Gaia is a dying breed!

Perhaps we should rename ourselves 'Zaadz' ?
and re-initiate our T-shirts?

And then dump the scholarship, and all people who do not react within 1 months of the name change?

Since the amount of active pods…
well : Active pods

The aren't 100.000's members.
there are 100's….

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

I suspected as much since the same faces keep popping up, it wouldn't be so if there were 100,000s. I never had a Zaadz T-shirt, soon they will be collectable!

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

I'm wondering Domus what the trend is in terms of activity, and we need a longitudinal study for that. Perhaps there were many more active people here in the Zaadz days. Perhaps the recent site refit caused a big drop in activity. I don't know because I've just started to analyse this closely.

I also don't know if there is a lot of other activity outside of discussion groups (blogs etc) with other people because I haven't started to look at blogging yet (not sure I will either, discussion groups is time-consuming enough to track), but I wonder -

Is it sign that we are doing things wrong or is it just that there are so many other places people can be on the net, and they find a place that's a better fit? If they are happier there, is that a bad thing?

I honestly don't know but I'd like to mull these questions over with any who is interested. 

Cheers,

Nicole

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

hmm… Perhaps not.

I think people are still interested but in their own pace.
They will probably not answer to just any mod-mail. They probably just click it away. I know I would. Because I only answer real messages.

perhaps we need to make a shift in modding large groups.
I'll suggest something on WIE

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

I responded to your suggestion there, and I agree, I don't answer group mails. However, a skilful group mail can work wonders, like Siona's I mentioned there, especially if it comes out of the blue instead of regularly.

I think though we don't have such a huge crowd as it appears, enough people are still very involved here, at their own pace as you say, that it is a worthwhile site for us.

I thought your idea of combining pods was an excellent one (noticed your poll in the Experiment). 

Thanks,

Nicole

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

Maybe zaadz was just a quiet little isolated town. And Gaia is a big city. Where you have too many places to go to, too many people to meet. Maybe just having a look at all the places takes too much of time. Though people are checking things, there isn't a way, for now, to see that.And maybe that's why the activity could be apparently low.

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

Hi Pixie,

Perhaps! But I remember how busy the discussion groups were when I first joined zaadz in the fall of 2006 and it seemed to me that there was at least as much group and blog activity then, perhaps more. Domus? Would you concur?

Peace,

Nicole

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

I would agree on that too, Nicole.
But what really is activity? Is it a percentage of something, or the number itself, and of what?

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

Ah, excellent questions, Pixie! We are looking at the easy things, like numbers of discussion posts per day, blogs, comments on blogs. There are many other kinds of activities though that are harder to track. Who's to say what's most significant, eh?

Peace,

Nicole

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

Hmmm….
Maybe a lot of people find that something that they would have wanted to say has already been said. It will require more info to know that though, like number of people visiting a group. And more efforts, which I wonder if is worth it. Like maybe if Gaia had an “I Agree” or “Ditto” button near the “Like!” one. Then we would know if that is the reason.

Maybe there is filtration. People are focusing on quality than quantity.

Maybe people are scared that they'll be blocked or they'll offend someone.Because that wasn't the case with Zaadz. I think Gaia is more sensitive. :P

Maybe the questions at the surface have been asked, and it takes more time to dig questions that are deeper.

Maybe Gaia isn't as easy to work with as Zaadz was.

Maybe they don't know what to say.

I'm just assuming these.There are just too many possibilities and more that I haven't thought of. It could be none, one, some ,or all, or even more than these.

If a solution has to be worked out, we need to know the original problem.

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

These are all real possibilites, well thought through! Probably to some extent they are all true, but we don't know to what extent.

Or if any of these is a driving factor in the activity issue.

I'd like to link this discussion to the discussion on the Mod Pod where we are looking at member feedback. 

Thanks for your help, Pixie,

Nicole

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

Activity used to be higher. That is for sure.

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

The 90—9—1 Rule & the Dilemma of Participation Inequality 
 
GAIA.com Rocks!  Thank you! 
 
The human touch makes GAIA.com Rock !   
 
It is also its chief handicap, or the dilemma of the participation inequality a.k.a. the 90—9—1 Rule. 
 
1% of users contribute, 9% contribute from time-to-time, and 90% of users lurk in the background rather than make a significant contribution. 
 
What’s on the web is hardly representative of web users as a whole. 
 
Unbalanced participation will always be with us, that's nothing new, but there are ways around it. 
 
