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Old 07-10-2014, 01:20 PM   #7
johndallman
Night Watchman
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
Default Re: History of Community Evolution

Quote:
Originally Posted by Affectuum View Post
Actually, I was asking you about it. If you can answer a question about evolution, so, as I was thinking, you can give an answer on question: "What degrading means to you?"

If you can provide some helpful information about all of them, that would be great. But I was asking about your group, about know groups by you, and about whole Internet community you're visiting.
Are said groups evolving, or degrading?
Ah, we have a language problem. English isn't your first language, is it?

I think in terms of the scientific meaning of "evolution", which is, approximately, any inheritable change in response to environmental change. It's still "evolution" even if it's a change to a simpler or less capable form. There used to be a concept of "evolution" towards "higher" life forms, and "devolution" away from "higher" to "lower" life forms, but that assumes an external definition of higher and lower, which tends to be a problem in practice.

The relationship of "degrading" to "evolving" is thoroughly undefined. I'm afraid you have walked into a place where people sometimes question precisely what words mean; it tends to go with playing games that have complex rules.

Things I could imagine you might mean by "degrading" include:
  • The players in a group are getting older and less interesting.
  • The players in a group are being replaced by new players who are less interesting.
  • The group is less well organised, and hence meets and plays less.
  • The group is playing different games which are less interesting.
  • The group is undergoing internal friction, which makes it less enjoyable.
  • The group is loosing or gaining members, moving it away from an optimal size.
So if you just mean "getting worse" by "degrading", then say so, but if you mean something more precise, please explain.
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