Max, tech tools are nice, but intentionality is a higher value, and a much better mode to go slow enough on a slippery slope to be sure the direction is UP, not DOWN.

.... You have to remember that social networking is based on relationships.....


Well, I disagree, and I bet I am not the only independent-minded, crochety old folkie who does: we do NOT "have to remember" what ANYONE else suggests we "have to" remember, not even in a quick turn of a phrase for emphasis. The beauty of Mudcat is that this is so for all of us. It is the most anti-dogmatic, anti-doctrinal thing about Mudcat! :~)

And this is the first Mudcat "new feature" magically appearing that I have ever seen that scares me. I've seen, welcomed, and used many new features over the years. I LIKE change. I've worked for it, often, in many settings, over a lifetime of career changes.


But the real issue-- "social networking" as we know it in today's techworld is based on marketing captures-- with "relationships" as the trojan horse that carry the marketing. The data mining, the usage stats, the demographics, the trends that catch a buzz-- all of that is about money, not relationship. It is SOLD as relationship, but that don't make it so. It is not at all the same as networking in realtime with real flesh and blood, where people who exchange bizcards actually live in (and are accountable in) the same town or business community.

Till now, Mudcat has been a smallish pond where the fish know each other, but now it can become a big one where sharks are costumed as dolphins.


There is Big Money behind social networking. And ultimately, Big Money is only interested in one thing.

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I don't think Max is part of all that, and I do not think that opening the Cat up to make it a mere click for the dogmaticians to spread their influence by dragging in more dogmaticians is the way to go, either.

Sharing a thread, IMO, OUGHT to involve a certain amount of work and the pace of thought that the work allows. If I want to share a thread, I have to actually write a friend an email message. It's cumbersome enough that I have not done it often. There are some folks here who thank their lucky stars that it IS that way.

~Susan