I think one of the results of Escalating Asks is that instead of a community being something you put work into FIRST in order to be paid back LATER somehow, that most community members actually start out in debt to the community. If they hang around a while and become regulars then they break even, where they are starting to do their equal share. And it’s only until they’ve been around a long time that they are net contributors that are paying it forward.
A dojo isn’t a good example for this, because new members are paying money to compensate. But for a free martial arts club: A new person is receiving instruction and maybe some free nunchuks. They are in debt to the community. A regular helps out the new people, but gets helped by older members. They break even. An older member is putting more resources into the community than they take out, but in exchange they tend to have large amounts of social status given to them.
A strong community has the resources built up to invest in many new people, even if only a fraction stick around to be net contributors.
I think one of the results of Escalating Asks is that instead of a community being something you put work into FIRST in order to be paid back LATER somehow, that most community members actually start out in debt to the community. If they hang around a while and become regulars then they break even, where they are starting to do their equal share. And it’s only until they’ve been around a long time that they are net contributors that are paying it forward.
A dojo isn’t a good example for this, because new members are paying money to compensate. But for a free martial arts club: A new person is receiving instruction and maybe some free nunchuks. They are in debt to the community. A regular helps out the new people, but gets helped by older members. They break even. An older member is putting more resources into the community than they take out, but in exchange they tend to have large amounts of social status given to them.
A strong community has the resources built up to invest in many new people, even if only a fraction stick around to be net contributors.