I joined up because a respected colleague in the field of community youth development told me to keep an eye on what was then called the Omidyar Foundation.

Happenstance had it that I was checking up on you all the week of your launch in July 2004. So I joined.

At the same time, many of us (who met on Tom M's giving space list) came together in Chicago (July 2004) to Open Space for Giving to Flourish. There was a group of us (18-20 people) that felt we needed to stay connected beyond the conference so we organized an e-list and then invited everyone to participate here at O.net.

The early days were much easier to navigate and there were lots of ways to interact to build things the community needed.

Some thoughts on how you might orchestrate this type of interaction now that the community is larger -- generate an opportunity for an annual community build (like Kaboom does with playgrounds). A way for folks to volunteer together, learn how to use the site and its tools in a way that is meaningful to the greater community. And, provide enough support so that the event is not overwhelming to the volunteers.

As a newbie I had never participated in on-line communications, which is an art and can be very difficult (not just with tech learning curve, but in terms of cultural etiquette). It would be great to see some support given to a 24 hour on-line O.net drop in coffee shop (doesn't have to be 2nd life -- but make it more unique than the rest of the community tools). And, staff this room with an O.net staff person who can facilitate the development of both technology and commutation skills. I think a support place like this will help when there are negative point slinging and frustration over the time it takes to learn new tools. Also, it would strengthen the feeling that we are not alone. My guess is that such a place would also attract member volunteers.

My biggest issue with Omidyar Network was not seeing recognition and support from Omidyar Network around member generated ideas and member activities. I’ve noticed some improvement here. But there is a real need to sit at a shared table vs. the glass door that has a one way mirror.

Thank you for this thread. Hope it produces some terrific feedback so more and more people can discover their potential to do good things.

I arrived at omidyar.net one evening when I was researching development of health information resources. I thought there might be interest here in building such information resources.

I don't know why I thought people here might be interested in collaboratively building something. Indeed, I don't know why I think that now.

It's really strange....

I've met some really bright people here....

Somehow I think ever since Pierre decided not to be so active here, the site has lost some of it's original vision. I don't think the principal of emergence was adequately gardened....

Who knows what tomorrow will bring? Turn off your mind, relax, and float downstream....

I have got here casually.

I have read through article about Pierre founder EBay and wished to find the additional information on him. The first link in search was ONet. I have met here very interesting people. For me it was very joyful to learn, that in our World there are people which are not indifferent to that will be tomorrow.

I think, that the main thing in this site that the person got here feels that can change this world if will be united with other people.

It as island of reciprocity in our world which becomes impregnated with egoism more and more.

Thanks all of you.

• What brought you here originally?

I came here as a result of a Google search looking for discussion forums on human trafficking.

• What did you run into that almost made you leave and never return?

Nothing yet.

• What happened that made you decide to stick around - at least this long?

The other users. Leaving my old world to do TEN was great, but it left me a little estranged from my old work friends. It has been great building relationships with my new peers in social enterprise.

I've been lucky here. A pal of mine in Ireland, Paul O Hara, introduced me to Greg Murray Greg in turn introduced me to ONet. That turned out to be a lucky thing too. I was just about to set off on a big adventure, interviewing changemakers for a book I am writing. I was to travel off into Africa and India and places I didn't know anyone. But with the posting on Onet, more and more people started following what I was doing, lending me a hand, suggesting ideas, contacts, sofas!My journey was so much more rewarding, deeper and richer as a result. So that got me here, and has kept me here. Now that I am back in Ireland I find myself dipping in and out of Onet to help me relive the connections.

• What brought you here originally?

I was working for Linden Lab as community manager of Second Life and we realized that as the number of SL residents grew, more of our time was being taken up moderating their behavior. I heard that omidyar.net had an interesting reputation system that might help us.

• What did you run into that almost made you leave and never return?

I found the browse groups navigation - which was on the home page - very confusing.

• What happened that made you decide to stick around - at least this long?

I'm fascinated by the people I've met here.

dear haney,

here is my good, bad and ugly. when i first read about this site the media focused on "donors choose". there were very few other "organized philanthropies" on the onet home page.

i expected there to be more giving which focused on "charity" in the u.s, afterall making a direct donation to a public school falls into this category.

unfortunatly "charity" seems to be a bad word on omidyar, the shift has been on giving people the tools to become self reliant. also a good thing, however evne the u.s practices "charity" when the we forgive loans to foreign countries? what is wrong with "charity"?

