I’m online again and have been reading news of the last few days. So I’m kind of late to discussion about friendliness of communities.

My personal experience with Python community has been absolutely wonderful. I’ve written posts that could be seen as inflammatory, but the response I’ve got was just amazing. I haven’t been nailed to the cross for it and have learned a lot from people I admire, who took the time to leave a comment on my blog for which I’m really grateful. A couple of days ago I needed help developing atom feeds and got it immediately.

I find Python community very friendly and forthcoming, but I also believe Ian is right that Ruby might feel more friendly simply because a kind of youthful innocence. I wouldn’t really know, since I don’t use the language or follow up their discussions. I have however experienced in other communities the problem of a disconnect between old timers and newer members, who don’t share cultural history just yet. I think this is inevitable, since experience unlike knowledge can’t be easily given.

On the other hand, I have a different problem with web related talks we’re organizing. It’s been our goal from the start to use talks as a conduit for slovenian web community building, which hasn’t happened to the extent I was hoping for. Our talks are well attended, but at the end our audience mostly leaves, which kind of saddens me. I’d like to get them more engaged, but I have no idea if the problem lies with us, organizers, or is just a result of slovenian culture.

I guess community building is just hard.