Great Discussion

As I explore other online forums I am amazed how unique and valuable this grasshopper discussion is. I was wondering what it is about the GH forum that makes it so active and why other forums are doing good to get one response per week. Does anyone know of any other forums that seem to have the same magic that this GH forum does? Does anyone care to venture a guess as to the reason their is such a disparity between this site and the others? It seems to me that it could be related to the collective generosity of this GH community. Any other thoughts?

Keep up the great discussion.

Stan

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jon Mirtschin on May 8, 2010 at 12:06am

My personal opinion is that Grasshopper is such a fantastic, innovative and powerful tool, and that many of the users attracted realize and see that potential.

But it's also still in a rapid progression and development phase, that means if every individual had to try and study and investigate means and ways of achieving their GH solutions, it would be very time consuming (and wasteful). By having the community where everyone is grateful for help, and happy to return the favour when an opportunity presents, it makes for a powerful group resource and everyone wins. I think the amazing interface David has created for GH also is a major influence, because as difficult as a task might seem (and how ever many solutions you might try), when some presents an answer it's generally so simple and quick to understand. A fantastic balance of complexity and simplicity (if that makes sense).

So that's my 2c, I think in a way this community always been evident in the Rhino and Rhino.Plugins newsgroups, Grasshopper (and the ning) however has embraced a wider community and many newcomers.

Cheers,

Jon

Permalink Reply by Stan Carroll on May 8, 2010 at 6:45am

Jon,

Thanks for your well reasoned and insightful comments. Your exactly right...Its energy comes from its users realizing the power of the collective grateful reciprocation. That may in fact, have something to do with my reason for this quasi GH post and my wanting to contribute in, at least, a modest way since my GH skills never seem worthy enough to respond technically.

I found your comment regarding complexity vs simplicity perfectly sensible. When talking about grasshopper, I too am constantly attempting to reconcile the terms "complexity" and "simplicity" simultaneously.

To me the GH discussion really begins to feel like a very primitive version of the "Na'vi Collective" from the movie Avatar.

David, I am wondering if you mind getting started thinking about modifying the GUI to include a tail connection? It would need to strike a balance between the complexity of a brain stem and the simplicity of a USB connection. Don't worry about trying to get it in version 7, just take your time and get the bugs worked out for a version 8 release.

Stan

Permalink Reply by Ali Tabatabai on May 10, 2010 at 3:04pm