**why not set up a distribution system, exactly like ebay which connects americans in need to donors who would like to bridge the gap between those needs, and our governments failures.*

people are dying here in the u.s because of lack of medical coverage. people like myself, a single-parent and disabled are living in poverty, one small step away from homelessness. the list goes on...the government systems in place are broken.

originally i sent you a PM to see if you would have enough respect to respond. i sometimes visit the site to see how it has evolved over the years and there seems to be a great deal of disappointment amoung its members.

much of the dissapointment seems to stem around the lack of support for local causes.

bill gates has focused donations on medical cures and on improving the american school system. "charitable"

pierre has focused on microloans. "empowering"

where are the billionaires who are focusing on those already impoverished in the u.s, those who need immediate food, shelter and basic medical care before thay can benefit from a microlaon. perhaps there are even millions in the world who just need to be "given" their basic necessities and may never be able to have the strength for various reasons to lift themselves up further.

the strong have a moral obligation to care for the weak.

no more hunger in the u.s, no more homelessnes in the u.s, no more people dying because of a lack of medical coverage in the u.s, we need it, and we need it now.

this is the country where ebay made its fortune, why igonore these issues in the u.s?

this is the major frustration i have encountered with Onet's vision.

thank you,

dafna orly

oops,

thank you haney, for replying to my PM about one second ago.

perhaps posting my message here will do some good. perhaps posting your response here or on a new thread will do some good.

in response to your PM, there is no reason not to address these clear needs in the u.s. if onet has a valid reason, perhaps they should post their philosophy online and get some feedback. ultimately, only onet can make the choice, its their descision.

i have already seen modest needs, it's criteria for providing one-time limited assistance is to attempt to prevent those on the brink of poverty from "entering the cycle" of poverty.

it does not scratch the surface of addressing the issues in the u.s. which i am refering to.

both lines of giving can and should be pursued at the same time. philanthropy in the form of social entrepeneur and charity.

it is my distint immpression that the seriousness and impact of the current conditions in the u.s are greatly underestimated by onet.

perhaps somethings must simply be experienced first hand to understand.

thanks,

dafna orly

Haney Armstrong said:

I'm really interested in finding out what it was like when omidyar.net members first joined up - the good, the bad, the ugly. Hopefully we can learn from this and figure out how to make easier for people find and collaborate with others who share their interests.

• What brought you here originally?
• What did you run into that almost made you leave and never return?
• What happened that made you decide to stick around - at least this long?

Your thoughts are welcome whether you are a brand new member or a vet with a decent memory.

Thank you very much for contributing.

Hi, my name is Susan Christiansen and I live in Iowa. I was checking this website looking for paper beads from Africa. So far, I have been disappointed in this website. It says I need to contact a "reseller" and I have no idea who that would be. I did click on "reseller" and sent several emails to different people listed but didn't get a straight answer. I have no idea what this website is about. All I wanted to do was buy some paper beads. I watched a piece about Africa on the news and thought I would be interested in buying some for my friends. If you can be of any help, that would be great. If not I guess I will just have to give up the idea of buying paper beads.

Thanks, Susan

PS: What is a postive feedback? You gave me 3 and I don't know what I did to earn this.

Hi,

I can't say that I've been here all that long in terms of actual time and contribution, so take that into account when reading all of the below. I'm still a newb.

I came into Onet a year and half ago because I was writing a case study about Catalytic Communities and Theresa Williamson. Theresa suggested I join Onet and since then I've logged on sporadically. I have gotten to know Jean Russell (through Theresa) and have exchanged a few emails with other Onetters. I've discovered some really neat projects on Onet and people doing very interesting & inspiring things with their lives.

However, online communities like Onet make my mind go BOGGLE. There's something about online communities that I can't quite wrap my head around, possibly due to their sheer size, but most probably due to their culture. Virtual communities (even democratic ones with points etc.) create certain cultures that I tend to step away from. I thought about this quite a bit after a long discussion with my girlfriend about aSmallWorld (which she's a member of) and came up with a few reasons for my aversion to online communities.

One, I think all the activity can seem a little overwhelming... when the current looks strong I'm a little timid about taking a dip. The longer I'm out of it the more shy I become. Also being new is like being on the edge of a big party, you see all these people having fun in their groups and you wonder what's the best way to join in.

