How we do it here...

I was noticing some particularly lively discussions recently regarding our way of doing things here. Of course everyone's got valid opinions on how collaborative creativity could/would/should work best. But here's a few thoughts on how it has been working on hitRECord so far, and how I think it will continue to work best.

1) If you don't have something nice to say, why say anything? When I see something on hitRECord that I don't like, I just move on. I'd rather spend my time finding and working on something i DO like. What about constructive criticism? Well, if I see potential in something, but I think it needs adjustment, I download it, make the adjustment myself, and Release that new Result. For example, in "FIND THE SUN" -- http://www.hitrecord.org/records/40919 -- I loved Pete's original piece of writing, but I had a few changes I thought it could use. Rather than writing a critical remark, I just wrote a revision. That's how we collaborate here.

2) Which brings me to my next point. There seems to be an ongoing debate over whether or not we should be remixing text RECords. OF COURSE WE SHOULD! For all the same reasons we should be remixing video, audio and image RECords. Again, that's how we collaborate. We don't possessively cling to our work, we Release our RECords for the community to collectively refine, revise, and remix. We call it reRECording. It's fun, and it works. And, if anything, out of all the media types, I think text is the MOST conducive to this sort of collaborative creativity.

3) I've also read a few folks saying that specific roles need to be assigned and organizational structures need to be in place in order for good work to result. Well sure, that old-fashioned way is all fine and good. But we do it differently here. Anybody can jump in on anything at any time, so feel free! A perfect example is one of our community's crowning achievements so far, Morgan M. Morgansen's Date with Destiny -- http://www.hitrecord.org/records/40939 -- which organically sprouted with no premeditation at all. One RECord inspired another which inspired another which inspired another. The result was something greater than any one individual could have devised.

Lastly I'll just say that one of my very favorite things about this community is the positivity. Here's a video I made when dan helped me set up the first version of the hitRECord Forum -- http://www.hitrecord.org/records/10475 -- three years ago. For the prior two years, hitRECord.org had simply been my own site where I put up RECords I'd made. I was worried about opening the site up to public contributions. But those who showed up and began to share their thoughts and their art proved my worry needless. People were encouraging and inspiring to each other and ultimately collaborative with one another. Rare to find on the internet, but we've kept it going ever since. Not only is this the nice way to be; it's productive. That positivity is one of the main reasons we've been able to create such good stuff. And that's what we're all here to do -- to make things, to hit RECord.

So let's get to it...
thanks
<3