What can be done to make a collective positive difference in our world?

Imagine .. the thousands of people who skim this site alone. The
contributors, and non-contributors. The questioners, answerers and
com(mentors).

The recent use of this medium to celebrate the birthday of a valued
contributor was short lived. Fair enough. This is not a chat site and
I must continue to remind myself of it's purpose .... regardless of
the fact that I have communicated with many intelligent people
residing within the grey box upon my desk.

However, that fact reminded me of our nature to guard ourselves, to
remain suspicious and evasive of others. It would appear that 5% of a
population gives us cause to be wary of the remaining 95%, minus our
good selves from the equation of course.

What if .. the 95% of us did some good? What could we do collectively
to make an impact on our world?

A small start may be to use this medium of communication, if the
instigators and owners would allow. Again I ask, would GA consider a
donation account with a tangible target over a given time frame? GA
would nominate the beneficiary. By tangible I mean not just dollars. I
mean something that can be touched, seen and makes a difference. A
reportable project.

Imagine .. us thousands of people clicking in here. The collective
intelligence and expertise, if harnessed for good unselfish purposes
must surely be the best resource from which to tap success.

Any ideas?

In thought, Phil

ps From within a group of Peanuts, we all can be Legumes in our own
Thyme .. courtesy of Miss Pink.

Hi Phil,

Thanks for mentioning my name.

I, too, sometimes forget what the purpose of this site is. I have met
so many wonderful people through this medium, that many a time, if I
just want to *connect* to you all, I post a silly question or add my 2
cents in a comment.

However, the GA top brass sometimes harshly reminds me of the reality
of this site, by deleting a post or the whole thread.

As for the topic of your question, I think that the Researchers are
already doing some good by helping the customers here find answers. I
don't think its all monetary for them as I've seen some excellent,
well researched answers for a measly amount of $.

A lot of *commentors* are also spending a great deal of time answering
questions for free, with no foreseeable gain except perhaps to get GA
to notice them and mabe eventually hire them.

The bottom line...well according to me...I value, and feel extremely
fortunate, to have found this site....so if that makes us have a
collective difference in this world...so be it :)

All my love to all,

Steph53

From what I read, I think your (silver) apparent incentive to comment
sums up the collective. Pink too and others who get paid, and many
would still try to help for free. Don?t see much evidence of
persistent self aggrandisement. It would be nice if some others
(especially in electronics!) were added. Early days.

Some of the throw-aways have made me blurt a sip of tea on the screen.
But other stuff indicates a care for fellows. I would suspect that
contributors spend much of their free time helping people by means of
their own particular expertise, or doing charity work. Perhaps it is a
subconscious avenue to justify ones existence, matters not though.
Best way for global peace is communication. We in Britain tried world
domination as a means to help, educate and reform but look at the
thanks we got. Never should have stupidly gifted the States
independence :-)

Best