Two, online communities take time (and there are so many of them). If you're really going to contribute or get something out of an online community, you really need to invest in it. In between my projects I spend most of my time in front of a computer screen: writing proposals, articles, emails, etc.; so even the thought of spending a lot of time on an online community makes my contact lenses go dry.

Three, I'm still a person that likes to meet face to face, or at least talk over the phone, rather than through ethereal connections over the internet. I know Onet folks meet up face-to-face, which is great, I just haven't had the chance to myself (my mental image of Jean is still her Skype picture). And yet even without having met someone, I still care about what that person thinks about what I say/write... and anyone can comment on what you've said (whether you know them or not). I suppose that I just don't like the energy I put into chasing incentives that are based in a virtual relationship.

Four, I get tired of talk. And online communities are essentially... well, online talk. Now, I have certainly seen many actions come out of the "talk" on Onet, or seen "talk" about really cool actions people have been taking. It's just that when I see really long threads on a forum or community, or someone putting forward a theory of this or that, I just instinctively pull away from it. "Eesh, more talk!" For example, what I'm doing right now...

Five, and this gets personal, I think I'm still not outwardly focused enough (ironic in my line of work, yes) but I get so caught up in why what I'm doing is not getting more recognition or why it's not taking off as fast as it could. Yet I think where Onet thrives is where there are outwardly focused people, the ones who see what others are doing and support them (and there a good number of them here). As Teddy said, "Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care" right?

So why am I even posting given all of the above? Well, because of what Teddy said, and because I feel optimistic about Onet: I think if I am able to wade into the Onet river, my hunch is that it will take me to good places.

Thanks for reading.

Patrick

Great post Patrick. Thanks for everyone who is sharing! I look forward to reading more!

• What brought you here originally?

Phil Cubeta told me, while I was working on a philanthropy/make a difference book project, that this wild philanthropic experiment was happening and I should have a look. January 2005, I think.

(I came back when Phil invited me to the member conference in Chicago in 05. I connected face to face with amazing folks, and I have been here connecting with many of those same folks ever since.)

• What did you run into that almost made you leave and never return?

I did leave, nearly immediately. 25 posts per page of people who clearly knew each other haggling over what to do with money. One, I could not see what was being done or emerging from the discussion. Two, I couldn't be bothered to wade through 100s of posts to figure it out. Too overwhelming, complicated, and oblivious to the outside reading audience.

I have nearly left several times since then. I usually don't tell anyone I am thinking about it since that seems more like a threat. I have wanted to leave because of the ugliness that emerges. The fighting. The cruelty. The mind-numbing discussions when someone has to argue every single point about something to the point where the point becomes pointless. The using of the space as a support group. The cliques. The tools not working as well as I would like them too. The feeling that we are in a petri dish. And sometimes more because of my own life--needing to try to earn a living: coming here really expanded my volunteer hours!

• What happened that made you decide to stick around - at least this long?

Well, sometimes you make an investment and you stick with it to see what happens. Sometimes it goes up and you are happy. Sometimes it goes down and you think you should have let go. I guess I ended up holding on.

Mostly I held on because I am so tied to so many of the people here that it is easier to see them here than to see them anywhere else. I find my off-onet conversations are still with onetters oftentimes. And maybe that would still be even if I wasn't here. So maybe I don't need to be here.

I am really disappointed right now. I feel like I haven't really made a difference here. I thought I might get more excited when I started growing my own projects here, but that isn't very lively either.

Right now I am staying partly because I am really excited about the community stories. I would like it to be more visible--the good things that have come from the connections here. I think if we have more of those stories, then we can see the value of being in online communities, especially this one, more clearly.

Sorry so long. ~Jean

someone (at) aol.com said:

I was checking this website looking for paper beads from Africa. So far, I have been disappointed in this website. It says I need to contact a "reseller" and I have no idea who that would be.

Susan - Did you make it to this site? - http://lifeinafrica.com/products /junglebeads/bundles.htm

PS: What is a postive feedback? You gave me 3 and I don't know what I did to earn this.

Here's more info about the feedback system -

Good Day!

