Comments on: When The Tiger Swallows Its Tail http://wordymouth.com/2007/05/03/when-the-tiger-swallows-its-tail/ A bloviation on the practice of public relations. Thu, 04 Mar 2010 03:16:51 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc hourly 1 By: Luggagemonkeys http://wordymouth.com/2007/05/03/when-the-tiger-swallows-its-tail/comment-page-1/#comment-6259 Luggagemonkeys Wed, 09 May 2007 18:26:05 +0000 http://wordymouth.com/2007/05/03/when-the-tiger-swallows-its-tail/#comment-6259 You could take it another way and show that since Digg (the founders and the community) is, almost by definition, a leaderless mob, they can't take advantage of Sun Tzu's strategic assessments and tactics. The founders of web communities undertake a risky enterprise, because they have liability, and only a limited level of control. There are no acceptable lines of communication, few ways to exert authority, and very little in the way of common goals. A better analogy, I think, would be to compare Digg's founders to generals, and Digg's community to the civilian populace. There are no clear lines of communication, and direct authority is hard to enforce on a large scale, but the two affect each other. And I think the Digg higher-ups have an obligation to protect the whole of the community, and deal with threats themselves, that's similar to the obligations Sun Tzu cites between generals and the populace. From the chapter on Waging War: There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare... When their substance is drained away, the peasantry will be afflicted by heavy exactions. With this loss of substance and exhaustion of strength, the homes of the people will be stripped bare, and three-tenths of their income will be dissipated... A better tactic, if the Digg founders were trying to rouse their community into action, would be to look at the military texts associated with guerrilla warfare, something the Digg community is well-suited for, as opposed to the organized kind. Look at the writings of Che Guevara, Vo Nguyen Giap, Lenin. Read about what fans did during the Save Farscape campaign on Farscape's wikipedia page, and know that the article fails to mention the Sci-Fi Channel's horribly backed up and hacked servers, phone lines, and mailboxes. That's the kind of warfare web communities can saddle up for. You could take it another way and show that since Digg (the founders and the community) is, almost by definition, a leaderless mob, they can’t take advantage of Sun Tzu’s strategic assessments and tactics. The founders of web communities undertake a risky enterprise, because they have liability, and only a limited level of control. There are no acceptable lines of communication, few ways to exert authority, and very little in the way of common goals.

A better analogy, I think, would be to compare Digg’s founders to generals, and Digg’s community to the civilian populace. There are no clear lines of communication, and direct authority is hard to enforce on a large scale, but the two affect each other. And I think the Digg higher-ups have an obligation to protect the whole of the community, and deal with threats themselves, that’s similar to the obligations Sun Tzu cites between generals and the populace.

From the chapter on Waging War:

There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare…

When their substance is drained away, the peasantry
will be afflicted by heavy exactions. With this loss of substance and exhaustion of strength, the homes of the people will be stripped bare, and
three-tenths of their income will be dissipated…

A better tactic, if the Digg founders were trying to rouse their community into action, would be to look at the military texts associated with guerrilla warfare, something the Digg community is well-suited for, as opposed to the organized kind. Look at the writings of Che Guevara, Vo Nguyen Giap, Lenin. Read about what fans did during the Save Farscape campaign on Farscape’s wikipedia page, and know that the article fails to mention the Sci-Fi Channel’s horribly backed up and hacked servers, phone lines, and mailboxes. That’s the kind of warfare web communities can saddle up for.

]]> By: Utini420 http://wordymouth.com/2007/05/03/when-the-tiger-swallows-its-tail/comment-page-1/#comment-6244 Utini420 Fri, 04 May 2007 18:00:14 +0000 http://wordymouth.com/2007/05/03/when-the-tiger-swallows-its-tail/#comment-6244 I like where you are going with this, but I can't help but hold a contrary opinion. I'm not in the least bit interested in what advice Sun Tzu might have had for the operators at Digg. Far more interesting is what advice the master would have for the Good Guys. Yup, I'm one of those kids who would rather download The Colbert Report. I would posit, though, that you have misunderstood the nature of the conflict, or at least the roles played by the participants. I wouldn't see this as Users vs. Digg. I see this as People vs. DMCA/RIAA/MPAA, and Digg was the most recent battlefield. Its owners were civilian casualties of uncertain loyalties. On the other hand, I think you are spot on as to the value of centralized leadership and organization. The absence of such a structure is one of the People's greatest handicaps in this war over culture. A Sun Tzu of the people could change a riotous mob into a coordinated gorilla force. The biggest challenge such a leader would face -- by the time he had enough people under his influence to really change anything, he would start loosing street cred. I like where you are going with this, but I can’t help but hold a contrary opinion. I’m not in the least bit interested in what advice Sun Tzu might have had for the operators at Digg. Far more interesting is what advice the master would have for the Good Guys. Yup, I’m one of those kids who would rather download The Colbert Report.

I would posit, though, that you have misunderstood the nature of the conflict, or at least the roles played by the participants. I wouldn’t see this as Users vs. Digg. I see this as People vs. DMCA/RIAA/MPAA, and Digg was the most recent battlefield. Its owners were civilian casualties of uncertain loyalties.

On the other hand, I think you are spot on as to the value of centralized leadership and organization. The absence of such a structure is one of the People’s greatest handicaps in this war over culture. A Sun Tzu of the people could change a riotous mob into a coordinated gorilla force. The biggest challenge such a leader would face — by the time he had enough people under his influence to really change anything, he would start loosing street cred.

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