The last meetup was around when communities came out. I was whining about searching personal communities.I was told something about since there are secret communities, they couldn't do that. I hadn't heard of secret communities, and my gut reaction was "Why would we have secret communtiites on Empire Avenue? " Secret communities belong somewhere else.
Now that all of this other stuff has come out I will tell you one this. I 100% believe that sentiment.
I have to tell you I was invited to the Cabal when it started. I have no idea why. I took one look at the member list, to be honest, and left. I don't play like the people in there and didn't want to be associated with it. I don't even know who invited me, I don't know if they voted on me, I don't care, but I am going to make this clear, these are not values I believe in.
Not ANY exclusionary, elitist group.
My stand on communities is that they should be a water cooler place that people with the same interests get together and exchange ideas, find people they wouldn't otherwise, with the site growing so big.
What I do not want to see communities do, is create an atmosphere of who is 'in' and who is out. At this fledgling stage that Empire Avenue is in, I do not see how this is beneficial to the site. The focus should really be one of connecting, meeting people, improving your social media skills.
I do not believe it should be a group of people pushing each other up the boards because they are part of some exclusive club, recommending each other to make money, and improve their stock value. The focus of Empire Avenue is content. Maybe people should be focusing on their content and interaction skills.
I think people should keep in mind there are 1000's of people on this site. A lot of people to connect with. Of the people I have connected with and became friends with, I can tell you most would not be allowed in these clubs. I think this is where my issue is. If you want to concentrate on the power players and who is worth the most, you really aren't getting it.
I have no idea why exactly my stock is so high. Yes I tweet a lot. I have a lot of friends on twitter. I blog a little, I have stuff that wants to come out of my head. My Facebook is a crazy gong show. To be honest I love my Facebook sooo much more since I started Empire Avenue. I might drive a couple people crazy with it, but the feedback from my friends about how much fun my wall is blows my mind.
Should any of this put me in the 80 range? I don't think so. I see people who tweet more, have more followers, blog more. I do not understand why I am where I am, but I can tell you this. No one person or group put me there. I put me there, everyone put me there. I came to Empire Avenue, played with what to do on Twitter and Facebook to see how it affected my stock, yes. But this hard core player reputation I have is wrong.
If I recommend a buy, there is a valid reason for it. I am not pushing anyone so I make money. It is really a stock I think you should buy. I am going to read and comment on your blog because I enjoy your content. I am going to follow you on Twitter because you are someone I am interested in knowing more about.
Yeah I might buy and sell your stock. You will get used to it. Gambling on what someone's value is is the game to me. I bet 50 shares at 10 that you are going to rise. I pull out at 25 because that is where I think you will stop. Am I hard core about it? Newp. I was at the beginning when I needed those eaves, but now that I don't, I don't look. The only time I look to see what anyone is doing is when I need to go sell someone to buy another stock.
Quite frankly I am disgusted with the antics of the hard core players, and I would rather fall back to the middle. I would really like to be a 20 stock. I would rather be on Empire Avenue, and connect and enjoy myself. I really don't want anyone to think I am any part of that style of play.
I would really appreciate if you sold my stocks and dropped my value. Hard. If this is really what the Empire Avenue leader board is supposed to be about, I do not want any part of it. I want to enjoy the good things about Empire Avenue instead.
-POOKA
Now that all of this other stuff has come out I will tell you one this. I 100% believe that sentiment.
I have to tell you I was invited to the Cabal when it started. I have no idea why. I took one look at the member list, to be honest, and left. I don't play like the people in there and didn't want to be associated with it. I don't even know who invited me, I don't know if they voted on me, I don't care, but I am going to make this clear, these are not values I believe in.
Not ANY exclusionary, elitist group.
My stand on communities is that they should be a water cooler place that people with the same interests get together and exchange ideas, find people they wouldn't otherwise, with the site growing so big.
What I do not want to see communities do, is create an atmosphere of who is 'in' and who is out. At this fledgling stage that Empire Avenue is in, I do not see how this is beneficial to the site. The focus should really be one of connecting, meeting people, improving your social media skills.
I do not believe it should be a group of people pushing each other up the boards because they are part of some exclusive club, recommending each other to make money, and improve their stock value. The focus of Empire Avenue is content. Maybe people should be focusing on their content and interaction skills.
I think people should keep in mind there are 1000's of people on this site. A lot of people to connect with. Of the people I have connected with and became friends with, I can tell you most would not be allowed in these clubs. I think this is where my issue is. If you want to concentrate on the power players and who is worth the most, you really aren't getting it.
I have no idea why exactly my stock is so high. Yes I tweet a lot. I have a lot of friends on twitter. I blog a little, I have stuff that wants to come out of my head. My Facebook is a crazy gong show. To be honest I love my Facebook sooo much more since I started Empire Avenue. I might drive a couple people crazy with it, but the feedback from my friends about how much fun my wall is blows my mind.
