I enjoy the community, and when I joined initially I felt very optimistic about Gather's future. It is this optimism that sparks my activity and contributions...including any criticism I may extend publicly. I felt at one time that Gather could become a significant factor in social networking. I still believe this to be true, although that positive outlook has been severely diminished over the past year. This is primarily due to astonishingly poor design and decisions that have become increasing evident within the site and supporting processes.
I stand behind every statement I have made, positive and negative. Each are provided with the sole purpose of improving Gather as a product and a community. My words serve as a challenge to you to not work harder, but work smarter. I have no doubt that you are all working very hard to make Gather the best that it can be. However, treading water can also be considered hard work...and in many ways that is exactly what you are doing.
Many of your business and design decisions are surprising in their absurdity. This leads to additional cycles being spent retracting and reworking. I have many examples to provide to you (I'll send you some, if you want them), including within the latest release. These simple decisions, when executed poorly, minimize the experience for existing and potential members alike...which as you know can ultimately ripple negatively throughout your entire organization.
I want Gather to succeed. Therefore, I have no intention of tempering my words or criticism going forward, nor should you want me to.
I did not intend on repeating my status line multiple times. Evidently since the update that field is now a bit more 'touchy' than it used to be...or my browser is.
I believe that my observation however is a valid one for a company that has recently cut back on staff significantly and wants to be taken seriously in the realm of social networking for adults.
Also, your public response to a member/user of the community is yet another great illustration of G.A.T.H.E.R. corporate values.
Apparently some of them are good, although I don't know how you'd ever tell them apart until they either befriend you or start shooting / smooshing you.
