Well, It's Certainly Been True of Some Groups I've Participated In...

I've just been reading this really interesting article about the social and technological aspects involved in creating online communities. I can't help but think that anybody who's participated in an online group -- or, hell, even an offline group -- is bound to have experiences supporting the author's thesis that "a group is its own worst enemy."

Here's a sample quote, though it doesn't really do the whole thing justice:

So these are human patterns that have shown up on the Internet, not because of the software, but because it's being used by humans. Bion has identified this possibility of groups sandbagging their sophisticated goals with these basic urges. And what he finally came to, in analyzing this tension, is that group structure is necessary. Robert's Rules of Order are necessary. Constitutions are necessary. Norms, rituals, laws, the whole list of ways that we say, out of the universe of possible behaviors, we're going to draw a relatively small circle around the acceptable ones.

He said the group structure is necessary to defend the group from itself. Group structure exists to keep a group on target, on track, on message, on charter, whatever. To keep a group focused on its own sophisticated goals and to keep a group from sliding into these basic patterns. Group structure defends the group from the action of its own members.

(Link via Project Apollo.)