Community Proliferation

[andysocial]

While anyone can create an account to use as a community, it seems that some folks are just not looking hard enough at the existing ones before they launch one that competes. Some examples? OK.

While there is the official LJ group lj_style for discussing styles, and the ljoverride group to discuss the Override system (which is the only way free users can modify their journal style), someone has recently started an unofficial group called layouts which is aiming for the same thing, although aimed more at newbies.

Of course, the proliferation of "icon" groups devoted to helping folks make LJ Userpics helps to draw users away from the near-moribund official group userpics.

After the success of nakedparts and sensuousart, the group naughtyparts was created, as a moderated (closed membership) group. For a more free-for-all group, social_smut was created that same week. Within two months, there were dozens of clones, and they ended up taking the majority of interested users away from those first two groups, which are now basically dead.

I don't see a problem with folks making their own communities on a whim, but wouldn't it make sense to see if there is already a community that is exactly what you wanted? That way, you don't dilute the number of users that would go to a group. In particular, if there is an official group that does what you want, that would be a great place for authoritative answers to questions. The guys who are actually creating the new Styles system pop in on lj_style regularly, for instance.

Just my opinion, for whatever it's worth.