The Village Write-off... Can I be the town crier?
Oct 30 '00
This submission is a part of the Epinions Village Write Off, organized by Petra, Lap0530 and Lsebastan33. Instructions on how to join this write-off are posted at the bottom of this editorial.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Is Epinions a village? That depends. Would we normally choose to live here? Perhaps. Am I glad I am here? Absolutely.
When I was first invited to participate in this writeoff, I was thrilled. It was a momentous occasion for me, for I had never been invited to a writeoff before. Then I stopped. What the heck was I going to say? My initial reaction was to think: of course it's a village! We have created a virtual community where we have gotten to know one another quite well. As others have pointed out, we have the village idiots (the "aaaaa" reviewers"), the village comedians, and the normal "everyday" folks who live quite unassumingly here. Like any good village, we have the know-it-all's and the holier-than-thou's, paired side-by-side with good-hearted, good-natured advice offered by those who have been around the block once or twice. We have our new residents, our founding members, and those who have been here a while, but who live in relative anonymity.
Epinion's member forum could been seen as our town hall, and the "This Just In" might be construed alternatively as the village newspaper or as the train station at the edge of town, where new visitors are greeted. I have seen members going out of their way to be supportive, to bring people together, and to foster a sense of community and responsibility. I have also seen the town bullies, who have abused their power and privilege, causing misery in every direction they turn. I have met people whose life stories would make you cry, and people who make comments that are so thoughtless that you wonder why they are even bothering to speak.
In all, it would seem that we have built ourselves a very nice village here, replete with representatives from all walks of society. However, after thinking about the topic for a week or so, I began to reconsider my initial reaction. It is true that Epinions can be broken down like a village (and my fellow write-off participants have done a superb job of vividly describing this), but, I think I have changed my mind.
Epinions is not a village anymore; it is a large city. In terms of numbers, I can not vouch for the exact number of members we have here, but it seems like there are more members than what would constitute a village. The word "village" connotes a homey, small-community feel to me. I used to think this about Epinions, but I don't any longer. In the last few weeks, I have seen increasing nastiness between members. Read any amount of editorials on Epinions, and you will see the hatred that is beginning to shine through. Our "homey" feel is being destroyed by in-fighting and brutish, obnoxious behavior, and I fear that the increasing trend of "This is my last Epinion" editorials will continue. Although there are thousands of supportive, wonderful members, the nasty minority is quite vocal. This has led to a feeling of distrust and hostility that may not be the majority opinion, but is certainly palpable as you cruise through the editorials.
One example of such nastiness is demonstrated by my best friend's experience on Epinions. She is a SAHM, and introduced me to the site last December. With my increasingly forgetful brain, I didn't actually come back here for nine months. She had written a number of reviews, and I consider her to be a very talented, descriptive writer. She encouraged me to write, and indeed, was the enabler who started my addiction here. Her experience, however, was marred last month by an Advisor who was recently stripped of her title due to plagiarism. The Advisor not only SR'd her review (which had received glowing HR's from every other person who had read it), but she instigated a verbal war that spread over into email. Their exchanges were pointed and ugly, and the Advisor made some unwarranted, slanderous comments. As a result, it has taken my best friend a month to work up the courage to submit another review. In everyday life, she continually worries about what others think. On Epinions, she became fearful. She is not alone.
How many times have you not SR'd or NR'd a review for fear that the writer would retaliate? I have worked up the courage to do so, for I have come to realize that if they do retaliate, it means very little to me. However, my reviews are speckled with revenge-rates as a result. Think about how differently reviews would show up if people had the courage to stand up to an Advisor who had written a bad review, or to "ding" a review that had been rubber-stamped an HR while it was in the "Just In" area? I have noticed that people (not us, of course) tend to rate like sheep; if there are 45 HR's for a review, most people prefer to add their HR to the pile rather than be bold and rate it like they believe it deserves to be rated. I have not added this diatribe to slam Epinions -- I swear I am making a point! To me, this feels very much like a big city. Perhaps you have not experienced this fear, or been subjected to hostility like my friend was, but most likely you have seen it. Are fear and hostility traits one typically associates with a village? I don't.
Like in a big city, each of us has our own little circle of friends whom we trust and who trusts us. Most frequently, I can only solicit the opinions and advice of those on my WOT, for my schedule simply does not allow to get to know others in the community at large. If you see your WOT as a little neighborhood -- a safe haven -- as I do, then the traits of a stereotypical village again begin to apply. Within my neighborhood, I have an even closer circle of friends, whom I can always count on for support and advice. I have even spent entire afternoons chatting with them on AOL Instant Messenger, breaking down the unseen Epinions "fourth wall". On my WOT are people from many parts of the country, from many walks of life, and with many different experiences with which to educate me. I share what I know (which is relatively little) and absorb all I can, which is why I see my WOT as my little enclave/neighborhood on Epinions.
In a big city, one watches the politics and in-fighting that is occurring around them with detached interest; this is what I have seen here. There have been several scandals in the past few weeks and several firestorms that have erupted all across the editorial boards. However, just as I do when I read the paper while going into work each morning, I can watch these fights from afar and continue to live my own life with ease on Epinions. I fear I have developed the Not-In-My-Backyard mentality, which says that as long as it is not happening to me, I have no reason to care. Having grown up in Philadelphia, I can certainly say that this is a big-city way of viewing your surroundings. If Epinions were really a village, our experiences would be more intertwined and we would be more effected by the events that occur around us. Instead, we mourn when someone we know in our neighborhood has experienced a tragedy, rejoice when they have experienced a triumph, and pause to think when they offer advice. However, most of us will never get to experience the views of many outside our neighborhood. We may pass them on the street, rate them and move on, but most likely we will never see them again. The majority of the Epinions community will remain unseen by us, and those who do not reside in our neighborhood will remain faceless entities about whom we never give a second thought.
In many respects, I may have returned to my original hypothesis: Epinions is a village. However, I see us as a cluster of villages, or rather, a patchwork of neighborhoods in a very large city. But, like my experiences every day at work, I am always thrilled to meet new people and look forward to hearing from some of you! Thank you for reading this -- I am proud to be part of this city! :)
*************************************************************************
Here are the other members of the "Epinions - A village?" writeoff (as of 10/30/00) :
29th_Candidate, 401402, annexation, anniwitch, azbrotha, CeeJay62, cheekylass, ChristyACB, cwainwright, dbhoutx, dosite1, dr_valerie, driver4t5, drlolipop, elorraine, GaGirl40, groverchick, janetaba, jo.com, juliette, justreg2, kcfemme, ladydagney1, lap0530, linda1527, lkvanvoorhis, Lsebastan33, lunadisarm, mattjoe, Mhawkins, mptang, noniabidnis, ogur, pambo, Petra, pogomom, Ptiemann, repulsemonkey, rongould, teddiec, thedragonweyr, trphilip, viper1963, waltlockley
************************************************************************
If you would like to join in on this writeoff (the deadline is November 5, 2000), sign up at:
http://www10.ewebcity.com/thewriteoff
Everyone who is participating in this writeoff is listed on the website with direct links to their review. Lap0530 has done an amazing job setting this up, so big thanks from us all! Also, kudos to Petra for organizing this. Thank you!
To read Petra's "kick-off" review, which gave us all a lot to live up to, please visit:
http://mawrter.epinions.com/user-review-11CA-DDF48F1-39FCAC42-prod2
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
BunnyJav
|
|
Location: Minneapolos, MN
Reviews written: 34
Trusted by: 59 members
About Me:
"You're the true Lord of the Dance, no matter what those idiots at work say"
|
|
|
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.