Thursday, February 19, 2009

Birds of a feather

I actively participate in two Yahoo groups for writers and I regularly read, but rarely participate, in a third. I see a significant membership overlap among these three Yahoo groups and, for a time, I worried that there were only a dozen or so truely active short story writers in the world.

I know that isn't true because the three groups I'm involved with are for people who write mysteries and women's fiction. I also write in other genres, but I don't participate in any Yahoo groups or message boards for those genres.

Why not? What draws us to participate in one Yahoo group or discussion board rather than another? Is it the subjects we discuss, or is it the people participating?

1 comment:

Terrie Farley Moran said...

Hi Michael,

I am attracted to message boards that have an aura of welcome.


I belong to a few yahoo groups. On one group the members yammer on and on and I can't keep up with reading, much less posting.

On another, I commented once or twice but never felt at home.

The third (I sound like a raven haired Goldilocks) was just right. I felt at home and among old friends when I started reading and jumped in to post when the time was right, without giving it a thought. It is a friendly board. Even when the members bicker it all turns out fine in the end. The members are sincerely helpful and information is offered freely. Also, members seem genuinely happy for each other's good news.

And I have seen you post there as well so I guess it's one of your top two!

Terrie