Koinonia: The Communication of Grace

Dear Reader,

This posting is from my Gonzodave’s Blog inside a public group, The Free Book Express For Christian Authors, at WEbook.com. WEbook is a free to join, collaborative community of authors. Where, the sole commercial intent (for now) is to vote for author/members whose work is to be included in WEbook publications.

Please bear in mind, as a matter of accepted courtesy, a forum posting as a topic/thread belongs to the one who originated the topic. Anyone may add or comment to the topic. This is accepted. However, when a reply inside a topic is off-track, this is called hi-jacking a thread. A very rude act. Similar to calling out and maligning someone’s skin color when the topic is the price of bread.

http://www.webook.com/community/groupInfo.aspx?gId=38511ce63bd142b486810ec09a28a256

Dear Members,

This ramble is a bit extended. It will serve double duty at several of my blog sites.

First, is anyone ‘weirded out’ that I sent them a friend request as the owner of this Christian group? If you follow and read the profile page of the owner in the group mentioned below, you will see that their criteria for ‘friend’ is much more stringent than a friend in Christ.

Having moved that out of the way, the main theme of this article should be titled ‘Politics or Professionalism. What Do You Want From WEbook?’

Bloggers are often called citizen journalist. However, they are not the balanced and unbiased professional commonly associated with the word journalist. And, there is a style, a bend of thought where the citizen journalist is more than a bit subjective. Where the content of her/his output is considered radical. Having gone this far with the explanation I’ll conclude it with the word – gonzo. Thus, my penname – gonzodave. However, this penname is entirely branded by my over zealous insistence on the grace of God as all sufficient. A very radical theology. Now, on to the news that’s new.

I’ve been on something rather like a fact gathering tour today. As I acquired certain understandings, these begged a few obvious questions of their own. Questions, I will pose to you at the end of this ramble which you so kindly suffer.

WEbook facts on the ground:

A. The founding owner stated very recently (Guardian, uk) that there are tens of thousands of webookers. … I’ll accept that on the surface.

1. There are about 448 groups; 12 to a page and a total of a little less than a full 45 pages (two to be exact).

2. The WEbooks engineering group (private) is the last group listed. Hmm?

3. It appears that the private groups begin at about page 40-41.

4. I’m not sure how the groups are prioritized. It seems that a simple
‘latest posting time’ does not put a public group on the 1st page. Recently, The
Book Express has been near the first page, if not first of the 448.

5. I don’t think private groups are rated by latest posting dates. They are mostly gathered at the end. However, an occasional private group is listed on a lower page than 40. Does new membership activity somehow affect the placement of a group? Possibly.

What might be understood from these facts and why is it important to you? Good question. I think I’m going to answer it clearly enough. You decide. I can only propose an answer.

Groups formed by the whim of an individual here at WEbook are much like the thousands of membership pages at ning.com (membership that can be verified to total tens of thousands). At Ning there is a virtual bone yard of freely forgotten intentions in the form of inactive membership pages. Yet, some page/membership groups do separate themselves from the herd which is headed for the common graveyard of the internet dead, but not dead.

Here in WEbook, there is a private group formed at –

http://www.webook.com/community/groupInfo.aspx?gId=126002d53c0f48c2ad19c2207099e3fb

- titled I do solemnly Swear To Improve WeBook. This sounds much like a citizens group, does it not? I assumed so, until I recognized the pennames Melissa and TsungChi  among the members Both are WEbook employees, Melissa writes the WEbook blog. You can follow the link above and read the ‘Manifesto’ began by the owner of this group that is under review and expansion by the membership. A kind of corporate ‘Mission Statement’ for the faithful. Their stated intention is to maintain a presence in the Community Forum. A mixed blessing of a sort of church and state.

All this information is more of a backdrop, the groundwork for the primary consideration of: What can you realistically expect from your time spent inside WEbook? As opposed to: What Do I Need From WEbook?

I for one, cannot take seriously a group membership that reads like a WHO’s WHO of those that harangue specifically poor ole’ Lionel the Christian in the one Community Forum or General Chat with Anti-Christian moralizing. Out of several hundred replies in a single thread, Lionel owns maybe two dozen. Another Christian will occasionally reply inside this topic; but, alas, they don’t stay long when the gang goes into full-metal-jacket combat mode. (See Lionel’s thread Humanism – a religion: The Impossibility of the Separation of Church and State for a terrific slice-of-real-life take on secular intolerance at:

http://www.webook.com/forums/messageIndex.aspx?topic=18209d7d7a2a4d4e9b477e8c9d32d10f&fview=true )

The balance of the replies under this topic are malicious cawing against Christianity and poor ole’ Lionel himself. Lionel, who like the Apostle Paul, gets beaten up by a gang every time he opens his mouth. Proving that wisdom/prudence is the better part of valor, the ex-Navy Electrician’s Mate, poor ole’ Lionel the Christian, does not accept any internal messages from anyone.

As the replies prove, a rule #5 is totally ignored by any number in this membership of hypocrites bent on solemnly improving WEbook. By the way, rule #5 is borrowed from the forum guidelines at Theologica.ning.com.

Rule 5. Irenic. You are kind, gentle, respectful, and understanding, accurately representing opposing parties, even when you disagree.

What’s my point? Beware the politics. And, I hope you are spending time improving your writing for the sole sake of your writing. It’s an extension of you. I say this because the commercial reality is that the AVERAGE print run for a new, hardback book is 3000 copies. How many writers around the world are going to beat the odds? WEbook has one published book that may sell one copy a month. Someone offered the projection of one per year. Regardless how accurate this may be, the facts on the ground remain – politics can be more immediate, tangible, and rewarding than the vehicle in which it rides. In this case, it is your writing.

My kind regards and go well in Christ Jesus,

~gonzodave