 Well here I am again, coffee in one hand and pop tart in the other trying to figure out how to type. I am just a bit worried as to how things are going in our great little group. With some of the talk that I hear on the info channel, the lack of people at the newbie get togethers and the continual change of command at the top. That worry my friends is the simple thought of:
“Then There Were None”
Before I get into anything, these are only my opinion’s.
As for the INFO channel,
Please let us keep it to INFO, we have a spam channel for when the conversation becomes more than that. There are those of us newbie’s, not so newbie’s, and maybe a few oldbie’s that listen in just to see if we can LEARN anything.
The continual change of command at the top,
Well there is not anything we can do about that, it just looks bad.
The lack of people at the newbie get together’s, (ie.) show and tell, blitz builds.
This may in fact be to the lack of NEWBIE’S seeing as how we are all aging and slowly becoming oldbie’s. Will this become the OCI instead of the NCI?
I know there is a limit on how many people can be in a group, so at what point do we give way for the NEW NEWBIE”S to have a place in our ranks?
Or does “Then There Was None” Â become a reality?
Take Care, have Fun, and Be Safe.
Jims Fire.
This sort of thing happens at various times of the year, especially around November. It isn’t uncommon.
As for changes in management, the new users aren’t really affected much by that sort of thing. How they see NCI today is (as far as they are concerned) how it has always been. If we painted everything pink today, only the older users would know the difference.
In addition, as many of us oldbies have noticed, New Citizens’ tend to come in waves. There’s always a trickle, and then a news story hits, and there’s an influx of new registrations that lasts for a good couple weeks. Also, you can help promote our NCI events, and the NCI word, by spending time at our infonodes, that are placed specifically where new citizens’ rez.
It comes back to a favorite line of Quite’s: Ask not what NCI can do for you, but what you can do for NCI.
NCI has been around for many more Linden years than I have, and through many changes, and more radical ones than the most recent.
“Then there were none” will never become reality as long as there are still folks willing to help.
Jims, try drinking your coffee with a smile 🙂
Don’t dispair, as a long timer myself I’ve seen this happen over and over again, it just goes in cycles, and we always rise again
I think we’ll be fine, especially if we can push the Lindens into continuing to innovate instead of only changing when they get sued.
Bug the Lindens to come up with improvement, and if they respond with upgrades that are really upgrades, not just changes, we will be around for a long time.
What needs an upgrade? How about adding a way to play you tube videos in the internal browser? How about adding a hip adjustment to animation files, or at least showing priority for the animation in the animation file properties (and the loop and hand and expresssion options too for good measure)
If SL keeps growing, so too will NCI. After all we are the best. ^_^
Oh my yes! It does indeed come in cycles. The active membership in NCI though is still steadily growing. However, you have to keep in mind the charter for NCI when you look at numbers.
NCI’s group charter reads:
This is a support system for those new to SL. Helping New Citizens find out & implement what they want to do, be and/or accomplish here is our prime focus. You can be new for as long as you need to be & avail yourselves of what we have to offer; we hope that you can in turn teach/help/encourage others who come along after you.
With this said, it is absolutely expected and perfectly normal that people will come and people will go go as they grown and learn.
It is also perfectly normal and expected that everyone here also has a “real life” somewhere that should always come first. So if “Jane Doe Avatar ” needs to spend more time with her real life family and friends, then she won’t be coming to NCI’s events or classes or spending much time in SL. If John Everyman Avatar is working extra hours so he can save some more money for his son’s college, then he won’t be coming as often either. Or maybe someone just needs a little time to themselves to refresh their spirit and muddle through some bothersome issue. It happens to all of us once in a while.
But just around the corner there, standing behind a piece of lovely plywood painted to look like marble tile, is Susan Doe. She’s just staring in amazement wondering how all this came to be? What in the world is SecondLife all about? How did they do this she wonders!
This is where the “old newbies” can step right up and pass what they’ve learned along. They too can begin to “teach/ help/encourage” the new “newbies” as they venture into a place of wonder, enchantment and magic! Finding their ownplace along the road to making sure that everyone who wishes, can avail themselves of what NCI has to offer. A place to get a great start on the road to creating a whole new world for themselves.
So run out and look just beyond the corner there jims. Walk right up to that newbie and say “Hi there Susan Doe! Welcome to NCI and to Second Life. My name is jims and if I can help you or answer questions for you please let me know”. You just might make the best friend you’ll ever find. I know I’ve made tons of friends by doing just that simple thing.
Gramma
Its entirely possible that its simply a change in the weather or time of year, or who knows. It is. Without a doubt it is possible.
But if we stop and look at what Jims is actually saying… it sounds like it might be worth an actual moment to consider… what if it isn’t just a cycle? What would you do then? Would you have the same lackadaisical responses? Would you stay inward focused or blame various people? Or would you take up that mantle mentioned earlier to “do for NCI”?
..and not simply the same old things… but new things, with new people and fresh ideas?
Jims has a concern, and is probably not alone in that concern. Would it be difficult to take a moment and think about it longer, to try and develop better approaches for reaching out to both the new newbies and those former newbies who have grown old and maybe need a new challenge?
Susan Doe arrived a long time ago… now she’s been clubbing, married to John Everyman, divorced, and looking for something more. Maybe she needs someone to give her some incentive to do just that. Maybe she, like Jims, is just looking for people to collaborate with on making things better.
If NCI doesn’t do well, its only because it lost sight of its heart.