Community as an ecosystem
Previously I've described being part of the ecosystem in different contexts - fandom, the indieweb, locally - but I think what I really mean by that is community.
An ecosystem is super important but it's also scientific. There's no emotion involved in an actual ecosystem. There's no rejection or embarrassment.
There's this concept I think about a lot - about wanting the thing vs wanting to be the thing. So I want people to comment on my fic (mostly, I think. Kinda complicated) but am I being a person who comments on fics? I try really hard to be!
I try to default comment. Because I think it's really important for that ecosystem. It would be easier to kudos and move on but it would have been easier for the author not to write the fic. I appreciate that effort, I can make the teeny weeny contribution of a comment.
There's also the 'everyone wants to be a leader, no one wants to be a follower' paradox. Not me. I'm a very happy follower. As in an ecosystem, you can't only have apex predators. My wife describes me as a prey animal, which is so true. Sometimes though someone's got to break away from the herd. Am I willing to do that for the ecosystem-community? Be the difference you want to see, and so on.
In an ecosystem everything plays its part, even if that part is tiny. Like the thirty-nine trillion microbes that call me home. Reading blogs, leaving a like, writing a comment, leaving a message in a guestbook, sending an email, posting links, replying to a post, responding to an idea, taking part in a blog carnival, sharing my own work...
This is all part of the ecosystem that keeps the indieweb going. Keeps any community going. Even if it feels insignificant, a drop in the ocean. But that's what an ocean is. A whole bunch of drops.
Finally put together a page about community