If You Build It, They Will Come
Points and comments are a snapshot, not live.
Organizing events is the fastest way to join a social group.
The author argues that the best way to join a community is to organize events, because demand for social activities far exceeds supply. Most people consume social fabric without producing it. Organizers notice who does the work. The author suggests that social alienation partly stems from too many free riders, and that individuals can solve this at the community level by supplying events themselves.
What commenters are saying
Commenters largely agree with the article's premise, sharing personal experiences. One organizer spent 15 years building a local community that moved to Facebook and dissolved. Another now runs a lucrative street festival business. A third noted the vulnerability of being the organizer. A commenter analogized social decay to anoxic atmosphere: Facebook interactions provide empty calories, masking real decay. Some criticized the article's fit for Hacker News, while others defended it.