For example, rewarding people for contributing! 
 
Individuals are paid between $10 and $15 for each contribution on GAIA; accepted of course by the GAIA team. 
 
How about a contest for the best post? 
 
The Wisdom of the In-crowd does not come free ! 
 
BTW, does the GAIA team get paid from all the Ad revenues on GAIA.com, or not? 
 
Leverage the masses to deliver credible results with a people powered device like GAIA. 
 
More E-content like stories, humor, pictures, videos, and the like generate conversations…

Otherwise, GAIA’s “social graph” is just a giant web of links among its many users, and nothing more.

Many social networks, not just GAIA.com, struggle to achieve a deep and engaged community driven by members with a personal investment in the website.

Don’t get me wrong, GAIA.com has many cool features. 
 
However, GAIA has got to get into the Wisdom of the In-crowd. 
 
The human touch makes so GAIA.com so appealing.   
 
It is also its chief handicap, or the dilemma of the participation inequality a.k.a. the 90—9—1 Rule.


All the best,
  
Lou

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

Hi Lou,

Sounds great, some of us would make a lot of money :) but unfortunately Siona has told us Gaia doesn't make money - I guess the ads, etc help it break even or nearly break even. 

Love,

Nicole

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

It does sound good. It doesn't have to be money. Any other form of an incentive, except the seeds. Because they aren't working.
Maybe like featuring someone on the basis of activity or whatever and putting them up on the community homepage, like Youtube has it's featured videos. And somewhat promoting them, in a way. Or making a certain amount of participation necessary for the scholarship. Or at-least increasing their preference for the scholarship on the basis of (constructive) participation. Something like that. Or even having the same preference for book giveaways or any such extra benefit that one could have from here.

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

Very interesting, Pixie! I'm thinking about another community where people earn “gold pieces” for posting. Do you think that sort of thing would motivate people, since seeds didn't? Being a featured member of Gaia, eh?

What would motivate people?

Great food for thought!

Peace

Nicole

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

make it web-based wealth. A free website, large email. in Gaia-mail. discounts, free goodies. I don't know. Money isn't that great, lets keep this online.

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

I think most of them would do well.
The seeds probably didn't work because their value remained limited only to measurement. They can't really be placed as benefit, at-least directly. It should be something that is pretty direct, and very useful.

And maybe groups can go through an “approval” process before they begin functioning to see if they are similar to existing groups, and asking them why they think their (new) group would be different. Maybe if there is just one group for a thing, the activity regarding that topic would be concentrated in just that section, somewhat keeping up the energy. But I wonder if that can be done? Because it sounds pretty difficult, or at-least the process sounds tiring.

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

How about an ad-free version of Gaia, and an @gaia.com email address–essentially a Gaia + membership? That to my mind seems perfect; it's the sort of benefit that committed Gaia members would find useful (while non-engaged ones wouldn't really care). And we could I'm sure also offer discounts and benefits or other treats from our sister ships (Gaiam.com, Spiritual CInema Circle, etc). The downside is that many Ambassadors already have this in place… but it's still one possibility.

Nicole: The reason we shied away in the beginning from offering 'rewards' for posting is because it seemed both trivializing (this is Gaia, not kindergarten… and really not even kindergarteners should need such incentives!) and didn't account for the variety and quailty of contributions. But I think we discussed this at length already when the seed system was first put in place…

Pixie: We do encourage members to check first to see if there's already a Group on their topic of choice. However, as I think we've seen, there can be Groups on identical topics but with very different energies / attitudes / atmospheres; it depends so much on the “personality” of the cultivator and members. To my mind, I think what would help most is if we (meaning both the Team and the long-time Gaia members) really walked our talk of empowerment, and really made sure to coach and support new moderators in finding members for their Groups and nurturing conversations.

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

A Gaia + membership would be great Siona!

“this is Gaia, not kindergarten… and really not even kindergarteners should need such incentives!”

Heehee. Maybe kindergarteners don't and adults do!
I know the incentives thing makes the participation feel artificial-ish .But it really isn't about the incentives. Maybe it would just begin with that. People would be more into posting and even more so- starting threads, and they could end up doing so for it's own sake. Like a push for them to participate.
But well, maybe it won't. Still there would be replies, as there would be a different input coming in other than the usual ones. Atleast there would be even more activity from those who simply enjoy taking part.
I think it's worth a try.