THE GOOD I came here because my sister invited me in. The experience with the Stop WDI team was extraordinary in that at the time, the focus, team work and support was a nice flow. I met some very sincere people who lived their ideals. Also was made aware of various worthy causes. The nice welcome from different members also helped.

THE UGLY After that, I felt that the flow was stopped for whatever reason, and I discovered that this whole thing about "funding" can create chaos and hostilities between people. I also discovered that people can hide behind their words, and that there really is no real transparency here. IMHO, real transparency can only happen when the people we are claiming to help have a voice without any fear.

TODAY I appreciate what I learned from Onet and continue to communicate with some through emails, where I can choose who I want to work and speak with. StopWDI continues to be a cause I work with and am currently organizing a fund raising exhibit (which a local jeweler is sponsoring), and speaking to groups of people.

I am organizing an offline community called People Encouraging Artisan Collaboration and Empowerment (PEACE), although not really microfinancing, but to encourage businesses here to purchase directly from the artisans and artisan groups.

Thanks to the lessons I have learned from Onet, it has given me direction. I pray for everyone's success here.

I stop by once in a while to say hello.

Cheers and may everyone here be blessed abundantly.

I came to Onet for purely selfish reasons. My daughter, who I miss terribly, hangs out here. I would just follow her around and read everything she wrote trying to feel close to her. I also really missed LiA and I just had this craving to know what all was going on.

I never commented or even filled in my profile for about 8 months. Then my daughter had a problem and everyone here started jumping in to solve it by collecting money to buy a generator for LiA. I finally jumped in and joined and I must say that I was really made to feel welcome.

I still hang out here to be near Christina and LiA but I have also found so many interesting people and projects here. I love reading about all the good that is going on and sometimes I even have something say. I am a virtual volunteer for LiA and help work on the loan program and anything else that is needed and that makes me feel like I am contributing.

I have come to appreciate so much about this community and the way they support each other with ideas, advice, encouragement and even constructive criticism. I have found this especially true with the Food Chain group. The only thing that has ever made me think about leaving is the negativity that is sometimes present. I hate negative feedback, even though I can see some use for it, and I think sometimes it is used unwisely and is not productive. But, when I click on a thread that is just too negative for me, I have learned to just click off and go somewhere else. Lots of places to go, lots of things to learn, lots of people to be inspired by.

What brought you here originally? I came here because a friend and mentor said you should check out the Omidyar's cause they are giving really big money to Micro-loans and LemonAid Fund could use it. Well in my search I found this.

What did you run into that almost made you leave and never return? That is too strong a statement. What made it difficult was my lack of skills and the unfamiliar territory. For the first month I would sign on and almost be paralized. Not knowing what to do or how to do it. I read about the UGLY stuff but couldn't believe that the kind of people I have met could be part of it. I am amazed that all of us heading in the same direction sometimes take such extreme detours that hurt others.

What happened that made you decide to stick around - at least this long?

I agree with other posts. The other users. The possibility and actuality of funding from O.net and from individuals. Helping to not feel isolated here in Sierra Leone. Keeps me stimulated. Sometimes I talk so much about O.net it sounds like I have a lover:)

Oh my goddess, I have to keep that as a quote Nancy!

"Sometimes I talk so much about O.net it sounds like I have a lover :)"

That is a testimonial to community!

I find myself often making the assumption that everyone (in technology or philanthropy) knows what it is since it has been such a huge part of my life for so long. Incredibly egotistical of me.

Tomas--Thanks for posting! Actually there aren't many email notifications--at least from Omidyar Network staff. New members may get PMs from other members as welcoming notes, and I think those have been really powerful in helping get people past initial community paralysis.

• What brought you here originally?

Back in early 2005 Sue Braiden sent me a message by email that said "I have a little surprise for you." I clicked and found she had started a thread encouraging people to take part in our Fashion4Football campaign - we were collecting used playclothes for The Kids League, who were expanding their programs to the IDP camps in Northern Uganda at the time. LiA had taken that on as a cause and Sue was promoting it here.

Connecting Life in Africa's community to global community platforms was an object of a lot of research at Life in Africa for many years. For a while we experimented a bit at rYze. At the time Sue invited me here I was actively involved in the SocialEdge community and had high hopes for seeing that community evolve into a useful platform for facilitating collaboration and creating dynamic community content. I was elected to attend the Skoll Forum on behalf of the community and became a bit disillusioned when I understood through interacting with Skoll staff there, that Social Edge probably wasn't going to ever be a place where Life in Africa's membership could hope to participate in a meaningfully creative way. So I'd explored Onet a little bit upon Sue's invitation, but when I came back from the Skoll Forum I was on the lookout for a new community.

