.... A bit of reflection on the dynamics of group behaviour should help with your quandry. When a community, project, company etc grows beyond a certain point, sub-communities or tribes start to form. In a growing electronic community things are no different: The community can grow large as it spawns new smaller communities that interact within the larger space. The value add moves to these small groups. The conclusions from many diverse studies approaching the question of group dynamics with respect to the number and quality of interactions from different angles, are generally the same.....
There have been big changes in the last few years for sure. What was once a small community exchanging hints and info has became a large group with varied agendas. I find my biggest problem with ET is the sheer number of threads and posts. It would take full time to read them all. I suspect this will resolve itself as like-minded members will tend to gather in specific threads, much like they do in SI.
thnx to everyone for your support. i will be off the board for three weeks. just to tell why i won't reply for the next time. take care