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community change and growth
July 2009 
Is it "Seeds vs Tag" or "Seeds + Tag = Results Beyond Imaginable"
Posted on Dec 2nd, 2007
by 
Zoey
Zoey
I recently returned from vacation to a new furor in zaadz about "seeds" and to a new game of tagging. I am understanding that there is controversy about the "seeds" yet, folks are embracing tagging with gusto. Am I mistaken in this impression?
I love the following definitions of organizational models:
"command and control" - think military ie one leader who tells all what to do.
"competition" - I win/you lose
"cooperation"- I scratch your back, you scratch mine.
"collaboration" - win/win
"co-creation" - the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts.
I see the "seeds" idea as a way of moving the community from a "command and control model" where the zaadz team controls and polices to one where of "collaborative co-creation" where the community is self-monitoring. The cooresponding visual is from a top down triangle to concentric and ever expanding circles.
▲ > O
What are your thoughts?
Z
Access: Public
Zoey; it's right that the team is giving control to the community. Not sure if it means top-down or small-big though! I believe it's because Z/G has become so big suddenly; and the team maybe busy with the Z/G thing or the free-paid system thing.
The greatest furore over the seeds system came as it was introduced as a Trust system + reputation system+ ability to fold members; so we all got really worked up; changes were made; and now we're in the phase of taking over …I hope, to self-moderation with a bit of “this community is watched by a neighborhood watch group.”
Meenakshi,
Thank you for explaining the process so clearly, this is really helpful. What do you mean by “ability to fold members”?
Z
Zoey,
Finally getting here from Meenakshi's link on my blog. Folding was like they were going to allow the giving of bad seeds for bad content and if you got too many, your content couldn't be viewed without extra effort on the part of the reader to read it. Course, that could just make more want to read it. Anyway, that got shoved on the back burner, though more than a few mourned the loss of that kind of judgement tool. Some were concerned about censorship.
There are so many really worthwhile points of view coming from some many worthwhile people who are members of Zaadz that I was concerned about trying to arrange people here into a hierarchy (reputation score) when we've been more like a circle full of dots - none better than others. Okay, so some members may make a person wonder but they are few and easily ignored, if one is bothered by them. Now, there are some really troublesome types that should and do get booted. I'm grateful for that. If I ever get booted, I didn't belong here and it's the best for me personally to be put out and go elsewhere.
I sort of got a grin from the image I got of the Tag game boosting Seed banks (the guy who tagged me was tagged 3 times in a short period of time and actually wrote 21 points about himself, I can't remember if he tagged 21 Zaadzsters but a point for each blog posted on adds up). Run amok huh? OK, sure it was harmless but … you can probably see my point. I tagged only Zaadzsters who had already been tagged and begged them to now break the chain. Wonder if whoever started that ever considered the Seed angle or even was motivated by it.
Now, your “collaborative co-creation” is exactly an idea I can comfortably get on board with. Unfortunately, that it not the sense I get from this program. “Neighborhood Watch”, yeah, that definition feels to resonant in me that it was what the Team is trying to accomplish - eyes, ears and boots on the ground. I have had the feeling, they're growing so fast that it may have made management “feel” more difficult, though I'm not convinced it truly was - more difficult. Just more volume. Business wise, I'm familiar with the problem, a good one to have but challenging none-the-less.
Deborah