• What did you run into that almost made you leave and never return?

not understanding that nobody was really in charge of anything. Not understanding the rules and following bad advice (that I perceived as "senior") I ended up getting into some trouble. My first neg, but oh well. I actually like the feedback system a lot. The fact that everyone attributes their own meaning to the points system gives me some interesting possibilities to work with in terms of online training. It's easy to create interactive content and evolving pages that we can link to from our website. I adore using the PM system instead of email. I generally don't give out my email address but tell strangers to connect with me here instead. By the time they jump through that hurdle of signing up, I know they are sincere.

There is on occasion negativity that rears it's ugly head - as there is in every family, group or other kind of community I know. Building an offline community we also see a lot of that, so it normally doesn't shock or upset me when it happens on Onet to the same degree that it affects some others.

• What happened that made you decide to stick around - at least this long?

With over 40 Life in Africa members signed up and many actively posting when they can, plus my family who hang out here (not only my mom Evvy, but my cousin Shawn Kelly has also become an Onet regular!) it looks like I'm not going anywhere soon. What's happened is that Onet has become my virtual office, where I connect with the global and local communities I work with all in one place.

When I joined, I think this community was really ripe for what I had to offer through a connection to the LiA community. Things started to happen that I'd always foreseen were possible but that I didn't expect (in a planned sense) when I joined here - collaborations, fundraising, community favorites, the community funding processes, face to face global gatherings. All of that has been one exciting bonus after another. Seeing some of our members come alive thru community interaction with things like the soap project is very gratifying to me. Being able to adapt the tools to do things like our loan editing exercise and recruit community help to get us through some of the bottlenecks.

I could go on and on about the different ways that Onet has become a part of LiA - our operations, our support network, our local identity as an organization with a global outlook and presence... The community here has been and continues to be a wonderful incubator for trying new ways of jumping over barriers between cultures. And the sheer camaraderie I've found with the other better world builders here has been, personally speaking, very nurturing for my own soul.

• What brought you here originally?

I was surfing around the web and I found a link off the "Donors Choose" website. I didn't know anyone here. I recognized the name "Omidyar" because of the Tufts connection, and I slowly figured out what it was about.

I had just had a big personal tragedy (losing a baby daughter to a rare cancer-like illness)and I was in a "I couldn't save her/but I'm going to figure out how to save the whole world" unhealthy state of mind. So o-net appealed :-)

• What did you run into that almost made you leave and never return?

People sneering at the "old-style" philanthropy and traditional fundraising. I was busy being engaged in it-- I had set up a named fund in memory of my daughter at a local Baltimore/Washington based non-profit charity called "The Childrens Cancer Foundation" that was going to support research into my daughter's disease. When I first encountered o-net, I had this notion that there would be lots of people here experienced with old-fashioned local, grass roots fundraising, and would be able to tell me if I should tell my story in the local newspaper, do a mass mailing to my friends, try to solicit any corporate donations, etc. I also had a group of professional classical musician friends who ended up organizing a benefit concert, but I wanted to know things like how much I should charge for tickets, where I should advertise the concert, etc. But: it quickly became clear to me that people here were interested in making a philanthropy revolution, not in advising me how to do what every local charity or church group already knew how to do.

In fact, I think this is one of the big schizophrenias of omidyar.net On the one hand it wants crowds of people, but on the other, it refuses to be populist. There is a complete allergy to any sort of publicity or marketing. There is a little bit of the, "what have you done that is going to completely save the world for me lately"???

• What happened that made you decide to stick around - at least this long?

Two things:

1. I was learning things. Lots of new things. Thanks to this group, I read Egger. I read Mountains Beyond Mountains. I learned all about the Grameen bank and microfinance. I learned about Ashoka. I had the pleasure of "meeting" (usually virtually, occasionally in person) some very neat people.
2. I was seduced by the system design. I think this place is an "almost". It's certainly a very sticky site for some of its regular users. There are many things that I would fix in order to make it something that would grow exponentially. Most of them are little tweaks that I think would have a big impact. I have made many "tweak" suggestions already in other threads. Some of them are deep conversations about branding.

