Good idea.

I limited my own distribution to my personal network, simply because I felt that I might be taken more seriously by folks who felt at least a small bit of contact with, or knowledge of, me.

Websites like tribe.net are great, but their greatness is only a reflection of the diversity, participation, and input of the users. While we appreciate what has been given to us, we, being me, and, I'd like to think, the people who answered my listing, are concerned with the changes that have already taken place in the template, as well as the proposed changes that have been revealed and discussed on the preview tribe.

I say this knowing full well that websites are private property, subject to the whim and fancy of those who own the domain and direct what is or isn't done with the site. And yet I know that the greatest value of any site like this is the critical mass of experience and opinions that are represented by users like you and me. It is our presence that attracts others to come and share the tribe.net experience.

While I can hardly expect this to be a democracy, the unusual nature of this composition of business enterprise and electronic commune demands a new model of interactive proprietorship that must continue to develop and be refined. Even as the site itself grows and the concept that drives it continues to come into focus, the relative roles of the owners and the consumers, both participatory and advertising, must be taken into account and considered.

I'm not suggesting that we should adopt a pitchfork-and-torches stance, but we should, if tribe.net means anything to us, communicate our feelings concerning the current and planned changes. That is why I decided to establish this tribe, simply as a brief meeting point for those of us who have come to love tribe.net and who are concerned about its future.

Perhaps, through the use of the Tribe Moderators tribe, or even through the preview tribe, or this one, we may be able to approach a dialogue with our hosts in the form of a survey. Personally, I think that there is much that can be done in the way of customization of the tribe.net experience through CSS.

Well, enough for now. Thanks for your support and your interest in the continued health of tribe.net, at least from our side of things.

- Chip S. (apparently, the chief rabble-rouser)

And one other thing: this tribe, as it is, isn't intended to replace preview. It's intended to act as a corollary to preview, without the possible shadow of official sanction... whatever that might come to mean.

And yeah, being tribe.net, it'll probably turn into a boozy be-in in the next thirty seconds, but that's the beauty of tribe.net, isn't it?