I suppose I should start, to break the ice and all. In a previous thread, which I will link to
here for the benefit of the SYM research types, I began a discussion about community and if SYM could be considered a community. Some people thought is was or could be a community and others thought it basically could not be a community and was pretty much a posting board. In considering this whole situation in light of my current situation, I was intrigued to find that I now agree to some extent with those who say that SYM is basically a posting board. The reason that this so is because the
relationships that once made SYM a community to me are no longer present for the most part. What I have come to realize is that it was not the threads in the forums that made SYM a community for me, it was the relationships that occurred in large part outside of SYM. Of course, if you don't reference these and take the proponents of the posting board perspective literally, then they have an excellent point. In fact, I feel rather chagrined at my obtuseness.
In some respects, embracing the posting board platform is rather freeing. I can take a detached, concrete, intellectually-centered view of the whole question. I can technically abide by all the rules but be as insensitive or as friendly as I want because, after all, it is just a set of pixels on the computer that I can shut off any time I wish. There is no compulsion to participate in any meaningful way, since SYM is not a community, and whether it lives or dies, splits or doesn’t splits, thrives or deteriorates is of no consequence to me. After all, I have the email addresses and ICQ numbers of anyone who is of interest to me if I need further stimulation at some future point. Or I can move on to other posting boards if I need to harvest more points of stimulation. The politics, squabbles, and quaint customs of SYM are now just the bleatings of so much sheep.
It is amazingly empowering that I can now totally take responsibility for my perceptions. And I can take whatever I want whenever I want it (within the constraints of the rules) since there is no longer any expectation that I need to contribute anything, unlike my previous incarnation. I no longer need coddling, positive strokes, or meaningful interactions. I have been SYMancipated! In fact, I can see the whole dynamic of SYM as an orgasm of solipsistic rapture and can be completely and utterly selfish, since, after all, SYM is just a posting board and everything written here is just epiphenomena from detached consciousnesses that I have no relationships with or connection to.
What do I expect and wish from SYM? That it stay in its little Petri dish, that it entertain me, and that it not bother me too much. And now, please excuse me. I need to catch Fox News.