Now about the "people are only here for the money thing". Some projects on o.net have gotten funding. On the one hand the lack of clarity about the criteria or process for the "community favorites award" seems to leave everyone open at all times to the criticism that "the only reason they spend time here is the money", which to me feels like an insulting accusation. (Note: NO criticism here of the people who have gotten these awards to date or how they have handled themselves before or after. Everyone has been great and deserved. I'm saying something different about people's expectation that there might be money for them here-- or not and other people's assumptions about why someone else might be sticking around).

On the other hand, I have a keen interest in this idea of using the community to screen and vet ideas that could use funding (or for that matter, other resources). This is why I participated in the Collaborative Funding Project and in the most recent Q4 project. What Project GreenLight did awhile ago for film scripts (help review film scripts of your peers and we'll use community voting to pick one that gets made), maybe o-net could do for sending off grants to small 501c3 organizations or do a business plan competition for social enterprise ventures--in the 2nd case, you could have the community choose the finalists, and then have the finalists come to ON for the final competition.

But: in order for this to work, in order for this to showcase the nonprofits or great social-enterprise ventures o-net needs to STOP BEING ALLERGIC to publicity! Your "call for proposals" or "call for business plans" has to be a profesisonally written press release, with clear deadlines that are given 6 months ahead of when anything has to be in, with clear timelines. And: maybe call up CNBC and ask if they want to broadcast the finals of your business plan competition live, on TV?? Did you recoil at that last idea? If so, how comfortable are you in making this a place where ordinary people come to learn about philanthropy versus how elitist??

Yes. I agree this place is not only about money/should not only be about money and distributing money. But surely, a well-explained grantmaking process (harnessing the power of the community, somehow to do peer review so that o.net is not overwhelmed with half-baked proposals) and the parts of this place where it is acceptable to apply for money clearly marked (so the rest of the space can be used for the rest of us :-) would be a welcome fix to a dysfunctional culture.

One final remark about money: everyone here seems to want "omidyar.net to catalyze others to give money". It already has. But: why do you think you would know? How do you think you could know? If Phil Philanthropist gave a large sum of money to an organization he heard about on omidyar.net, do you think he would broadcast it publically? Especially if he was here under his/her (ok, Phillipa :-) own name?? Would he want people to know publically he was rich enough to do this? Possibly not. So he would not say it, and you would never know-- the power of the information that surfaces here is not something you will ever be able to measure.

Lenore Cowen said:

STOP BEING ALLERGIC to publicity!

Lenore,

when I was studying (library and) information science, I was mainly focused on archives management. A turn of events brought me to working on the Internet. One of the greatest learning experiences for me (on this "new tack") has been the very close connection between marketing / advertising / promotion and "information resources". This was not really a "discovery" -- I knew that people said these two things were related. But just like a cat wearing gloves catches no mice, I now found that after removing the gloves I learned many things about how close this relationship really is.

So if you say that "publicity" is anathema to all of o.net, then you simply haven't been listening to me.

somehow to do peer review

Have you ever heard me talk about the expertise of experts? Have you ever taken a look at the Wisdom of the Language thread?

Since you make such sweeping statements that seem to ignore these (and similar) threads, I think the answer must be "no".

Test does this work?

Yes, it works, for six more days! :)

I forget who sent me the link to o/net, but it was someone who knew I was looking to get the word out about inspiring people in high crime neighborhoods to create wealth, safety, and beauty.

What's awesome about this place is how you can follow hundreds of conversations at once, using your watchlist, recent discussions, what's new, other user's profiles, etc. This means that usually if you post something thoughtful to an active thread, you get a response from someone. And the other cool thing is that the people who respond are usually pretty thoughtful and have a good attitude. So it's like a really great party with really great people, that lasted 3 years, with everyone crashing on the couch and going to work the next day.

What almost drove me away was the lack of structure or indexing for topics. At one point I browsed through groups and went into each one I was interested in and clicked on the discussions, read them, and posted my thoughts. I did that for hundreds of discussions, maybe 1000. But almost all those threads were "dead". So it's the opposite of what I was just talking about. I posted thoughtful comments and got no response. I can do that on my blog.

