Igor The Troll

Greedy Chinese Farmers

While traveling in China my friend and I decided to visit the Great Wall of China. We were suppose to start in one place and head left, but we took a little detour and headed to the right for a few hours, because it looked nice. Later we turned back and continued on the proper way towards the second section of the wall, where the exist suppose to be.

Walking up and down the old steps of the wall was very tiring, but the panoramic view was magnificent. I was panting like a wounded dog, because I smoke two packets a day. Nevertheless, we had a great time, but it was getting dark and we could not find the exit. It got so dark we where barely able to see the cobblestone steps.

There was a small path and we decided to take that to see if it would lead us to the exit. The reason that we decided to take the path was because we saw a house in that direction with some lights. So, we walked down a small path that at times seemed to disappear altogether. I even fell down on my ass as we were descending down a small hill

Clearing the bushes, exhausted we came across a small farm. As we came closer a huge dog jumped at us. Not wanting to show that we were scared we continued towards the house screaming, “Excuse me!” A farmer came out to great us. We did not speak any Chinese, but he spoke a bit of English. We explained to him that we got lost walking the wall and we needed help to find the exit.

He was a kind older gentleman. He offered us water to quench our first, which we gladly accepted. He also asked if we were hungry. I did not want to impose on him, so I kindly declined. He let us rest in a room and said he will take us to the exit. All of the sudden we heard him arguing with his younger mate. A few minutes later his mate comes in asking us for 200 RMB to show us to the exit.

He was standing with that big ugly dog barking very loudly. I really did not want to spoil the Chinese farmers, so I adamantly said we have no money. That is when he went into the house. The older gentleman followed him in, and we were left outside the house by ourselves. I talked to my mate for a while and we agreed to find our way to the wall by ourselves and look for the exit.

It was pitch black, and I was using my mobile phone screen as a flashlight. We were sweating and the air was cold. I started worrying about catching a cold. We weaved through the path back up to the wall barrier. At one point I was pushing through the bush. We clearly got off the path. We made it to the wall but there was no entrance to get in. We turned back on the path but again wined up in the thicket. All of the sudden we saw a light from a distance.

I was feeling scared and started to scream, “Help, help us, we are lost!” As I screamed the light got closer to us. I thought the farmers felt sorry and came to find us. Eventually the light was upon us. I heard a voice, “What are you doing here?” I panted out that we are lost and looking to get off the wall. It was not the farmer but a guesthouse owner. He said he saw our flashlight earlier and came to see if he can help us. He had a guesthouse not far way. We implored him if he could take us to the exit of the wall. First he offered to take us to his guesthouse, but with a little pleading he relented.

Climbing up and down the path he brought us back onto the wall. I was barely able to move but I really wanted to get off the wall. I garnished all my strength and walked up and down the wall stairs for about a half an hour. Finally we came to a sign that said, The Exit. We thanked the guesthouse owner and descended down an asphalt walkway toward the parking lot.

It was never about the 200 RMB, but the principle of paying someone money to have them show you were a path is. Traveling through China on number of times, I have met many Chinese people who were very kind and invited me for dinner or gave me a lift in their car. I just did not want to be The Stupid Tourist paying a bribe for something that is free.

I hope not all Chinese farmers want to get rich and move to the big cities in China! But the Chinese economic growth engine is drawing a delusion of what is wealth, and what people should do to get it. I think as bloggers we might be making the same mistake as the Chinese farmers. Our Websites are not going to become Google and Yahoo of the Internet.

Nick Oniel Should blogs have their own communities?

Suzanne Lainson
I’ve been online since 1993 and have been part of BBSs, usenet groups, mailing lists, web bulletin boards, MySpace, Facebook, etc.

The problem I’ve had with all of the topic-based forms of communication is that someone always screams “off topic.” Building communities around blogs seems to be similar to building communities through mailing lists, … Read Moreusenet groups, etc.

What I like about Facebook is that through my self-selected friends, I’ve created my own community. The conversations go where they want to go. Some are business-related. Some are personal. My “community members” don’t necessarily know they are part of the same community because they don’t see the same mix of status updates, posts, and messages that I see, but it feels like a community to me.

Igor Berger
U think you having a hard time. Check me out
http://www.igorthetroll.com/blog/

Raj Kumar Dash
Excellent point, Suzanne. Facebook does feel like a community of sorts. (Odd that I’m just finishing off an article on social networks with their own communities, as I read this thread.)

Igor Berger
I think most people come around the center and that is the host or host idea. Keep building your communities, but you are still the host. Some members may overlap communities. You should read the theory of Social Network
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network

Stew Brennand Jr
Creating a community is hit or miss, but being part of one is as simple as looking up similar interests, the rest falls into place. The one particular community I’m a part of is a niche area in the MMORPG gaming world and no, it’s not WoW for those that are wondering.

One person in particular is a serious blog fan. Many in the community had not … Read Morehad a focal point or congregation area, until now, to meet and collaborate outside of the game, other then the game forums of course, which can lead to much headaches and drama bombs. This guy started posting links to other peoples blogs in order to keep track of the very few that were out there and share his thoughts.

What started out as one man and his desire to share sites he visits, has turned into a community of over 130 Blogs, where everyone knows each other from cross comments, RSS feeds and site links. His “Blog Pack” features the top 20 blogs.

It’s a very thriving community that now has an estimated subscriber base of 200,000 readers

Suzanne Lainson
But isn’t the trend to consolidate your postings, via FriendFeed for example, so you are no longer having to visit separate sites for separate conversations?

It is good to have blogs and other places for specific content, but the community building seems to be happening in a more freeform way.

Igor Berger
Depends on your community. I have Friend Feeders who do not like Face Book and visa versa. Same goes for Twitter and other places. Some people just like my content and conversation in one pace but not in another. Try having this dialog on FF, you will get a bunch of LOLcats laughing at pics. Or you will have Scoble comparing Twitter to Friend Feed. There is always Dave Winer, the Big Boss! LMAO

Suzanne Lainson
Yeah, I can see your point. Most of my social networking has revolved around music. There’s always the question of how many sites you need to set up and how many you can maintain. You do your own website, MySpace, Facebook, and maybe ReverbNation. And maybe you also post (or have someone post on your behalf) various other music blogs and bulletin … Read Moreboards.

You end up weighing to what extent you try to reach all the potential fans, and to what extent you’re just wearing yourself out trying to be all places at once.

How many communities can people actively participate? For me personally, I’ve found Facebook a good way to bring together the various networks I want to stay in touch with. And I haven’t tried to add unmanageable numbers of friends (in contrast, numbers have been the game on MySpace for music promotion– you add as many people as you can). I keep the Live Feed running on Facebook and actually look at all of it.

Igor Berger
I do not know if the future in online. Many posers who join the community but hardly contribute. I think there is a lot of competition of everyone in their mothers trying to do the same. I think take this off line would be interesting. Like people do conferences etc, how about building a small community off line that maybe connected to your online foot print. For example, a gues house, restaurant, a bar, a commune?

Josh Elman
I think communities are great when they gather around topics and causes, and where everyone is mostly equal. I’m not as sure about blog communities since you have a case where there’s a clear leader (the blogger) and then the community forms more in response to that leader rather than as equals. Now communities of bloggers, that’s a different story - those, like BlogHer, are awesome

Social Network

I was having this conversation with a few Social Media friends on Face Book. I thought the conversation is very valauble to blogger as well as commentators, so I decided to share it with my community.

Face Book Note’s origins