The Virtual Kinship Among Members of Kompasiana

As a "newborn baby" in this blog, it is interesting to note that there is something "fishy"--in a positive way--among members of Kompasiana. Frequently, I read an article as short as a couple of sentences or a minimum of 2 paragraphs telling almost nothing important whatsoever, but,,, surprisingly, it is voted interesting, actual, or even inspiring. Hem,,, fishy! This struck me as to think: 1) Can members of this blog vote rationally? or, 2) Do I miss something? Can the article be something excellent but like a secret code among members of certain sub-communities in Kompasiana that only those who belong to these communities can understand?

I think I will go with the second option, in a positive way of thinking, of course. There is a certain sense of belonging among members, creating sub-groups/sub-communities of Kompasiana. Sometimes I find an article, neither posted in headlines nor in highlight nor in recommended area, with only a couple of people reading the article but hundreds of comments. It turns out that those who comment on the article "seem" to know each other. They talk to each other in a familiar way that makes me think twice to join commenting on the article, because I think I may sound unfamiliar to them or my comment will be out of discussion topic. This is so, sicne they have their own vernaculars and jargons that sound unfamiliar for others (I mean me) who do not belong to their community.

Kompasiana then has another function of uniting people, building a virtual kinship among its members. I bet most of them haven't met in the real world (a very good Indonesian term of kopi darat might be suitable for this). However, they seem to know each other, to always be ready to vote from interesting to inspirational, to comment and to socialize. An article may be boring, not important whatsoever, but at the same time it may be a good medium (lapak, a very unique term) for those members to gather, talk, and yup! SOCIALIZE.

When an article suggesting Kompasiana to update its features by adding a room for chatting was published (Sorry, I didn't bother to search for the article), I guess the person who wrote this article was also noticing this phenomenon of Kompasiana as a socializing forum. Well, that's a truly good idea. On the other hand, that will also result in the sparseness of comments and votes in some of the "family members' articles"--I guess :D.