Electronic CPR

So I have this trimmed down and tailored contact list, and found myself in the same position very nearly that I had trimmed down the contact list to avoid. I was talking to the same few individuals, initiating the majority of my conversations with them and not really using the opportunity that I had to talk to the wider range of people left behind from the radical purges of June.

It seemed to me that the chance was here for a different response. Before I had pre-emptively eliminated, decided who was superflous deadweight, getting in the way of me finding those that I wanted to talk to. Now I decided there was a chance for outreach, to enlarge my world with slow and steady steps to regain contact with all those on my list.

For the past 15 days, I've been living this process. I've tried to start talking with more and more people on my list, especially the ones from FMGamer that I've not been talking to for a while due to my ambivalence about the site. I've instead decided that they're still the same people that they were when I added them, and it was for a good reason usually (they were usually site staff, my record of reaching out into the unwashed masses is rather mediocre) and it would be both enjoyable and rewarding.

I haven't confined this expansion to just the FMG people either, a move that I have more trepidation about. I've started to include all the lapsed friends, people who I know but haven't really been keeping up with or making the effort to get in touch with. It's been a more mixed experience with them. Some have responded well, others quite tepidly, others have not responded at all. I'll make assessments of them at a later date.

Overall what its meant is that I've found more people to converse with and usually someone to pass a few hours with while I'm surfing the net or watching a tv show, allowing me to keep my multitrack mind occupied without feeling frustrated. Hopefully they have found it enjoyable and at least not a burden. Let's see how long it will continue.