MOO Madness

[CXSPANN1@ualr.edu]

Greetings Centaurs:
After a couple of recent MOO drop-ins, I've been thinking anew
about this mysterious process of group interaction and how or why
it gets so intense at times.  I thought I'd share the analogy
that occurred to me.

Comparing MOO-interaction with more "traditional" forms of
discourse is rather like the difference between a yard sale and
an auction.  At a yard sale, the pace is leisurely.  You browse
around, pick something up, put it down, make an offer, maybe
leave and come back later to see what has been marked down.

At an auction, the pace if frenetic.  You have to think fast, and
be ready to make your move a split-second ahead of the gavel. 
You may decide in advance the top price you'll pay, but you
rarely hold the line.  Twenty dollars, no more...someone bids
twenty-five...think fast...going...going...twenty-seven-
fifty...dead giveaway...your opponent spots your cautious bid and
knows he's got you at thirty ... or maybe not ... think fast ...
you start to feel dizzy.

MOO-discourse (it seems to need a stronger word) has this same
dizzy, exhilarating quality.  You're straining to follow several
threads of thought bouncing around among a dozen or so people all
at once ... who's talking to whom? ... you decide to jump in ...
type fast ... the thread is going ... going ... There!  Enter.
 
The page scrolls to the top of the screen ... read fast ... going
... going ... there you are ... your message scrolls right after
a question that, oddly, your message seems to address.  Dizzying.
No wonder we get giddy at times!

Smiles and waves
Catherine Spann
Univ. of Ark. at Little Rock
CXSpann1@UALR.edu