User blog:PyroNacht/Community Bonds

''Hi guys! Today, I wanted to go over a rather broad topic, which is basically the Wiki Community bonds. This isn't necessarily a blog about how to expand your community as it is to maintain a generally-good atmosphere in a pre-existing group. However, not many people know how to keep good communications open, in the event of drama (which is inevitable). I will be covering similar aspects in this blog- particularly pertaining to friendship.''

What Makes A Community

 * Take a step back for a moment. Think about all of the communities you have been in- regardless of if they have been from Fandom or not. Consider the fact that many people with shared interests tend to form groups and express their experiences and contributions- which is the basic foundation of what Fandom does. However, just because people have a couple of things in common does not necessarily make the situation a big deal. It is what people do with what they know and share that defines what a community is, was, and ever shall be.

Maintainment

 * A community is not easy to regulate by any means. The fact that we are humans with free will aligns us with some inevitability in the regard that there will no doubt be some occasions where peace will not be kept. I think of it in that while friendship is strong based on trust and desire to achieve fairly-relevant goals, a lack of communication can break the pillars of support and cause the bridge to crash and burn. What we need to consider when we're involved with a community is keeping communication lines open.


 * In every single Fandom community I have been a member of since 2012, there has always been a couple of events that made or broke the community. I find that the Wikis that eventually fell apart was traced back to one reason: the communication lines were not open. Many of the members kept their opinions to themselves, for one reason or another, about rather imperative topics. In addition to that, some members were so unwilling to argue and work through their problems that they let them bottle up until it was too late.

How To Communicate

 * The thing is, we never really take into consideration the people who share different opinions than us. I've befriended people in which I disagree with a couple of their views (not all), and some where we had absolutely no similar mind-frameworks: there was little connection there. What we ought to expect whenever we're in a community is there is always going to be some question of if somebody is worth listening to because they disagree with something. While I'm not stating that you should go out and befriend everybody you disagree with, I am stating that you should bear in consideration the reasons why people disagree, and try to understand your differences.

In Conclusion

 * While we listen to our friends, we really should be focusing on our attention to listening to the people we disagree with- I'm not referring to people who do nothing but flame and troll and whatnot, either. I'm referring to people who share extremely different opinions on how, for example, a chat-room should be structured. Sure, we might not like somebody or even want to listen to them because they said XYZ earlier.. but in a world where people listen to respond, now, instead of listen to listen, I think we all need to take a step back and reconsider our emotions towards a particular person. Because quite frankly, we all have something to gain from others.