I was forced to reconsider the direction that had taken in putting together the Agora. Admittedly, this reconsideration was long overdue.

Once upon a time, really not so very long ago, I would go scouring the coffeehouses, bookstores and any other places where my 'fellow' Pagans could be found. I was looking for mention of as many groups as I could find with the thought of coming back and learning more about each, one by one, in order to share what I had learned about them with those seeking a place to be.

What happened afterwards taught me one sad and basic truth. Approached on these terms, the community was far better at showing the worst it had to offer than it was at showing the best. Clearly, a change was needed.

Our focus, in the past, had been on the simple group listing. Name, tradition, contact information, etc. - which we then would try to get people to flesh out, generally with little success. In some cases, this was little cause for surprise. Each, as she founds a group, does so because the ones she saw before lacked something that she was looking for. Sometimes, this is a philosophical outlook or creative approach. Sometimes, though, what was missing was herself being in charge and that individual desire to be in control, is all that is driving the group. There is no depth to be found.

The former, merely by having something to say, help to spotlight the fact that the latter don't, and thus, serve as a threat to their ambitions. The latter, on the other hand, being motivated by nothing more than the desire to be in control, will start demanding a series of "small" concessions which, if yielded to, will eventually turn the "errant" group into a clone of their own under the effective control of their clique. As the differences they seek to undermine were the very reason for their perceived rivals had for founding said groups in the first place, this will meet with a certain amount of resistance. Hostilities can not help but follow. Unfortunately, in the past, they have often tended to favor the egotistical over the principled in the competition for the attention of the reader and prospective member.

The problem is that the groups that have something interesting to say have better things to do with their time than to get hassled. If you say nothing publicly, aside from paying lip service to the currently mandated platitudes, you don't get bothered. Stand out from the pack and you might get abused. By perpetuating a system in which one could maintain a high profile without ever quite spelling out what it is that one stands for, we helped perpetuate the problem.

So, how else might one run such a listing site?

Here's the new idea. The focus shouldn't going to be on listings, per se. The primary focus would be on the projects that people do. The listing for a group, primarily, would be an index of the articles in which the projects of that group are discussed, with maybe a small blurb about the group offered to tie it all together. No projects would mean no listing in this new guide we would be building.

What is a project? It is easier to say what a project is not. A project is not part of a routine. The calling of quarters is not a project. A project is something that makes for interesting reading, takes a bit of creativity to put together and involves ideas. For example, when one group created a solstice ritual in dramatic form, that was a project. Writing an essay about Pagan metaphysics, or a story, composing recipes for ritual food ... these are all projects. They are things that, when read about, make the people mentioned more than names on a page. Achieving just that, in our listings, was always our hope here.

We would add, that this would be far from being a diversion, from our mission of building community. It is in the sharing of such activities that we build shared memories and the bonds of real friendship that bind a community together.

As for those in the community whose entire "contribution" to date has consisted of sniping at those who say or do something noteworthy while they sit in safe and unchallengable torpor - we are going to stop helping them gain visibility. Do or disappear. Who cares about the ranting of those who pass relatively unnoticed? Under this system, groups are given an incentive to contribute to that very vibrancy of community life that draws people in and gives them a reason to stay, rather than the reverse, as they have been in the past.

Sure, we weren't the only site in town and wouldn't be such in the future, but at least, we would be working at being part of the solution, instead of part of the problem. It's about time that somebody did.

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