Hello. As of the time I write this (October 13, 2006), I am new to "Gather". I saw a brief ad on television and was intrigued by the name, so I checked it out.
The implementation/purpose of Gather is a little confusing to me at the moment, because it's so different from any other online community I've experienced or "driven by". I understand the basic idea of "connections", but I'm not sure just how many people I want to connect to and how I should decide.
I'm a little confused by the fact that people send you a connection request, but there is no message along with it. At first I thought this was to prevent people with unwanted and maybe abusive messages, but it seems people can send you a message anyway, so I guess that's not why. It would be nice to know why a person wanted to connect to you.
I read the page about connections, but that didn't explain the "freind/colleague " thing. Many people use their real names here, I don't believe in using your real name on the Internet except as necessary, and I didn't...so why do I have connection requests from "colleages"? Maybe someone can send a message and explain it to me.
I'm sure I'll get used to how Gather works. In the meantime, if you've sent me a connection request and you're reading this, I invite you to send me a message about why you want to connect. I'm not ignoring you!
I love this community so far, there is a lot of thoughtful discussion going on, even when people disagree. I don't see much "locker room mentality" going on, and that's nice.
I look forward to talking with you and reading what you all are writing!
