The word "collective" in Fluther seems a bit ominous and I am wondering does the "collective" encourage dissent or is there a core group who control the agenda?

There are the mods, and the veterans, and I would say that their behavior is somewhat cliqueish, at times. But, for the most part we all get along.

comment removed by anonymous secret society

Read some of the archives and decide for yourself.

There is a cabal, of which I (and my assorted personalities) are the sole member. I work very hard at being ominous, but for some reason, it doesn’t seem to work. Perhaps it’s the pink umbrella and high heels we wear.

I do encourage civil dissent, or at least, reasoned dissent, but I reserve the right to make fun of unreasoned arguments.

As far as I know, I’m the only cabal on fluther. As to cliques—I always thought that’s the sound you hear when you turn on a light (but not when you turn it off, for some reason).

AstroChuck controls everything.

No, I’m kidding. It’s a great place full of intelligent opinions (disenting and otherwise).

I don’t see any cliques personally – but then I tend to bounce around and interct with most everyone.

comment removed by anonymous secret society

comment censored by anonymous secret society

I have never encountered a core group who control the agenda here on Fluther. Discussion and dissent are not discouraged and are in fact welcome as long as posters can disagree without being disagreeable. Personal attacks and flaming are of course moderated. Cliques? Maybe some, but in my experience intelligent discourse is welcomed from all, whether one has 10 lurve points or 10,000.

“Collective” in this case is an adjective, not a noun.

This is more like Jung’s version:
Collective unconscious, sometimes known as collective subconscious, is a term of analytical psychology, coined by Carl Jung. It is a part of the unconscious mind, shared by a society, a people, or all humanity, that is the product of ancestral experience and contains such concepts as science, religion, and morality.

Well I have been in many an argument… ehm… discussion with flutherites and have never felt negative repercussions from them. In fact many times I go on to agree with the same person on a different topic. And I always give lurve when appropriate regardless of the poster and my history with them. So, in my experience, dissent is accepted.

I think the collective would refer to us as a community who come here for similar purposes.

(Yeah, watch out for cprevite. He’s good at bouncing.)

This site’s members handle disagreements well.

clique, clique, clique.

@AstroChuck now, now

We are the Borg. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.

bounce, bounce, bounce

@cprevite For God’s sake, light someplace already!!!

There is no “official” line other than some guidelines that mods have to interpret, but of course like every society, there is the (sometimes not so silent) majority, which dictates “acceptable behaviour” and de facto affects what people write, and there are also of course…

[rest removed by anonymous secret society]

you’re paranoid

disinformation right here

An interesting set of responses. Not too many new people though responding as I suspected. I would hope to hear from them too. Thanks for the feedback, though.

Well, it’s only been 2 hours since you asked.
The regulars are more likely to answer first.
Give it a day.

@dannyc Everyone here was new at one time. I wouldn’t say there are cliques, just people that know one another well after spending time on the site.

Dear dannyc!

I assure you that there is no such thing. Here on fluther we are just one-in-the-gang with each other. There is no clique, and no unjustified ███████ censorship.

Fluther is certainly not a cover for the ███.

There are some users who are very active like ████████ and ████████. Also there is a couple of users here that call themselves the The Founders but they are just these nice guys ████ and andrew. There is no no agenda or cult and there is certainly not any truth in the rumors of any plans to ███ ███ ████.

There has been some unfounded claims that when you create an account and press accept you legally sign away ███ ████ and your life.

Don’t be worried!

Welcome!

@oratio
What about ██████ ?

@phoenyx
Dear god! You are right!

I sure hope they stay away from sweet dannyc!
I won’t let any harm come to him! No! I won’t let it happen!

The owners rule with an iron hand – just try to ask more than the alloted questions in a row. You will be rejected!

Some answers reek of perceived superiority and derision. Pretty childish. Pretty lame.

And of course, the same “clique” keeps answering over and over..mm.seems to prove my point.

See what I mean?

