A Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy

Clay Shirky · 13 Jul 2003

Clay Shirky did not write this page.

Every claim below was made in this piece, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.

Our reading
The normal experience of social software is failure.

Their wordsThe normal experience of social software is failure.
Our reading
In social software you cannot completely separate technical and social issues.

Their wordsthe first is that you cannot completely separate technical and social issues.
Our reading
In an online community the core group has rights that sometimes trump individual rights.

Their wordsThe core group has rights that trump individual rights in some situations.
Our reading
The user of social software is the group, not the individual.

Their wordsThe user of social software is the group, not the individual.

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The other pieces are the ones whose claims are worded most like this one's. That measures language, not agreement: they may argue the opposite.