Should any of this put me in the 80 range? I don't think so. I see people who tweet more, have more followers, blog more. I do not understand why I am where I am, but I can tell you this. No one person or group put me there. I put me there, everyone put me there. I came to Empire Avenue, played with what to do on Twitter and Facebook to see how it affected my stock, yes. But this hard core player reputation I have is wrong.
If I recommend a buy, there is a valid reason for it. I am not pushing anyone so I make money. It is really a stock I think you should buy. I am going to read and comment on your blog because I enjoy your content. I am going to follow you on Twitter because you are someone I am interested in knowing more about.
Yeah I might buy and sell your stock. You will get used to it. Gambling on what someone's value is is the game to me. I bet 50 shares at 10 that you are going to rise. I pull out at 25 because that is where I think you will stop. Am I hard core about it? Newp. I was at the beginning when I needed those eaves, but now that I don't, I don't look. The only time I look to see what anyone is doing is when I need to go sell someone to buy another stock.
Quite frankly I am disgusted with the antics of the hard core players, and I would rather fall back to the middle. I would really like to be a 20 stock. I would rather be on Empire Avenue, and connect and enjoy myself. I really don't want anyone to think I am any part of that style of play.
I would really appreciate if you sold my stocks and dropped my value. Hard. If this is really what the Empire Avenue leader board is supposed to be about, I do not want any part of it. I want to enjoy the good things about Empire Avenue instead.
-POOKA
I think your meteoric rise has something to do with magical unicorn power. And I like how you've communicated your feelings here Fray, I'm not sure I can even qualify it as a rant or whining -- there's not a single cuss word ;)
ReplyDeleteHave a great day, and Sell (e)POOKA
I understand where you're coming from, and the more I use EAv, the more I think that the communities aren't really that great. There are much better places to discuss my interests.
ReplyDeleteI agree about closed or 'secret' communities having little or no value here, make them open or don't have them.
ReplyDeleteAs for your stock value, as the market grows you'll see a drop in how much influence early adopters have. Your current stock value is largely a function of how long you've been on EAv and your high price. Newer people think you must be doing something right so they buy you, making your price rise, which makes more people think you're doing something right and buy you... and so on.
I don't know that you'll drop to the 20's again but you will find more stocks rising to meet you as the market grows and works to reward good content and steady dividends.
The EAv pond is growing larger daily, and once we get big Internet players or companies joining, some of the current big fishes will seem very small fry by comparison. That might include you, or not. The not knowing is part of the fun of seeing something new form in front of our eyes.
Fray, I'll bet you 1000eav that your stock goes up today and tomorrow because of this post, not down. Safest bet in the world =)
ReplyDeleteWhy? If i am supposed to be an influencer, why cant I influence?
ReplyDeleteThis post is GREAT. My sentiments EXACTLY. Thanks for saying what a lot of us are thinking.
ReplyDeleteI don't have shares in you, but I like you just the same :-D
ReplyDeleteI agree with the thesis of your post here, Fray... that we agree is a rarity so lets celebrate. :D
ReplyDeleteThe maybe 5% i'm not eye to eye on is the existence of private communities, i think they have their place in the world of Empire Ave. But i agree in that they should not be out there manipulating others. If they want to try and manipulate one another... i don't really care, but totally see what you are getting at.
As for where you are on the leader board:
Influence is a funny thing. Some people think they have it because they have half a million twitter 'followers' or 10000 'friends' on facebook. But how many people do they themselves follow simply for the vanity of a higher count? How many people have they friended for the same? Are they engaging with all those people, or just talking at them? While i'm sure further tweaks will continue to be made to the market markers i think it's fair to state there is a lot to be said for real rather than implied or fiat influence.
We've talked before about this many times, between ourselves. I think i've made clear privately and publicly that i'm not entirely comfortable being high on the share value list because in the strictest definition of the word i'm just not really on EA to 'influence' anyone, or to prove that i do. I don't think you are either. It strikes me as narcissistic to obsess over your value, that to do so is akin to an obsession with what others think of you. So rather than concern myself with my value, i pretty much ignore it. That's not to say i have any qualms with the way the site works, i simply choose not to be preoccupied with my value.
I think that it's fair to say that Empire Ave would not succeed without regular joe-shmo users being able to climb the value ladder though. Thousands toiling at the 14-21/share level while a few quality. vain or perhaps simply gamers clamor for the top spots. The way empire ave is set up now provides opportunity for advancement and enjoyment for EVERYONE and i think making it otherwise would simply drive off the core of the community and leave exploiters, hard gamers, value chasers, and the odd quality blogger like MILLAN.
You touch on your feelings about the exclusivity, the snobbery, of thinking one is better than others simply because they managed to game their share price up -- through private communities, exploits, legit play or otherwise. I think that regular people who engage with the community proactively, who talk to people and not at them -- people such as yourself -- have just as much right to climb the ladder as tweeters, bloggers or gamers.
I am not selling POOKA ;)
Ok, so I'm gonna play a little game of Devil's Advocate here, cuz sometimes that's what I like to do, and I saw a need. And for those of you that read THE INFLUENCIER, this comment is tagged "Seriously?!?" So here goes...
