ST, unfortunately, was not able to attend the conference this weekend in Little Switzerland ... however, he did send us a recording of the presentation he was planning on making during the conference.

So, we listened and watched -- and had some discussions.

First, some numbers were presented:

(a) As of this writing, the number of 'page views' on this Message board have roughly doubled every year since it started. (One can debate the ratio of 'real people views' vs. automate Web crawlers ... but even so, a percentage of the automated 'reads' end up connecting other people to the content of the forum. The rate of increase is a point of interest.)

(b) 90% of the people attending this conference in Little Switzerland have > 200 posts on the forum.

(c) There are hundreds of people who have > 100 posts on the forum.

Those latter two statistics led to a discussion about:

Why do you come back? Why do you continue to post?

Here are some of the answers I heard as to why people "come back" ... that they continue to participate in this forum long after their initial questions may have been answered.

• To learn.
  
• So much good information.
  
• It may be hard to understand the L1 System at first, but people get answers to those questions on this forum.
  
• People share their own experience; you hear (read about) others who have similar situations to your own.
  
• So much information ... related to, but well beyond just the L1 System (such as about music career, how do present yourself in a performance, about microphones, guitars, room acoustics, ...)
  
• Learn more by accident than I know what to ask.
  
• Learn by watching how others answers questions.
  
• Not a high number of 'idiots' posting -- even questions that have been asked before are treated with respect ... the recognition that this is a new question for that person.
  
• Learn new ideas.
  
• Negative postings ARE posted, not deleted.
  
• I come back because I learn.
  
• I like to help.
  
• I like to answer questions. It's like teaching.
  
• I feel like owe something back to the others for the help I've gotten.
  
• The moderators and key others have established a 'forum of respect'.
  
• A sense of creating something more than simply an understanding or pushing of a commercial product.
  
• A means of helping others solve a "little problem" so they can "move on" to something more important -- like making music.
  
• I'm aware that for ever posting there are ~400 people "watching". So I know the answer I may have to contribute may have ongoing value; so taking time to answer one person's question will potentially have value beyond just that person -- and that answer will persist over time (particularly in the Wiki).
  
• I'm a teacher at heart; I like to help others learn. By doing my part to help create an atmosphere of openness and sharing of knowledge in this on-line form, I have an opportunity to contribute to many more than I could ever do in person, or in a classroom.
  
• It is a means, in some small way, to join with other like-minded folks to help co-create a 'different' future ... perhaps related to music ... perhaps in other ways. I can only do that by exposing who I am and the way I think and understand and struggle to communicate that understanding with you and to seek to understand your viewpoint. -- and I can take time to really think about it, much more easily (for me) than in 'live dialog'.

Thanks Dan,

I really appreciate that you noted all those comments.

I will incorporate these and comments arising from today's discussions into some summary notes from the whole presentation.

To all who attended, if there is anything else to add from yesterday - please post anything you felt was noteworthy.

Thank you.

And thank you for participating in that live discussion.