@dannyc But that’s life, not just at Fluther. Once you learn to either ignore what you don’t agree with or involve yourself in a heathy debate you will be a happy person.

Come on, man. It’s just joking around.

But we are not here to be liked, and I think that fluther is a good place to put your opinions to a test.

There is no clique “we and them”-divide here. At least I haven’t seen any. There are some who likes to cuddle together shamelessly. But no groups like that IMO.

If there is a club, you are probably welcome to join it.

But you are right. I am childish.

Well, I am a very happy person. But when something bothers me I am very direct. Maybe I am a bit old for the site, close to senior citizen status..but I will try and work my way through the issue.

I do find it rather fascinating..I must admit..

@dannyc: Pssst. We’re kidding.

And we have folks of all ages here.

@dannyc Too old? No way! Get to know us. There are many of us that are 35+.

I had many complaints when I first joined. Just ask PnL. :)
Once you get your groove you will feel like part of the family. I promise!

@dannyc There are some that are in their 70’s apparently. Believe it or not. They seem to tolerate the youngsters well enough.

@jonsblond: Hey now. I’m 35+. Making me feel old now. ::sniff::

I think I’m in the ‘control group’. I’m a 66 year old grandma of six, I don’t swear, I’m an atheist, I love the government and the political system of the US, I believe that people will eventually become civilized enough to not require a government or religion, but in the meantime, we need to work within the system.

@cprevite I was born in 71 too. Old timer!

…and we love YARNLADY.

@jonsblond: WHAT! Couldn’t hear ya over that new fangled rock n roll music, sweetie.

@cprevite Wait a minute. Need to put my teeth in to talk.

@jonsblond “There are many of us that are 35+.” !!!??? I was going to say the same thing that cprevite did. Oh, the horrors of it! Maybe we should all try to get group rates at AARP!

I just make the old-timers list.

@jbfletcherfan I’m 38 and feel as if I belong to the “senior citizen” clique. What can I say? :)

I’m six.

@AstroChuck: And you control everything.

Self-confession. I take a while to warm up to things and adjust. Not sure why. Thus I apologize for making false attributions to your motives. I hope I am here for a long time and think my perspective may at times be helpful. As a long time Buffalo Bills fan (I live closeby in Oakville, Ontario), I may love to torture myself more than I care to admit.

@dannyc I was beginning to like you until you mentioned that you are a Bills fan. ;)

Welcome to Fluther! It grows on you quick.

Go Broncos!

While there are people who will gravitate toward each other, it doesn’t mean that there is a power struggle happening anywhere. Some people agree on somethings, others not. What I have seen in a little over a month here is that fluther is a very welcoming online community.

The same people may appear to be answering over and over, which might make you think they are a clique. I think it’s just because there are some regulars and they tend to like certain kinds of questions.

There are other people who like other kinds of questions, and I have no idea who they are. I’ll see someone with thousands of lurve, and it’ll be the first time I see them, and I’ll wonder how I could have missed them. Probably because we aren’t interested in the same subjects.

We welcome all, especially if they are kind people who don’t find it necessary to get in anyone’s face. There are discussions and arguments, and then there are contradictors. Remember the old Monty Python skit?

Here’s a fuller version of that skit.

@dannyc

Are you sure it is a clique or do you think it is just the Fluther Regulars? The secret is.. some of us have no life. Also the same people answer questions over and over because once you answer your signed up for the question so you always receive updates which prompts you to respond.

@RedPowerLady . I think I misunderstood the site a bit when I first arrived. It seemed competitive more than query based, but as all have said, it is an adjustment. I drew erroneous inferences from my assumptions. If I were to test my frequency of answers, I would be as guilty of the very thing I criticized. It is a learning curve. I have received many helpful comments to get me through this initial period, and am determined to offer my best to what is obviously a unique site. Everybody needs a bit of “lurve” in their life!

@dannyc I’m glad you are finding a way to adjust. Welcome to Fluther!