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Issue #77
Autumn 2009
Mindscanner
"Friend Me."

KwIStFriends meet friends on social networks. Here's how it works...

Computers are now as commonplace as telephones. It has really changed the entire landscape of the fan community. It used to be that you'd never meet large numbers of other science fiction fans unless you go to a convention and, you know, convene. But now that the Internet is increasingly everywhere, it brings the world to you.

It is also breaking down the brick and mortar monopolies we used to depend upon for news and publishing. The web makes everyone their own publisher. Blogs make everyone a journalist.

KAG sure has noticed. It used to be conventions were our only stage, postal deliveries were our only publishing venues, and telephone bills for distant interaction would cost the chain of command thousands of dollars. But as email, web, mailing lists, and technologies grow, KAG adapts. It's a new spin on our age old game plan: Join in our glory, and the more glory you give back to KAG, the more glory KAG returns.

SOCIAL NETWORKS
What started as blogs are now like virtual amusement parks. People spend the entire day riding the rides, playing the games, sampling the cuisine, and making friends. Pictures are shared, challenges issued, tastes compared, and we stick a bookmark in it when real life calls us home.

You'll find a lot of KAG friends on LiveJournal, MySpace, FaceBook, and other major social sites. You can learn more about what they say for themselves if you "friend" them. They might even suggest other friends for you... How cool is that?

THE OLD GUARD
Not everyone takes the plunge into social networks... in fact, not everyone has email. That's fine, by choice or circumstance, it's not one size fits all. So don't take it personally if people fail to respond as expected.

Hell, I'm not the shiniest example of online adventuring. I don't let games onto my PC, interfering with my productivity. I've never played a MMORPG. I turn off Instant Messaging programs to avoid feeling "ambushed." If friends on MySpace or FaceBook "send a round of drinks" or other virtual gifts, I tend to decline. But that has less to do with games than it has to do with privacy issues: I won't approve most applications so as not to give out all the data about my social connections.

Don't take any of it personally. You may get none of the responses you expect. You might even get all the responses you never anticipated.  KAG isn't about a shared nationality, shared religion, shared political party, or shared sexuality... at least not in general. But KAG shares a warrior spirit of fun, and you can meet thousands of friends as different as they are similar.

WHAT KAG SHOULD ASK OF YOU
Friends hear what friends have to say for themselves. KAG friends support KAG glory. If it positively promotes KAG, it is good to stir that promotion further. If you see KAG's glory on the bliggity blogs and the facey spaceys of your fellow KAG members, it begs further connection.

"Fan it. Friend it. Give it Kudos. Like it. 'Mark it... Publish it!  Share it. Blog it. Note it. Tag it. Link it. Tweet it... Retweet it!"  There! I said it all without any help from Daft Punk or their robot love child.

 - KwISt

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