I was also under the impression that its decline in status was related to the rise of the internet.
This seems very credible to me. Also, it seems to me that Mensa does not use internet well.
For example, as a member of a small local Mensa (50 or 100 members in Slovakia), I was surprised why we don’t use some international web forum to discuss with Mensa members from other countries. I mean, speaking with 100.000 people worldwide could be more cool that speaking with 100 people in my country, and even that would be more cool than meeting 10 of them in person and realising we share no common interests. Okay, not everyone speaks English, but there should be no problem to create subforums for each language, and let any member participate in any forum they understand. I would expect a smart international organization to do this as one of their first steps—especially if their #1 goal is networking.
Mensa can be meaningful only if it will contain many subgroups with various goals. The organization as a whole should only provide universal support for those groups, such as filtering new members (which it does), and providing useful tools (which it does not).
This seems very credible to me. Also, it seems to me that Mensa does not use internet well.
For example, as a member of a small local Mensa (50 or 100 members in Slovakia), I was surprised why we don’t use some international web forum to discuss with Mensa members from other countries. I mean, speaking with 100.000 people worldwide could be more cool that speaking with 100 people in my country, and even that would be more cool than meeting 10 of them in person and realising we share no common interests. Okay, not everyone speaks English, but there should be no problem to create subforums for each language, and let any member participate in any forum they understand. I would expect a smart international organization to do this as one of their first steps—especially if their #1 goal is networking.
Mensa can be meaningful only if it will contain many subgroups with various goals. The organization as a whole should only provide universal support for those groups, such as filtering new members (which it does), and providing useful tools (which it does not).