
Understanding Cognitive Surplus and Television for Smoother Social Apps - zackattack
http://www.zacharyburt.com/2010/07/understanding-cognitive-surplus-and-television-for-smoother-social-apps/
======
Groxx
In summary:

People do nigh-everything socially, seemingly one-way interactions help define
group activities (and are thus not just one-way), and doing stuff for free
really _is_ its own reward, in a way, because people like feeling generous and
it raises their view of themselves / their standing in society.

It... feels too loosely aimed, however. Like a set of rambling thoughts rather
than a discussion with a purpose.

\---

edit: also, personally, I think the line spacing is too large. It feels like
I'm reading _lines_ instead of _sentences_ which continue past the line.
Probably because the side-bar has normal spacing, and the spacing between the
<p> tags is roughly the same as the vertical gap between the content and the
sidebar, which makes the content feel divided up more than it is.

~~~
zackattack
Hey, thanks for the feedback. I agree.

What do you think of the line spacing now?

<http://www.zacharyburt.com>

~~~
Groxx
Much better :) After flipping to a couple other blogs, I realized yours is
pretty much at the "standard" right now. Which could very well account for
part of the reason why I like it better - you're used to what you're used to.

If you like it wider, a little poking around suggests to me that another
couple pixels doesn't seem to make reading any harder, and then it still
stands out a bit compared to other blogs. (what was it at before? I didn't
check the # until just now)

Something I noticed later: I'd also recommend shrinking the Disqus container a
bit, as the text there is rather noticeably larger than your posts' text
(especially since their h3 is the first thing you see after your content).

------
gojomo
Love the observation from David Weinberger via Clay Shirky via this post:
"Clarity is violence" -- meaning, clear rules can be coercive and over-
constraining in social situations, and especially-dangerously-prematurely so
in an evolving online community.

~~~
jamesbritt
That's an amazing observation, and explains (or justifies) why, when I'm
organizing social events, I'm reluctant to try to set up rules and such, until
there is some notable problem that some clear, enforced rule might solve.

I'm a big fan of setting up situations and seeing where people want to go and
helping to give it form. The trick is to choose some initial basic constraints
while not being an impediment to some more interesting spontaneous behavior.