But I'll definitely agree that groups have their own personality.
Maybe it can help by introducing them to “The Mod Pod” as a first step.

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

Hmmm…… I was just glancing over the active groups list, and kind of looked around a bit too.
Some of them were new, and it would be pretty fast to really take them into account. Because new things always seem attractive. :P
And some had only one or two members posting something. I wouldn't take that into account too as much of a success.
Which would make the activity even lower. :(
Maybe we also need to see the number of posts made per (say) week per Gaian.

Then there were groups that were creativity based, places to relax and just talk, and groups that talked about something very specific. And they are really working well. Maybe that means something.

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

Hi Pixie,

Excellent points. Remember the active groups list is a work in progress and some of those new groups if they don't thrive may no longer appear there. I will keep an eye on it. 

And yes, sometimes it's mostly a conversation between two. 

We seem to average about 300-400 posts a day, which would be considerably less than one per day per Gaian :) but probably more than one per day per active poster :)

Yes, the most active places right now are split between community and “Integral” and/or cerebral. Interesting.

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

The active groups list is quite helpful even now! A great basis for assessment. :)

'We seem to average about 300-400 posts a day, which would be
considerably less than one per day per Gaian :) but probably more than
one per day per active poster :)'

O.o…That wouldn't mean much even per week, or even per month.If active posters are posting more than one per day, they are doing pretty well.What that would mean is that we have an extremely large inactive population! Maybe we need to send a message to all of them..WAKE UP!

Or the only thing that can improve this to something meaningful is amphetamine. :P

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

LOL! 

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

“Extremely large inactive population” ?
The virtual world gets ever closer to the real one!
Are we dead yet?

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

Lets define the following:

Pod is inactive when:
- If The last discussion was at least 250 days ago.
- And If the amount of members that visited within the past 30 days is below 15 percent of the total group member amount.

Or when:
- If The last discussion was at least 125 days ago, but a reasoably equal amount of time prior to that, was the next to last discussion.
- And If the amount of members that visited within the past 40 days is below 10 percent of the total group member amount.

Or when:
- The original Cultivator of the pod is no longer a member of Gaia, or has been absent for more then a year. (365 days)
- And The last discussion was at least 250 days ago.

In either of these cases, thinking of merging the pod would certainly be a wise decision.

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

Good definitions, Domus. I'm trying to remember how Siona defined inactive… Found it. On March 8, in the Mod Pod here, Siona said:

I’d say either any Group that has had no posts / activity in the past three months, or no discussion (meaning someone might have popped in with a post that no one else responded to) in the past six or so. For me it’s a combination of time-since-last activity and how (or whether) that activity was responded to. 

(And I think, of course, it depends on the topic and theme of the Group, too–I know there are certain Prayer circles on the site that people use only infrequently, but this doesn’t mean they’re not active. :)

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

One thing I'd like to jump in here with… :)

Our original search algorithm ordered the Groups in a 'date created' fashion. (I'm not sure why this was, nor the logic behind it.) As of this week, we're changing the algorithm to order by the most recent post.

My hope is that this will make it easy to 'bump' Groups higher up a search page, so that if there's a Group you're interested in reviving, a few questioning posts will mean that it'll start showing up at the top of searches.  With any luck this will help enliven things.

Also, thank you, Domus, for your idea of merging! There's a discussion about deleting Groups that unfolded here not too long ago, where a few moderators raised some (well-thought-out) concerns. Merging might make for a happy compromise. :)

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

Domus & Nicole,

I just thought I'd pop in.  I've been here since the Zaadz days.  I came in Jan 2007.  I have heard some say it is less active since Gaia.  Some members complain that their blogs got more reading and comments in the Zaadz days.  I really can't see how changing ownership would change that.  Personally, I think there is just so much to do here, that it is hard to do it all in a day, week or even month.

Case in point.  I'm a member of this group.  I peeked in a few times, when it was first formed.  Probably commented once of twice.  I have probably peeked in a few times since.  But maybe I really can't think of anything “worthy” to say and don't want to just post “words” in order to just post.  ”Great job”.  ”Thanks for posting this”.  While those might be nice to hear, do they really contribute true “content ?

I don't think there is anything “wrong”.  It just is what it is, but some of us do like the community alot, and who's here and what's here, and would like that to continue.  I put myself in that group.

