Thursday, May 13, 2021

Locals.com

 I am migrating from Facebook.com to Polymaths.Locals.com for several reasons

1) Facebook is ineffective.  I have learned that Facebook will only notify about 5% to 10% of Friends, Members or Followers of my posts.  Also, the more counter-woke they are, the fewer people will be made aware of it.  It is important to recognize that Facebook is not shadow banning just conservatives.  They are throttling all messages that are counter to the woke message. So, most of my Polymath posts are throttled.

When Facebook first emerged, the founder of a group was allowed to directly notify all members as long as the group had fewer than 5,000 members.  Then they eliminated direct notifications entirely.  Why?  Because, they knew that if people were notified of all posts, they would get swamped and they would start unfriending and quitting groups.  However, Facebook sells your group memberships and friends, so they don't want you doing that.

Locals.com doesn't sell such affiliations, so they have no problem with my ability to e-mail you notification of posts.  I will not swamp you.  I will send you a weekly e-mail that will provide you with Abstracts of important articles.

2) There are likely about 15,000,000 polymathic types on the Internet.  After huge effort with no compensation for my time, I was able to accumulate about 3,000 of them in Polymathica.  Of course, when I posted, at best, only about 300 of them would be notified.  Facebook provides no feasible path from 3,000 to a significant portion of 15,000,000.  They understand that any group that reached that level would no longer need Facebook.

Locals doesn't involve itself in such behavior.  However, just as importantly, Locals also blends in a Patreon type function.  Certainly, you understand that nothing is free.  Facebook sells your online behavior.  Locals doesn't, but rather requires you to support the group in order to participate.  I haven't determined it yet, but in essence you are selling your privacy for $12 to $18 per year.  

3) The other advantage is that Facebook keeps all the money that it gets for selling your information.  None of it benefits the group.  Say Membership in Polymaths.Locals.com costs $15 per year.  Some can be used to pay one or more administrators, but most of it will be used to build the group.  Your life options will explode when there is a Polymaths.Locals.com with 6 or 7 figure membership that will more than pay for the nominal support required to build it.

4) Polymaths.locals.com will create a platform that will facilitate some of its members to become professional polymaths.  Nearly all of us must engage, usually full time, in a job that in no way is polymathic.  In other words, we are required to be a Polymath on a part time basis.  That can change, but it will require a degree of commitment.  Polymathica, the Facebook group, has existed for over a decade, but in all that time, the plight of aspiring Polymaths has not improved.  We can change that.

Locals.com is hardly perfect, though it is improving.  It is blending in features of ezines and YouTube/Rumble.  I'm sure it will continue to improve.  As every journey begins with a first step, so does your journey to a more polymathically friendly environment.  That first step is signing up at Polymaths.Locals.com