Does anyone have a dribbble.com invite?
Out of context: Reply #4
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I posted a more thoughtful critique elsewhere on the web, but the post above really expresses my gut reaction to concept of closed communities on the web. Ultimately, I don't think any good can come from this kind of elitism.
"Designers – on the whole – are a very egocentric lot and, while the pursuit of quality should definitely be at the forefront of any design-led community, the formation of cliques and elitist bubbles isn’t necessarily healthy.
A defining feature of a meritocracy, should be that the system is accessible to all. People need to be able to have a ‘punt’, even if they are likely to fail.
Let’s be honest here.... I’d be very surprised if there are many dribbble members who _don’t_ currently enjoy being able to tell people that they’re part of this site. I’d also be willing to bet that a large number of these people don’t want to loose the ’social currency’ that dribbble provides. However, I don’t think this is a good enough reason to keep a community closed.
The site sounds like it can provide a valuable resource for peer revue – which is a process that ultimately helps us all to become better designers. I believe the focus should be on self-improvement rather than hero-worship and self-validation.
If this web-application isn’t able to effectively sort the wheat from the chaff in it’s current form – perhaps it needs to remain in beta until it is able to allow quality content to automatically rise to the top?
I agree that intimacy is something that’s very important in the creation of on-line communities, and I find the subject incredibly interesting; but, it’s important to be honest about the motivation behind keeping a community closed.
I’d argue that it should be possible to create closed (private) sub-alliances (groups) within the site. This way, the founding members of the site could still interact with each other, without fear of contamination from the great unwashed :) At the same time, other designers would be free to form new groups and create their own criteria and goals.
Or is dribbble simply destined to become ffffound 2.0 ?"
- I'll post my reply on NTC, not that I currently enjoy being able to report I'm a part of it...raf