On my list of 75 groups, there are only 12 inactive ones (not active since 2008, including the month of Dec 2008 being the last post in some for this group, the least active no posts since Apr 2008)  I have thought of getting rid of some from time to time and then, something will happen to make someone comment (including a not too active cultivator) and I'll think “glad I didn't delete that one afterall”.  I guess I'm not “bothered” by level of activity.  I just like being here.  I figure as long as anyone else does, it's a good thing for me to keep coming.

Deb

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

True, I don't think there is anything wrong either Debyemm. Fact is Gaia is much bigger nowadays. More to do, less time for blogs. Besides, since the Zaadz era, Blogging in general has become less of a novelty web-wide. And besides, most blog entries are just some sort of loud diary entry. Most people just don't give a crap about a lot of things that are said. At least I don't care how difficult the grocery shopping of person X was I never even heared of before. Nor of famous person X for that matter.

What would be best is a review button on a blog. Or a rate (like 10 stars) to rate a blog entry. And when you search blog items, higher rated ones (after a month) and new ones switch eachother over and over.

Man, it is my work to solve problems hihi, that's probably why I get paid. :)

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

That's an interesting idea about a review button, Domus. Have you suggested it over in the think tank?

My subjective impression is that blogging has slowed down but that's partly because of people either blogging elsewhere or not blogging (I'm one of those who hasn't blogged much in months). 

But that's not necessarily a bad thing - I'd prefer quality over quantity, which is a good point Deb made about posting.

I've noticed, too that the recent focus on activity has helped revitalise a number of groups as our awareness has been on this, as Sandra mentioned in the Mod Pod Feedback from a new member discussion.

And with the new initiative by the team to list groups by activity starting this - thanks Team! - I think that will be a great help to everyone to see more easily where the talk is happening.

So, we're making good progress, I think.

Thanks,

Nicole

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

Or a rate (like 10 stars) to rate a blog entry. And when you search
blog items, higher rated ones (after a month) and new ones switch
each other over and over.

I think we tried this with the seeds. It didn't go over that well, as I recall… ;)

And Nicole: I blog in cycles, too.  I'm not sure if this is a larger falling-off trend as people move to Twitter and the like, or whether it's something unique to the community. Q&R responses have stayed relatively consistent… and sometimes I do dream about expanding those prompts, or, say, making Quotes more 'Q&R'y,' giving people a Quote of the Day to reflect on. Maybe next year. :)
 

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

Siona, that's a cool idea about the Quote of the Day! No rush though :)

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

oooow… Is that where those seeds were for! (Never knew) How bad of me!

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

“Laws alone can not secure freedom of
expression; in order that every man present his views without penalty
there must be spirit of tolerance in the entire population.”

Albert Einstein

(1879 - 1955)


Is that the problem?
And that makes me think. We are slowly moving from quantity to quality. And better quality will probably result in lesser activity.

Which brings me to the question again….Is it about quality or quantity?

Because if it about quantity, then instead they should feel good about saying anything. And if it is about quality, then reviews should work really well.

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

oooow… Is that where those seeds were for! (Never knew) How bad of me!

Well, originally, yes; they were designed to be part of a rating system that would highlight what the community thought was the 'best of' Gaia. Quite a few people, though, didn't take kindly to the idea of their posts being rated (or “judged,” which is understandable!) so we ended up rolling up the project. It is, all saved in the archives. Just page back through the Team blog to a little over a year ago. :)

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

There are a few things that keep me from being extremely active in Gaia.  I lurk daily, post sometimes and rarely do anything more.  I find the usability to be quite difficult to navigate.  I don't understand how the Grapevine works and even though I update my status everyday, I have three main issues with it:
1. There is a bug so that if I type a status longer than the visible length of the text box, it won't update.  It just hangs in a permanent “saving” mode.
2. The fact that I have to make it work with the verb “is” is annoying.  Most social sites with status updates did away with “is” a long time ago.  I usually write my status in Spanish & English on other sites, but I can't do that in Gaia because of the “is” and length bug.
3. I have no idea who sees my status or how to see other people's status.  I fill it out because I do so for all the sites that have status updates, but I honestly I never see anyone else's status.

As for posting in Pods, it is intimidating, plain and simple.  There are several people, some of who are on this thread, that dominate conversations.  There is nothing wrong with that, but if I check Gaia once or twice a day and a thread gets 10+ posts from two people, there is no way for me to easily jump in.  Gaia is made for very intellectual people that have much more free time than I.  I surf quite a bit on Facebook, Tribe, Hi5 and Myspace.  If I have to read for 15 minutes to catch up before I can actually post, I am never going to post.  It is too much work and takes away from the interactive and pondering nature of the way I use groups.

