Okay, I recognize that my meatspace social life is just about nil, so maybe I'm incapable of generating anything objective, but what the hell is with how dead Tribe.net has been lately?

Generally I've seen single tribes go through waves -- hills and valleys -- of traffic. Sometimes they'll be on fire for a couple days, then dead for a few, then back again. This last couple weeks there have been fewer posts than average in almost every tribe to which I belong.

Now, I'm not ranting about this lack of traffic per se, but with the people running the tribes, then bitching about how Tribe is dying. Users have enrolled, curious what will occur, stake their claim by starting a tribe or five, then just sort of fuck off for parts unknown, leaving a trail of "can't be bothered" and "it's dying" messages behind them.

And what of the One Who Is Legion: the Unsubscribed? Here are people that seem to be completely involved in Tribe, really into it, then are suddenly transformed into that chill grey entity. It's eerie to have a conversation with someone, see a posting that is less than a day old, and realize that the person has left with no plans to return. It's possible I've some abandonment issues, but good grief, the manifestation turns the relationship into such a binary toggle from what has traditionally been resigned to fuzzy definitions only. This person is just... gone, though there words the conversation in which they were participating are still there.

I guess the largest thing I'm trying convey is, who are all these abandoners who show up to a collaborative space, expect to be entertained or mollycoddled, then give up and proclaim that the *space* is a loss, rather than their own contributions. It's like masturbating into a puddle, then getting upset that no child was birthed from it. Participation and some forethought are required, as well as continued effort.

To all those who have left then complained, QUIT YOUR BITCHING, you /chose/ not to help.