I also got frustrated with the responses to the Suggestions. I think they should have made it clearer that there was almost no chance of them implementing any of our requests. And I also think they should have implemented many of those requests. If they had, I think we might have seen some amazing things here and we might not be closing it down.

Lastly I almost left a few times when someone blasted my ideas or myself, in what I thought were too harsh of terms. Especially when that person would keep posting in a thread that I wanted to keep discussing with others in. I wonder if there was an "ignore user" button if I would have been able to keep discussing other things with others in the same thread.

What kept me coming back is that the good outweighed the bad. I really got interested in many of the people and projects here, I participated in many small ways and a few big ones, I loved the support and even criticism of my own pet projects, and I learned to mitigate most of the negatives by changing my attitude about this place, kind of like Christina said above, realising no one is in charge was helpful. And realising that anyone could do whatever they wanted, so it became more important not to piss anyone off. You sort of have to follow lifeboat politics and then you're fine here.

Thank you Dave. However, if it is only going to be up for 6 more days I really don't see what the point is to try to figure it all out? On the otherhand, some of the user's profiles contain links to other non-profits or there own organizations which could be helpful. Anyways, I heard about this about a year ago through an old magazine, try to sign in but having problems. Now our oganization actually has a computer on the net that works. I (we) bascially run a non-profit that provides free referral services for the homeless & low-income in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Our homepage is at: http://www.geocities.com/Ambassa dorsoftheLight We have a resource guide (that we put out) that is at: http://www.geocities.com/Ambassa dorsoftheLight/New_Resource_List ing.doc Well tahnks for writing back. I wondering if Pierre finally ran out of money or the foundation, the board meeting sectioned that I looked said this the net site had to return some money. However, I wonder if the foundation itself is basically out of money? Pierre is (was) a billionare. Wonder if any went in the bank for interest? Hopefully the organization (The foundation) will still do something, but seems like they might be closing too), umm? Any suggestions on other philantrophy sites? In grand rapids, philantrphy isn't about your purpsoe or cause, it is simply who you know and your contacts. Like millionares helping the rich get richer, or like 2 of them paying 1 million dollars for a big piece of plastic from new work painted 1/2 blue & 1/2 white, calling it ART, they named it blue/white and hung it in our new museum, but forgot but helping smaller organzations or those that work with the homeless, however, they also built a new hotel J.W. Marriot, part of Alticor, & those that run Amway, and the other hotels, convention center, & arean, etc. Guess what but they don't want homeless or poor panhandling downtown, much less even downtown? Rich help the rich. It takes those that use to be homeless to help those in Grand Rapids, MI Anyways, enough about my rant. From what I read Pierre was different & was trying to help those that had legitimate causes & purposes, and get each otehr connected. Just wish is wasn't over already. Oh well. Thanks for writing back. Check out my homepage if you have time: www.geocities.com/AmbassadorsoftheLight

Well, Ambassadorofthelight, I share your sentiments wishing it wasn't over.

2 things you might find useful to know, as we ride off into the sunset. First, hundreds of people who help the poor and homeless came through this site and posted a number of requests for help, assistance, guidance, support, promotion, information, connection, inspiration, acknowledgement, etc. I'd say about 98% of them (self included) were disappointed by how those requests were received. I'd be surprised if more than a handful got any assistance at all (other than perhaps a little encouragement from someone like me :), and the ones who did get some sort of donation were probably getting tons of assistance from many other places too. I don't think anyone made more money here than they would have by working at McDonalds for the same amount of time.

The Omidyars are still reportedly worth billions. They are still giving millions of dollars away each year, investing in businesses and causes they like. So are most other very rich people (you can get a list of them online, just google "richest people in the world") This website was a place to meet people and discuss ideas and potentially collaborate. So if you were looking at substantial support you really didn't miss anything.

Secondly, if you were looking to meet people and discuss ideas and potentially collaborate, then ned.com, which uses this same software but with a few improvements, is a great place to go. I recommend reading up on ned, so you have a better idea of the context of that place. In my mind it takes pretty much everything that was good about o/net and gives it a chance to grow, unimpeded by some of the noise here.

As others have mentioned, razoo and wiserearth and facebook and aboutus are also cool, each in their own way. But ned feels like the best of o/net. Those other sites seem to require more work to get a discussion going, and more work to meet people and get past the smalltalk. For some, that's an advantage. I guess it's a matter of preference, but that's my two cents.