The last piece of feedback is that this site might claim spirituality, but it actively ridicules people that are more intuitive with the way they practice their spirituality.  If you have not read a million books, articles (I don't really understand how it is OK to post an entire article into a message - isn't that stealing and who can read that much in such a narrow column?), or have a Ph.D. in the topic at hand, you get torn to pieces.  I am a healer and teacher and even I don't post into most threads because I feel like I can't talk about practical experiences.  You either have to just be thankful/full of love or you have to write a thesis.  There does't seem to be an in between.

And with that, I should probably stop.  I'm not trying to step on any toes, I'm just relating my experience.  I think that Gaia is fantastic for the people that are looking for really in depth discussions about specific, intellectual topics.  I might suggest that you stop trying to grow it and learn how to get your existing people to contribute more financially.  Make it more exclusive, work with the audience you already have.  They seem to love it here.  Cater to them instead of trying to be like the masses.  You have a good site that these people aren't going to find anywhere else.  You might want to take a look at http://www.xing.com as a model.  They are a pay/free site for professionals.

Just my $0.02.

Blessings!
-yvette

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

Hi Yvette,

This is great feedback. 

The grapevine is to leave open short notes for your friends to which your friends can respond by leaving a note on your grapevine - faster than writing a message but public.

The status line tip about “is” would be good for the ThinkTank - I think I will pop that in there. 

I know the Team has been working on bugs like the one you describe about the status line - we report bugs in Gaia Support 


If you click on your profile in the left hand column on “Settings” you will see all of your user settings, including who can see your status, and you can change it if you wish. Mostly your friends would be the ones to notice your status, since they can easily view friends' status in the right hand column on their profile. But as well people who click on your profile to know more about you would usually see it.


You make a good point about intellectualism and hostility toward spirituality. And about posting whole articles - and  


 I am a healer and teacher and even I don't post into most threads because I feel like I can't talk about practical experiences.  You either have to just be thankful/full of love or you have to write a thesis.  There does't seem to be an in between.



We were discussed another members's feedback in the moderators group recently that was much along the same lines, so I imagine that there are probably many who quietly think this but don't say anything.

There are actually quite a number of practical and spiritual groups on Gaia, but not so many on “practical spirituality”. 

I think you're already familiar with Kaushik's intriguing new group Awakening – just right here, right now  

Anna's Walking the Labyrinth  is centred on spiritual disciplines in a practical and supportive sense.

Deb's Living Metaphysics   is excellent, I think, not obsessed with intellectualism and is very experential in its explorations.

Now I Can See the Moon  (started by Sean, now cultivated by KES) has some very practical discussions within its different foci.

There are also:

Sacred Walk
Three Turns Buddhism Forum 

Uncarved Block   

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

The first part of your post is great.  You address the bugs and tell me
that you are going to see that they are addressed, thank you very
much.  But right after that you gloss over the most important part of
my post which is the fact that it is not friendly to new people.

Please, please, please don't take this the wrong way Nicole, but it is precisely responses like the one above that turn me off from Gaia.  There is technically nothing wrong with your post - it is well said and very nice, but it also bombards me with a bunch of information.  It is about expressing data instead of having a conversation.

For example, if you were to look at my groups, you would notice that I am a member of several of the groups you mentioned.  The other groups are either not active (as per the active group link in the navigation) or they don't cover these types of topics.

There is no discussion about the types of post often seen on Gaia, nor the idea of keeping the format the same and actually building the erxisting types of users.  It is really hard to put into words what I am trying to convey, but basically, I'm not sure if your post is just trying to solve my “problems” or if you want to have a discussion.  Does that make any sense?

I'm really not trying to be contrary, it is just something that I noticed way back when Gaia was still Zaadz.  Technically, I've been a member since then.  I used to pop over here every few months to see how things were going and would usually get turned off and stop reading.  Maybe I'm not your audience…

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

Hi yvette,

Again, I really appreciate that you told me what you didn't like about my response. Let's see if I can be more helpful this time.

As for posting in Pods, it is intimidating, plain and simple.  There are several people, some of who are on this thread, that dominate conversations.  There is nothing wrong with that, but if I check Gaia once or twice a day and a thread gets 10+ posts from two people, there is no way for me to easily jump in. 