ReplyDeleteThink what you will about the current sardoodledum (one of my favorite words from the game Balderdash, and I hear it's Canadian), my comment isn't aimed at that. It's more about making sure that we consider value in things before condemning them.
So first, Josh, wanted to say I appreciated in your comment that you thought private communities have a place in Empire Avenue. And that you used the term, "Private Communities" rather than "secret communities."
There is power in words and the term "secret" makes communities sound nefarious. And I know, maybe some of you who used that term, intended it that way. And that's fine, in a debate you need to use all of the tools of persuasion at your disposal.
The fact is Empire Avenue HQ has named them "Private Communities" so that's the term I'll be using.
While it's relatively easy to stroll down avenue listing negatives, I find myself wondering, "Is there any positive value to having Private Communities within Empire Avenue?" And I can think of quite of few.
For example, what if I wanted to create a private community for my family and extended family who are spread across the country, where we could post about daily goings-on, joys and tribulations of life? Maybe I wouldn't really want the general public to know that Grandad's condition took a turn for the worse last night or that things were not going well at work, but that's something I might share there. Sure, maybe there are better mediums that my family could use for that kind of discussion (like facebook or oh I don't know -- the telephone), but others really aren't in a position to decide for me how I choose to utilize a particular social media service (other than maybe the folks who provide the service, but that's an entirely different and fascinating debate in the age of the internets).
Another scenario. As has been explicitly stated by the EAv gang in various interviews and blog articles, EA, as much as we love it for the game, and for it's social connections, is in fact an advertising platform. Maybe a particular company wants to use EA to extend their reach, and that company's marketing campaign involves offering membership into a private community, and rewarding those members somehow? Exclusivity can be used for malignant purposes, but it also can be a extremely powerful sales tool. And if (e)OREO starts a private community that gives away free oreos to members, I am sooooo getting into that group.
These are just two examples of why I think that there is value in the existence of Private Communities on Empire Ave.
I think private communities are good things. I would hate to see them disappear entirely from EA. Unfortunately good things sometimes get used for not-so-good purposes. But that doesn't negate the value of the good purposes. Just like I think that Freedom of Speech here in the USA is a good thing. While I might disagree to the core of my existence with what a protester might display on a picket sign or shout from a podium in the town square, I'll definitely defend their right to say it.
And yeah, I get that the issue of Private Communities pales in comparison to the magnitude of Freedom of Speech. But hey, you've got to use every tool in your arsenal when you trying to persuade, er... I mean *influence* your audience. Right?
I used secret because secret was the term used.
ReplyDeletePrivate I am on the fence about. The term was not used to slander any side.
I think communities need to be open. If you want a SECRET community, do it offsite. If a community on the site is doing bogus stuff and is allowed to do it on site in secret, I feel that EA is putting a stamp on it that it is ok.
A community is a place to come in and share. You want it private make a group. but it isn't a community. There are better avenues for that and it devalues what communities should be about.
And why would private groups affect search? You would see them but not into them. Secret is a different story.
ReplyDeleteI had actually wondered that since the context of your comment came from a verbal conversation at the meetup whether that was case regarding your use of the word secret. No harm, no foul. It appears that EA simply chose to use a different word then, than now appears on our screen.
ReplyDeleteSo now, we have: community and group; open, closed, secret and private. Each with their own subtle nuances and meaning for the reader, depending on his or her frame of reference and prior experience.
Hope folks can see how a discussion can get muddied when not everyone is using the same dictionary, especially if the words carry an emotional charge (and here I thought using google translate during the Chilean Avalanche made things confusing. Ha!)
I really don't get the search thing either. You should at least be able to search for names of communities, otherwise how do you find out the which communities you want to join (public or private), after they disappear from the recently created list? Hopefully EA is working on that.
"A community is a place to come in and share" Yep, I agree. And before I say something about "connecting" that gives (e)JOSH an opportunity to make a crack about the "farmville farming community" I'm gonna step out of the way and let the ongoing post-related discussion continue forward.
Really good post, Fray. As someone who is currently asking myself "Why exactly AM I on Empire Ave?" I saw a lot of the same points being made by you that I've been making it myself. :)
ReplyDeleteMy point would be this...why worry at all about where you appear in the grand 'rankings' of the system? Just do what you want to do with it, and let that be that. Don't waste time worrying about what complete strangers might think. Those who spend the time reading your stuff and getting in to your personality a bit will soon figure out that you don't give a damn about where you are on the charts. And those who can't be bothered to spend that time aren't going to care about content anyway, so fuck em.
That's my two cents, anyway. :)
Good point!
ReplyDeleteFray I don't think you can drop that much from people selling you. I think you would have to stop participating in your connected social media sites for that to happen. There have been many times my stock has been sold hard and my price doesn't dip that much because of my activity. Those who are not as active can't hold that value from buy activity because the growth is abnormal.
ReplyDelete