Chapter 9d
Optimum Size of Local Groups and Discussion Forums


A discussion forum with many thousands of active participants could easily generate hundreds of messages each day, which would quickly make participation very burdensome to most people. An optimum maximum size for a group can be determined over time. It will likely be found to be somewhere between 500 and 1000 members, but this can only be determined through experience over time. Some people may prefer to participate in smaller Groups, and some in larger, and a properly scalable organization scheme, (as described, for example, in our ‘one person one vote’ scheme in Chapter 10-I-h), should be able to accommodate either so that people have these choices available to them.

Provision could perhaps be provided for ‘calving’ of citizen-members of Local Groups to form themselves into new Groups, should any Group’s size becomes burdensome. Citizen-members could have the option of joining and changing Groups at their discretion, (with the software through which the groups are managed tracking and registering their current membership Group, so that any citizen-member can only vote as a member of one Local Group).

If a group gets too ‘crowded’, citizen-members could perhaps, on their own initiative, form new Groups and solicit members of their previous Group to consider joining. Policies governing these type activities, and especially the way that new Groups are formed, must be very carefully considered. Political considerations, including the possible implications and consequences of ‘raiding’ of Groups by other Groups, might need to be controlled. Or maybe not. Maybe Groups whose citizen-members want to quit them, to join other Groups, will be properly motivated to improve their own internal conditions of functioning, and perhaps those that cannot function well at a given size, should be allowed to shrink naturally, or even disappear. Much thought needs to be given here.


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