I have often had that experience here. Sometimes it only takes one very long and detailed post and I feel totally inadequate to continue to participate, like I'm way out of my league. So there are discussions groups where I rarely post. And of course, there are groups where I post way too much so contribute to the problem. I can see that.


Gaia is made for very intellectual people that have much more free time than I. 


I can completely understand how you can come to this conclusion.

I surf quite a bit on Facebook, Tribe, Hi5 and Myspace.  If I have to read for 15 minutes to catch up before I can actually post, I am never going to post.  It is too much work and takes away from the interactive and pondering nature of the way I use groups. 



In my previous attempt to respond to the above concerns, I tried to find groups that are not overly active (so they might fit better into the interactive, pondering style you have) and yet are both spiritual and practical. Because these groups are not as active, they won't always appear on the “active groups” list, which actually only lists groups that have received a post today.


But instead of explaining my reasoning, I just posted the links to these different groups, so I can appreciate that you felt that you were just on the receiving end of data, rather than being in a discussion. My apologies.

The other groups are either not active (as per the active group link in the navigation) or they don't cover these types of topics.


Sometimes a group has more potential in terms of topics covered than it might appear on the surface. But it depends on what you are looking for. Perhaps there is no place on Gaia that meets your needs. You said:

 I am a healer and teacher and even I don't post into most threads because I feel like I can't talk about practical experiences.


In what sense do you feel that you can't talk about practical experiences in the spiritual groups here? 



 

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

Somethings have changed about the way I posted in Zaadz, and how I post in Gaia.I find myself thinking a million times before making my first post in a thread. And mostly I don't end up doing it either. But well, after that it's hard to shut me up. :P
And I heavily use words like 'I think', 'maybe', 'perhaps', 'probably'.
Though I always meant them before, but then I didn't need to write them
down.And now it's one habit that will take quite a lot of time to lose.

Gaia ,perhaps,needs more warmth on it's internet place, if people can be free here. People don't have to think about what someone would accuse them of, or what they would be thought of, or what someone would judge them as when they give an opinion or just say something they want to. Although there is always a limit and that should be understood.

And I mean warmth, not sugary. The place is kind of workplace-ish good for now. In-fact,it might just be a little too sweet.

Maybe (ehm) Gaia just needs to be more warm, open and real. And I wonder how on earth we are going to do that?

Not that it's not right currently. Or that I have issues with it. But well, our aim is to increase the activity.

Because few people just posting on and on just shows our/their ;) desperation to get  a different view, and to get it working. And it does end up looking intimidating. So more members want to avoid posting. And it makes the active posters even more desperate. Making it a vicious circle. :S

I initially thought it was a bad idea to do away with the invite only thing that Zaadz had. But then it just makes sense. A basic Gaia account is free of change. And to keep it that way the money has to keep coming from somewhere, so they have advertisements. And it's usually like the more popular your site is ( which now means more members), the more advertisements you are likely to have.I know people behind Gaia don't really care about it, they just want this place to keep going on. And so to bring in more people they have to keep making changes. So that really can't be done away with.

Besides Zaadz was all about change..and change in something should probably occur by first being a part of it. How can we talk about changing the world if we separate ourselves from it? Because then there are just talks. And so, it's more likely that we won't.

And more so, how can we bring change if we are just rattled so much by it?

But then again, I'm just a theory person.

Hmm….Maybe we shouldn't worry each and every member posting. Maybe we just need about , say, at-least ten people posting per week in a group. And maybe that could keep it from being stagnant or boring.

But well, we still don't know how to.

Maybe we could have views for every page on Gaia. So that, we can take that as activity on Gaia too. Or even maybe end up having to separate views of people in Gaia(those signed in) and non-member views too. It doesn't even have to be visible. The Gaia team can just take it into account as “hidden activity” and find out if people aren't just active, or just unwilling to post.

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

When an area need debugging the first that helps is an investigation.
Between Domus Ulixes  Nicole Chaparral Lou Pixie Siona debyemm & yvette here
& the posts Siona referred on the the Think Tank & the key one, the Mod Pod we now have enough to come to a solution and create order & give some orders that will enable the purpose of Domus' original intent so we can all understand & do.

In following this post, I added to the original conversation on the Ambassador's Admin Tactics,  regarding: ”lets make Gaia a better place again.” with the suggestion of merging pods of the same subjects. ~Domus


From this, I believe Nicole started the Active Groups on Gaia 


Meenakshi put sticky light bulbs on all of these threads  while surveys went out to add to each of the groups. 


