Captain's Log... Sites vs Communities...

There is always two sides to the coin.

Hello and welcome to the corner...

I'm Captain Kellen and will be your host, tour guide, and jailer on this opinion piece that just popped into my head inspired by fellow commentators from the...

House of PainCakes.

Loquacious made a comment that sparked an idea and an exchange of idea's is really what our hobby is about. Wouldn't you agree?

Let's get the cordial stuff out of the way. I'm old, cranky, and live in a corner plus there is the fact that I am not one of those people who... blog. If you check over to the right you'll see I don't post regularly or profoundly. You want profound, look for Porky, Kirby, Von, Naftka, or a host of other internet people and places. I would like to attempt to describe why I go to particular places on the internet and contrast the differences between a 'site' and a 'community'. It's just an opinion from an ordinary person who is interested in a hobby.

I go to places that interest me and typically link to those places so I can get back to them rather quickly when I have worked too many hours in the real world and want a mini vacation on the couch. Typically I'm looking for new stuff as in fiction, models, or conversions but I look for a fellow named SinSynn because he makes me laugh and I forget about other stuff. Isn't that why we do what we do? We get away from it all for a little while. Laughter can be a very good medicine if applied correctly. Every King has to have a jester!

Look... a tentacle!... Where was I?... Oh...

Sites are interesting. When I think of a 'site' it's just a place on the web. It could be for glue, putty, craft paper, or whatever. I've also come to include some of the more well known places of our hobby as sites too. Why? They're too serious and too real. Some of the hobby sites on the web are too big in my opinion but that is very debatable. Bigger must be better for the exchange of idea's and smaller means less idea's. I'm not sold on that thought. I can think of three, huge, stupendous, utterly hobby related sites that are just... too big for their own good.

If we wanted real, or drama, or seriousness, then we would just stay in the 'real' world and never venture into the unknown of converting two 'ork trucks' into one or reading about a losing Scotling Blood Bowl team who brews their own whiskey for just such occasions! To me it's a lousy day when I can't get a few precious minutes to peruse what others have had time to do while I've been working or raising a little boy to be a man. These people help me without even knowing it.

Communities are still sites but they have something else that sites have lost... once again my opinion... Character. Of the many sites I frequent three consider themselves a community. Oh, sites call themselves communities but they aren't. They say they stand for the hobby but really administer their 'brand'. They have become so big that any small idea is suffocated under those that... disagree, don't like, troll, or flame. On many occasions a thread just goes un-commented. Who starts a thread and doesn't want at least a couple of constructive comments or acknowledgment. If we didn't want the interaction we wouldn't post.

I believe  like Gandolf, that it is the small things that hold the darkness at bay. A random act of kindness, a few well written words, or even a shared picture can make a difference. Why the hobbit? Because I'm afraid and he gives me courage. In my own small way, like communities, it is the power of the 'small' that makes the difference regardless of the place you find the 'big'. 

Ahhh... that's about it. Like I mentioned earlier I'm not much of a blogger but wanted to jot down a few lines about my thoughts and share.

I'll be in some corner if you need me, 

CK