don't split the party

[bubblingbeebles]

when i was in high school, i was regular on a forum that had grown during my stay at a rather remarkable rate. when i joined, it was pretty large, but small enough that most people knew most people, and therefore manageable. threads would come and go and while one wasn't expected to keep up with everything they could pop in and out and always feel

Comments

[mklip2001]

The hardware limit you mention is also called the Monkeysphere, or Dunbar's number, in case you were curious.

The phenomenon you mention is quite common. Once people know each other for longer, they make deeper connections. Deeper connections favor small groups due to the energy they require.

Splitting up a big group is not necessarily a bad thing. If the split is natural, then people realize "Oh, I don't really dislike the people who used to be in my big group; it's just that I don't mesh with them quite as well as my small group now." In these situations, things remain peaceful. On the other hand, if the group splits because of key drama events, and people start taking sides, then you get unhealthy animosity between the fragments.

Actually, some further comments about group size are worthwhile. The KGB is fairly unusual for a student organization since the effort required of an average member is quite small (until Carnival, generally). This makes it easier for the KGB to stay a large organization, but it also means that the group doesn't bond strongly as a whole.

In most other campus organizations (especially the Greek system), there is a lot more work to be done among all the members, and then a cycle happens. First, the group starts small but dedicated. This dedication makes the group pull off awesome things, so people become interested and join. Once the group swells to a certain size, the average member stops being as productive, to the point where people think "Oh, if I don't step up to do X task, someone else will always be there to do it." When this attitude catches on with too many people, then the group stops being as productive, and expectations are raised among the brotherhood, which causes people to quit thinking "I didn't sign up for this crap." Eventually, the group shrinks down to the remaining dedicated few. If these few people are not too embittered, then they start the cycle over again. I've estimated the cycle length to be about 5 years, so most students don't usually see the full cycle.