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Post by sogoln on May 1, 2009 19:09:28 GMT 10
With about one hundred adult members, the Formori Community still doesn't require any formal governement structure to work properly.
The most active members reunite when they can or have to, they decide what should be done and they simply do it.
It's no anarchy, it's voluntocraty!
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Post by davidv on May 2, 2009 0:16:48 GMT 10
I think the other issue is that to the outsider, a micronation that appears vibrant, well-organised and conducive to open participation is always a more attractive proposition to join.
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Post by shadowdarkfyre on May 3, 2009 4:12:39 GMT 10
I think the other issue is that to the outsider, a micronation that appears vibrant, well-organised and conducive to open participation is always a more attractive proposition to join. True enough... From the inside, it also takes a degree of patience and a willingness to learn... Which is probably why the shelf life of most micronations ends up being 1.5 years at best... It takes a lot of work and effort, mostly on the part of the founder/leader...
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Post by davidv on May 5, 2009 16:37:49 GMT 10
True enough... From the inside, it also takes a degree of patience and a willingness to learn... Which is probably why the shelf life of most micronations ends up being 1.5 years at best... It takes a lot of work and effort, mostly on the part of the founder/leader... Patience and persistence are two qualities needed to make a project of any kind succeed. The most successful micronations had those things. Only a few micronations, however, had already developed to that point by the time they stepped into the limelight.
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George
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Post by George on May 7, 2009 7:32:11 GMT 10
Patience and persistence are two qualities needed to make a project of any kind succeed. ...to which I would add "intelligence", "empathy" and "money". If your basic idea is unintelligent, unintelligible or just plain crazy, no amount of patience and perseverance (or money, for that matter) will ever turn it around. There are many micronations whose creators possess patience and perseverance (and sometimes, money), while lacking basic intelligence and/or empathy with others. Such individuals end up running a long-lasting, but ultimately irrelevant personal amusement which nobody but themselves will ever take seriously.
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Post by davidv on May 7, 2009 12:53:26 GMT 10
Well as I would have added earlier, it does take intelligence, a sort of creative genius, to make something so appealing that people will want to stay around. So that its "novelty value" doesn't wear off after a short time.
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George
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Post by George on May 7, 2009 16:22:48 GMT 10
True. I'd further add that "letting go" is an important part of the process in the evolution of all successful micronations.
In my opinion, too many micronation founders have too much of an emotional investment in "their" creation - to the extent that they react to even gentle criticism as though it were some sort heinous criminal attack upon them personally.
Frankly, I don't understand this attitude at all.
If you fear constructive (or indeed, destructive) criticism, then don't put something as complex as a micronation into the public domain in the fist place; keep it safe, secret, offline and in your bedroom - like kids did before the internet came along.
If you welcome constructive criticism and public comment on your creation, you have nothing to fear, and much to gain, as you'll find that many more people buy into your vision, and ultimately take it in directions that you never dreamt possible when you began your journey.
That's been my experience, in any case. It certainly makes my job a lot easier, much more interesting and personally rewarding than it would otherwise be.
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Post by davidv on May 7, 2009 23:35:32 GMT 10
Those micronations that existed well before the Internet came along embraced the technology to stimulate growth. They either found other similar entities out there, or they helped start a phenomenon that became the "great micronational boom" of the 90s.
What you point out is a lesson that has been applied in all successful micronations. The founders of most of which are still involved today, with notable exceptions, because of that precise reason.
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George
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Post by George on May 8, 2009 0:24:17 GMT 10
You touch on an important point; embracing the internet is an essential part of any successful venture these days.
However, it needs to be done with a clear understanding that it is a means to an end - not an end in itself.
I've observed that many micronationalists (the younger ones in particular) get excited by technology for its own sake, without understanding how it can be used to leverage success - or often even giving much thought to what the ultimate purpose of their technological obsessions may be.
Personally, I know next to nothing about many internet-based technologies (enough to be dangerous - not useful, as I like to put it), and frankly the thought of spending days writing code for some obscure web application makes suicide look like an attractive alternative lifestyle choice. ;D
My job, as the leader of a reasonably-sized international pan-cultural organization, is to develop high level concepts that address the needs of the organisation and its members - not to waste time personally implementing technologies at a micro-level that simple technicians can be paid to produce to spec if we decide we need them.
Again, this comes back to the need for "total control" that many micronationalists seem to have; I see it as an unwelcome distraction from the "main game", and something which is to be avoided at all costs.
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Post by davidv on May 12, 2009 6:01:48 GMT 10
You've mentioned the fact that "bedroom states" have existed for a long time before the Internet and that the best-known micronations of today were some of many.
I contend that the most successful- e.g. Talossa, Aerican Empire- grew well "beyond the bedroom" long before they stepped into the online limelight, so they had structures already in place to endure, and withstand the storms that came along.
The Pennsylvania group, likewise, has definitely grown "beyond the bedroom" into a close-knit group of friends, but seem unable to grow beyond that and apart from being a friendship group seem yet to crystallise socially, culturally or politically.
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