(this is the alphabetical listing of all active groups as of this writing)


I took Admin Tactics mass mailing and reposted it in Gaia Networking under a thread “Need All Community Members Advice & Input”  The thread got some good answers from those that posted. 


When I read the posts by  yvette Nicole & Pixie I was moved to have a conversation.


Thank you for what you have put.  From here, we can list out the best points and come to some agreements and solutions.


I hope this helps… that is my intent.  We have opened up the Mod Pod with Siona now moderating & need you to request in as we are coming close to where a mass newsletter can go out.  Before this thread, I felt I was in the way of posting but you have made it safe for anyone to put in the 2¢ and I am grateful.  I am happy to help give all the steps if more debugging is needed.  Personally, if there were a place on the Mod Pod where anyone can be oriented or trained or a quick hatting to help with the mergers &/or more activity within groups, I will do so but I honestly don't feel more other than what we come to here is needed.


I am proud to be a part of Gaia and I know for certain we are helping artists from my own experience.


Respectfully,
Kathy

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

Did I just post when this is already solved?  If so, I apologize for coming in late to this thread.  I realize it already has been discussed broadly on the Mod Pod here How can our groups help Gaia to grow? and here What can we do to revive dormant groups?  I was pulled into this after reading Yvette's ”Do you offer a service or a business around lightwork?” and picked up on the spark I personally needed.  Thank you for being here… guiding your sector of expertise.


Thank you Dormus for launching good changes. ~k

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

Yea for Sparks!  hehe

If we keep talking openly, Gaia will continue to grow.  I just keep remin that you don't need to bombard people with information.  Sometimes, one line responses really are best.  ;)

Blessings
Need Advice? Looking for Inspiration? http://www.inspirationsfrombinah.com

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

KES thanks for your posts. It is great when we can inpire each other.

Pixie, I too tend to qualify what I say a lot based on my experiences here. Being warm and real and not too sugary sounds like a perfect recipe for a well baked Gaia pie :)

Yvette, it looks like you have found a good place at Power of Light!

Cheers

Nicole

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

KES: 'Did I just post when this is already solved?  If so, I apologize for coming in late to this thread.'

That's alright KES, it definitely isn't an issue. And you're just in time for the pie!
Isn't she, Nicole? ;)

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

Definitely! :)

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

Thanks Nicole & Pixie
Since writing is a visual communication
one can interpret it as too much sugar…
I will take that gaian pie over those that
add toxins to the mix any day.
Thanks Yvette
“I just keep remin that you don't need to bombard people with information.  Sometimes, one line responses really are best.  ;)”
Sometimes yes! I would need an example of bombard with info as to what it means but can differentiate when a one liner will do.
More communication handles less communication when in doubt.  Your notes above are simply priceless in all of their lines so keep writing as much.  I feel we can now write up some do's that all can understand and some don't that would be stoppers.

Thanks for this and I found out the Mod Pod is helping on apprenticing the situation.
I still want to hug Fredrik for starting this thread.  ((( )))'s Kathy

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

hihi,
hug received. That is what we do, everybody just keep posting those insightfull words, and if you do have an amazing blog post, post it on the forum to, in DOTSM we will all see it! (don't link it, write it)

I don't know why, but I get the feeling that would make a more appropiate thing (just don't post all your blogposts here, only the once, you are in dire need of opinion of)

This pod is teeming with life now, this is the moment, to kick on your largest questions, marvels and discoveries!

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

The funny part is that I actually have no idea what this pod is about.  hehe  I just join the pods that sound interesting and start replying to posts.  I rarely start a post other than an introduction or when I have some burning question that must be answered.  Since the question is usually triggered from something I'm reading, I just post into the same pod and section.  Honestly, all the sections are overwhelming for me.  I'm used to Facebook and Tribe that have just one big section per group/tribe.  I've never been much for general forums since I get lost too easily.  My bad! ;)

Two exeptions to the above: Diving Deeper and Multilingual Pod.  Both of those have very clear sections that make perfect sense given the subject matter.


Blessings
Need Advice? Looking for Inspiration? http://www.inspirationsfrombinah.com

Re: Gaia is a dying breed!

This pod is about reality, and people trying to understand the world around them. Basicly (as you can read in the pod introduction) it isn't about anything at all. It is the general overview of topics. It can be anything, and nothing on regular occasion. That is what makes it an active pod, not the topics, but the people and thoughts expressed via them.