Hello!
John, a warm welcome to ER.
Your (re?)arrival on the edge has inspired me to login and post here myself after quite some absence. Mainly - and you will have to forgive my indulgence- because its an opportunity to contact someone i am indebted too in many ways. I still remember when and where it was that i read Cyberspace Innkeeping.
2000 I was sitting at my families shared ‘beige box’ pentium computer, i was ~15 and meant to be doing my homework… Instead I was running a phpbbs that was THE focal point for the local punk scene in my run down British seaside home town… it was the most important thing in the world to me at the time.
The experience of running that website and community, it’s associated zine, (remember them anyone?) and booking gigs, and tours taught me everything i understand about what mutually cooperative communities could be when empowered by the net. However it was that essay that was passed around my friends at the time that has since shaped everything i have ever done when working with others and building mutual teams. That line ‘When you log into an online service, you use new tools for an ancient activity.’ is still as true now as it was then. All the subheadings in that document should still resonate with people across this website when thinking about starting something new or cool and can be used as jumping off themes for discussion.
I am extremely grateful for the opportunities and the friendships i have made though ER, and im excited to see the outcomes of the work on the 4 key tasks in the ‘Failing forward’ post the other day and very much looking forward to seeing how the community grows and devlopes once these important challenges have been er ’ bureaucractised’.
anyways. Welcome aboard!