Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post

02-12-2005, 12:09 AM

I'm not sure whether this thread belongs to Tilted Living or Tilted Computers... More like "Tilted Living through Computers"

Anyway, for some years now, me and my friends from high school have kept contact using different forms of online communication. Examples include a homebrewn "loose" forum (no moderators, a lot simpler than TFP) which was quite a hit for a couple of years and a "news portal" which turned out to be not-that-great, as we had burned out as a community long ago in the first forum.

Of course we have also kept in touch using emails. I was thinking of creating a mailing list some months ago, but mailing lists are so 90s and besides, many of my friends are not very internet-savvy. Somehow emails are not very practical.

Keeping touch is difficult when you're studying abroad, So here I am, trying to create an "online reunion" :-) not only of my direct friends but also of friends of friends etc. I have considered various options. Having seen the rise and downfall (for lack of a better word) :-) of 2 forums used by my friends, I am definitely dumping the idea of establishing yet another forum/news-based community.

Blogs: well yes, I have made a LiveJournal account, under which I've posted two "testing 1 2 3" entries to see the functionality. I don't find that very effective and I doubt other people will go into the trouble of maintaining a blog just so they can keep in touch with a bunch of people they know from high school. Plus, I think you have to pay to use interconnectivity of the blogs and create an online community. In any case, blogs are too troublesome.

"Social networking" websites: Yesterday I stumbled upon <a href="http://www.friendster.com">Friendster</a>. I then found links to Orkut, MySpace and other, more obscure online communities. My first impression is that the whole concept is very cool. However, I am not sure whether it's just an Internet fad, or whether it's actually usable. In some way, Friendster looks more "professional" than mySpace, which sometimes looks too much like an online dating service.

Is there anyone here who has tried out Friendster or any similar online communities? How effective is it (providing that the other members of the community care)? How do you keep touch in cyberspace with friends that live far away in meatspace? Any further pointers?

02-12-2005, 12:09 AM	#1 (permalink)
PgUpPgDown Guest	Keeping in touch using the Internet I'm not sure whether this thread belongs to Tilted Living or Tilted Computers... More like "Tilted Living through Computers" Anyway, for some years now, me and my friends from high school have kept contact using different forms of online communication. Examples include a homebrewn "loose" forum (no moderators, a lot simpler than TFP) which was quite a hit for a couple of years and a "news portal" which turned out to be not-that-great, as we had burned out as a community long ago in the first forum. Of course we have also kept in touch using emails. I was thinking of creating a mailing list some months ago, but mailing lists are so 90s and besides, many of my friends are not very internet-savvy. Somehow emails are not very practical. Keeping touch is difficult when you're studying abroad, So here I am, trying to create an "online reunion" :-) not only of my direct friends but also of friends of friends etc. I have considered various options. Having seen the rise and downfall (for lack of a better word) :-) of 2 forums used by my friends, I am definitely dumping the idea of establishing yet another forum/news-based community. Blogs: well yes, I have made a LiveJournal account, under which I've posted two "testing 1 2 3" entries to see the functionality. I don't find that very effective and I doubt other people will go into the trouble of maintaining a blog just so they can keep in touch with a bunch of people they know from high school. Plus, I think you have to pay to use interconnectivity of the blogs and create an online community. In any case, blogs are too troublesome. "Social networking" websites: Yesterday I stumbled upon <a href="http://www.friendster.com">Friendster</a>. I then found links to Orkut, MySpace and other, more obscure online communities. My first impression is that the whole concept is very cool. However, I am not sure whether it's just an Internet fad, or whether it's actually usable. In some way, Friendster looks more "professional" than mySpace, which sometimes looks too much like an online dating service. Is there anyone here who has tried out Friendster or any similar online communities? How effective is it (providing that the other members of the community care)? How do you keep touch in cyberspace with friends that live far away in meatspace? Any further pointers?