Re: On stagnation and burnout in the Gemini community
On stagnation and burnout in the Gemini community by solderpunk
Below is my thought or two on the topic that seemed to be a big discussion last month in gemini space when I was completely inactive. The discussion may have been touching topics beyond my concern, I could easily just skip it thinking it’s not part of my world. But then exactly solderpunk’s log reminded me how much gemini world is too small for any of us to think that our voice is too insignificant and all of us geminauts are part of a community just by adding our effort, time and creativity to it. So I decided to shortly add my perspective even though I never know if anybody reads. There’s a big chance somebody will I guess.
Firstly I think solderpunk is quite right when he describes the two kinds of gemini users - developers, people who want to build apps, constantly thinking of new possibilities within gemini protocol, and gemloggers\gloggers including both writers and readers. Of course these two tribes are not completely separate, many of uf can be both but it looks like the burnout thing is specific to the former while not really concerning the latter.
As I completely belong to the second kind, I never wrote a line of code by myself and my highest achievement is to tweak html code a little here and there, a code that was made by somebody else, I wanted to show my feeling about gemini at this point as just a regular owner of a personal capsule hosted not by me (I only own my capsule thanks to hospitality of rawtext club). And from this perspective I’m completely fine with how gemini works right now. I get my feed, I see new capsules pop out every now and then, I see people go off for months and sometimes come back (as I also do) or sometimes never to come back but it’s ok for me. Gemini is still alive enough for me to find new interesting reading and publish my own writing for others. And I also see the pick in activity being related to covid lockdowns. It’s natural that people stopped being hyperactive here after they could get back to normal life.
I would also like to mention that while I’ve mostly chosen gemini for its tranquility, for its being slownet, and it became a peaceful place for me to think and formulate my thoughts without distractions and because of that I don’t really look for new inventions, changes and more flashy ways of communicating and interacting, I also enjoy discovering new things from time to time and testing them. I and maybe many of geminauts who came here for exact same reasons being tired of www world, I am not just rejecting inventions and improvements. I’m just slow and deliberate about using them. What is sacred to me is the space of my capsule and my feed. The rest is just reserved for the moments when I feel like exploring something new, which is the less important of my slownet experience. That’s all. Things are different here, what I need from internet is finally here and my attention and ability to focus finally work as they should here.
So what I’m trying to say is, what may frustrate you, dear developer, is what actually really shows that it’s a healthy environment for the user!
I don’t know where to go from this conclusion. I only sincerely wish the two desires, two tribes can coexist in a symbiotic relationship, that we all can find meaning in being here and adding our effort to the community and the project. Maybe it’s for somebody who’s in both groups to show their perspective on how to make it. Or maybe it’s just something that we’ll all work out by trials and errors. I hope gemini won’t change much in its core, I hope for its spirit to stay as it is. In the same time I’m totally open to see new and new projects pop out adding to its functionality.
That’s it I think.
If you reply to this log, you can email me so I don’t miss it (as always).
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