information is the tie that binds (part 1)

I've been reflecting on my last post about policing communities and what it takes to do that. While doing so, this post from The Guardian caught my eye and help summarize some thoughts in my head.

One thing the article helped me articulate is that strong communities establish boundaries and cannot function well without feedback mechanisms - mechanisms that render consequences for good and bad behavior. In the past the mechanism might have been to be shunned by society - not invited to the right parties, banned from the club. However, the breakdown of smaller social groups and more intimate physical communities means these mechanisms for being shunned are outdated. So now we have more literal feedback - pure information. eBay ratings are a good example: a public badge you have to wear wherever you go. Should you fail to play by the rules the consequences are obvious.

This is why brand transparency is so key. Without full disclosure you cannot rebuild the trust that may or may not have existed in the first place. Brand nudity in this sense, has an advantage - telling people what you don;t know, what you are and are not doing and seeking participation and further feedback build a community by itself, without the artificial methods used on many corporate websites.

This also seems to be where the blogosphere seems to fall down - transparency is optional. Forget fraud - I do not have to leave my name and address when I comment on an issue, leading to some of the issues that Kathy Sierra faces. Are we being hypocrites - demanding from brands what we do not provide?