Wed, Jul 16, 2003
Whining In Private
#
In the process of writing Blue Oxen
Associate's first research report,
"An Introduction to Open
Source Communities" (BOA-00007), I wanted to describe a pattern I had
observed in the SquirrelMail community.
The problem was, I could not figure out what to call it. I came up
with something thoroughly inadequate, included it in the first draft,
and subsequently removed it after
Chris Dent rightfully
criticized it. (U)
A few days later, in a fit of silliness, I thought of a name:
WhineInPrivate?. SquirrelMail?'s core team was well-versed at whining
in private, and for some reason, I thought that it was useful,
important behavior that needed to be highlighted and discussed.
Unfortunately, I still could not articulate why, and thus, it never
made it into the report. (V)
A Parliamentary Model of Virtual Communities (W)
I realize now why I got stuck. WhineInPrivate? is an important pattern,
but what is even more important is the notion of space and boundaries
within communities. There are at least two kinds of space in every
community -- private and public -- and appropriate behaviors depend on
the space in which they take place. (X)
This may seem obvious, but it's not
always taken into consideration when people study communities. It's
easy to assume that all discourse in online communities occurs online
and in public. Sometimes, this is true, but not always. I contend
that most effective online communities have a substantial amount of
correspondence between members that occurs outside of the public
forums. I further contend that this correspondence is not merely idle
chit-chat, but communication that is essential to the overall group
dynamic. (Y)
In BOA-00007, I describe two open source communities --
TouchGraph and SquirrelMail? -- both of
which exhibit this behavior. In the case of TouchGraph?, I note that
Alex Shapiro, the project's founder and leader, had named three people
who had made significant contributions to the project, and yet, none
of those three people had ever posted to TouchGraph?'s public forums.
All of those conversations had occurred over private e-mail. (Z)
Similarly, core members of SquirrelMail?, whose public forum is
significantly more active than TouchGraph?'s, frequently correspond
over private e-mail, instant messenging, and even the telephone.
Additionally, SquirrelMail?, has a private mailing list that is
reserved for core contributors. (10)
Both TouchGraph? and SquirrelMail? exhibit a parliamentary model of
community interaction. In a parliament, discourse between community
members is public and is often archived for the public record.
However, a significant amount of interaction occurs behind-the-scenes,
and these backroom meetings often shape the discussion and
decision-making on the floor. (11)
Without awareness of the private interactions, it would be impossible
to fully comprehend the public interactions. A prime example is the
filibuster. On the surface, a filibuster seems to consist of an
individual hogging the floor with rhetoric that adds no new insights
to the discussion at hand. In reality, a filibuster is a political
move designed to stall decision-making until a compromise is reached
behind-the-scenes. (12)
Online communities resemble this parliamentary model, and as a result,
we must be cautious when studying these communities. We cannot fully
understand the patterns of public discourse in an online community
without also understanding the context of those interactions. (13)
Recognizing the parliamentary model of virtual communities is useful,
but it also begs the question: When should one discuss things in
private rather than in public? I believe that the answer is different
for online communities than it is for face-to-face communities, because
the digital medium encourages another important pattern of
collaboration: ThinkOutLoud. (15)
One important aspect of online communities is that the interaction is
usually archived and accessible to an even larger community. When you
post to an online forum, you are aware of a finite number of people
who are visible within that community and who will most likely pay
attention to what you say, but you are also cognizant of the
possibility that many other people may be listening. That possibility
subtly influences what you say and whether you say it. (16)
For example, one behavior that is common in online forums is long,
back-and-forth conversations between two people, exchanges that are
not always acknowledged as on-topic or accessible to the community at
large. Although opinions differ on the appropriateness of these
exchanges, they are tolerated far more often on online forums than in
face-to-face meetings. Because they occur asynchronously, only those
interested in following the discussion need devote the time to do so.
Listening closely to these conversations, especially when held between
respected members of the community with strongly opposed viewpoints,
can be extremely enlightening. (17)
ThinkOutLoud is an important pattern of collaboration, and members of
successful online communities tend to do it well. I think that
TouchGraph? would have benefited from doing more ThinkOutLoud by having
the core contributors discuss their changes on the public forum rather
than over private e-mail. (18)
However, ThinkOutLoud has its drawbacks. The biggest is the danger of
information overload. While a detailed exchange between two gurus can
be fascinating, it can also clog your e-mail. If enough of these
exchanges occur, you may find yourself ignoring the content of that
community entirely. (19)
Additionally, some things are simply best left unsaid, or at least
said in private. That generally includes whining. (1A)
WhineInPrivate? (1B)
In my description of SquirrelMail? in BOA-00007, I alluded to some
political difficulties, but I did not elaborate, because I did not
have enough time to hear all sides of the story. I would never have
even known about these problems had I not been as aggressively
thorough with my research. Every core member of the project knew
about these problems and had given these problems some thought, and
yet, none of them had ever mentioned these problems publically. In
other words, they had WhinedInPrivate. (1C)
There's an old saying in sports about "keeping it in the locker room."
In the military, etiquette prevents officers from criticizing their
superiors in front of other soldiers. Everyone knows that there are
going to be internal squabbles even among the closest groups of
people, and the common wisdom is to work these problems out in private
when possible. (1D)
I felt like SquirrelMail? did an excellent job of WhiningInPrivate --
working out their problems over private e-mail and telephone -- and I
am certain that it helped strengthen the bonds within the community
while maintaining a strong, unified public front. What I wanted to
convey in BOA-00007 was that effective communities knew when to
discuss things in public and when to discuss things in private. I
failed to do this, because I was still unable to identify to my
satisfaction when it was appropriate to WhineInPrivate?, and why. (1E)
Further Graying the Boundaries (1F)
At first glance, WhineInPrivate? seems to be in direct conflict with
ThinkOutLoud. (This is not strictly true, as there is an implicit
qualifier to ThinkOutLoud of "when appropriate.") The premise of
ThinkOutLoud is that there is value in expressing yourself when you
know (or at least think) that other people are listening. The premise
of WhineInPrivate? is that some things are best left unsaid, or at
least said privately. (1G)
However, not only do online communities blur the notions of public and
private space, but different tools blur them even more. In the
paradigm of online forums, for example, ThinkOutLoud and
WhineInPrivate? do indeed conflict. However, blogs are public vehicles
of self-expression, public spaces that feel private, and thus,
facilitate some level of both patterns simultaneously. (1H)
Blogs allow you to ThinkOutLoud as much as you like without fear of
overburdening others with information, because listening is strictly
voluntary. Listening is not entirely voluntary with online forums; if
it were, then spam would not be a problem, because people could simply
ignore it. (1I)
Similarly, blogs allow you to WhineInPrivate?, or at least feel like
you're WhiningInPrivate. The fact that they are not actually private
cannot be ignored. For example, I do not think it would have been
appropriate for the SquirrelMail? core members to complain about their
political problems on their blogs. However, I do think there are
circumstances where whining on a blog would actually be positive for a
community, while making the same complaints on a mailing list would be
disastrous. (1J)
/collaboration |
Posted at 1:12pm
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