. It is general and more efficient in pointing people on to whatever they want to do. If you look at the Coffee With The Oracle group you will see I have offered every member a chance to be showcased in an intimate conversation with me on whatever subject they want to take the lead on or as an explorative interview where I really look into them and engage.

It's not that I've hardened myself to the feelings of members, but rather adapted myself to be more constructive with my time. I doubt you will find anyone as immersive as I have been into others with genuinely nothing expected in return. When someone actually decides to ask me, "What is it I want and am working on?" then they might hear about my business Nascent Dynamics ( ) for the first time! However, that's something I wouldn't get into with people very deeply until I did know them and they showed as much interest in me.

It's good that people let me know where I may be inconsistent with that message or what their reactions are to the things I do. I do welcome those and take them all into consideration. At the same time, there will innevitably be a general audience of people who don't take the time to really explore this environment, me, and the tools I'm making available for them. That's O.K. too. that is part of the wide open theme of anybody and everybody I have set up this site for. When someone tells me how I should do it, that's also O.K., and what I mean by standing by my views irregardless of how some people might take it is I generally have a reason for everything I am doing...so I am more likely to be receptive and sensitive on the subject to someone that "asks" before offering me advice.

This is where it really gets good though. This conversation about what we want out of Area Light might never happen if we didn't look into the details and think about the other person's perspective. As a network, I hope for Area Light to be self-aware and better at social networking. You have some very practical points and I am sure acting on them as you do will represent an interpretation of the vision and site actually more people will be interested in than "me". I personally tend to move beyond G and PG-13 rating social interaction and that is part of what makes me genuine and real. However, when I put my customer service hat on and look at this from a business standpoint, that's why I have set up Area Light Member Services as a more contemporary and professional entity. With that comes the obvious trade-off that a lot of people may just disregard the offer of free service and assume it is another solicitation. So it really is an interesting challenge to improve on the concept, and at the same time i suppose you could say it is working. I don't plan on investing too much of my personal time into people not looking to reciprocate. In the beginning, just joining and trying is enough to deserve my attention...by the length and substance of this message and others i've had with you, I think I can claim to have done my part with you.

I'd be interested in your response to the many points I make. Perhaps since these ideas are still in the process of being molded that much is lost in translation. I'm happy to clarify whatever I have said that might confuse you or anyone else. So what is it that "you" want out of this community that you could share for the benefit of others just joining in? What would you suggest be done to involve people in shaping a community of choice, and what is it that you would offer to help make that happen? I'm sure you have good answers for these questions and I'd be very interested to see others join in the conversation too.

Best,

Anthony

[Nascent Dynamics ( )]

That sounds great to me too, Alvin.

If everybody wants a place they can call home, then Area Light is for them if they want it. You are here to establish this network as your choice and make it your own home. Great! We will work with you to make it happen.

If you are here to offer your own brand of hospitality and experience, then fantastic! Area Light is at your service. There's a lot of talk about relationship marketing out there, but few seem to actually try to build a reputation for how they interact with people. Area Light should be the perfect place to build out your reputation and you have the go ahead to explore, participate, and create to your satisfaction. We will work with you to make that happen too.

Great discussion. It would be great to include some other members in the conversation too. It could be a neat discussion to invite members or share with people so they will know they can make themselves at home and enjoy some friendly hospitality.

Best,

Anthony