When does our website stop becoming a community, and start becoming a platform?  Or will we never stop becoming a community?

Isn't it already a platform that serves different purposes? Are albums community items? 

Isn't the entire world a community that shelters other communities, larger and smaller ones? 

@JoelR :

"When does our website stop becoming a community, and start becoming a platform?  Or will we never stop becoming a community?"

One possible perspective or model is that the AM platform consists of a number of different communities/clubs that interact with each other to different degrees, ranging from some members of the clubs participating extensively in other clubs, the forums, and the gallery, on one extreme, to clubs not interacting with anyone else on the platform at all, on the other extreme. 

• For example, during the pre-Yahoo migration era, numerous members of all the clubs -- Son of PicJim, MuscleManHeaven, WallPaperHunkz, and BGP -- gradually began to interact with both other clubs and the "traditional" AM community of members who had been participating in AM's original forums and galleries before these clubs began.  At the same time, those clubs also draw some of their members, to varying degrees, from the rest of the AM community, including the other clubs.

The analogy to physical towns or cities (i.e., civic "platforms") and their component neighborhoods ("communities") is straightforward:  Some of these communities/neighborhoods interact with each other to varying degrees, while other communities have little or no involvement with other neighborhoods. 

• The latter may share only the common name and municipal services of the town or city.  As the town or city grows, new neighborhoods appear, and the sense of identity of the previous communities may or may not change (for example, through "gentrification").  The city or town can also annex communities from the surrounding geographic area.  But the city or town never ceases to be the common platform that they all share.

Which brings us to your questions:

"When does our website stop becoming a community, and start becoming a platform?  Or will we never stop becoming a community?"

When I joined an earlier iteration of AM in 2013, it was a platform that consisted of two highly integrated communities -- the forums and the galleries -- that had different internal software structures, but members still interacted extensively in both.  Then, a few years ago, the site added new communities via the Clubs feature, including the more recent migration of what became the BGP Club.  IMHO, although I was perfectly content with the original AM, our community has been enriched significantly by these additions.

Bottom line:  From this perspective, AM was already a platform consisting of a few separate but highly interactive communities.  With the migration of the former Yahoo groups, the number of different , distinct communities is growing rapidly.  Over time, each of those communities may grow and evolve within themselves, and they may interact with other AM communities to a greater or lesser extent, all under the enlightened governance of our benevolent Webmaster, @JoelR.  

• So "stop becoming a community" vs. "start becoming a platform" is a false dichotomy.
• Your second question -- "Or will we never stop becoming a community?" -- comes much closer to the mark.

I think this perspective is consistent with @Tomster's observations above and elaborates on them.

And there may well be other, different perspectives on your questions, too.

21 hours ago, Tomster said:

Isn't the entire world a community that shelters other communities, larger and smaller ones?

To view the entire world as a community is an optimistic perspective. This is only possible if everything is broken down to the basic needs of all people. But if you see the world just as planet Earth, then it's just a platform again, isn't it?

A platform is neutral. 

AdonisMale isn't neutral. The name of the website itself states an interest. It wouldn't be easy to sell watermelons if it was just a platform.

I understand your rather rhetorical questions, @JoelR . Your perspective is always influenced by the technical aspects of a webmaster, methinks. 

19 hours ago, JackFTwist said:

The analogy to physical towns or cities (i.e., civic "platforms") and their component neighborhoods ("communities") is straightforward:  Some of these communities/neighborhoods interact with each other to varying degrees, while other communities have little or no involvement with other neighborhoods. 

I like this analogy. Of course you can also look at it from the inside out. A couple or a family is a small community. Each individual of this community is also part of several larger communities - relatives, friends, colleagues - and is also intertwined with other communities - neighborhood, etc. Everything follows the rules of @JackFTwist 's analogy to the interaction between the superior, inferior or parallel existing communities.

Considering the whole thing as a Community of Interests (CoI), however, it is easy to see that many smaller communities of interests (clubs, groups) exist within the large surrounding community of interests (AdonisMale). 

Some of those club topics have surprised me, shocked me, and made me squeamish.

@JoelR The sequence of the listing worries me. You have made yourself a dream come true with AdonisMale. As soon as discomfort arises, this dream is in danger. 

3 hours ago, malelover said:

As soon as discomfort arises, this dream is in danger. 

Maybe I should sell watermelons instead??  😂 🍉

Starting tomorrow, we're turning ourselves into a gay farmer's market!  

A Community is arguably a product of outlook; the way we look at things.  

A Family, A Town, A City, A Country, one could say these are physical, real world entities. Are they communities?

Hmm. Only if we choose to see them that way.  If these entities are inhabited by people who despise and loath each other or what they stand for, then I would say that the word 'Community' is not applicable.

The physical entities only transform into Communities if the inhabitants are bound together by some cohesive force that's not necessarily visible; only an attitude or a set of ideals borne of the mind; nothing physical.

A 'platform' belongs to the set of physical identities, and it's only us members of that 'platform' that turn it into a 'Community' by wanting to contact and relate to each other based upon some shared value or interest. In the case of Adonismale, it is presumably the sexual orientation....

I think I'll leave it there for now. It's far too deep for me! LOL.  Wes :-)

19 hours ago, malelover said:

It wouldn't be easy to sell watermelons if it was just a platform.

How often did you watch Dirty Dancing? 

15 hours ago, JoelR said:

Starting tomorrow, we're turning ourselves into a gay farmer's market!

21 hours ago, JoelR said:

we're turning ourselves into a gay farmer's market! 

Gay farmers?  Oh, goody!  Almost as hot a fantasy as gay cowboys.

5 hours ago, Tomster said:

How often did you watch Dirty Dancing?

It's always a treat to see the late, great Patrick Swayze again.  But who was the stud who was with the girl at the beginning of the clip?  His photo doesn't appear in the list of character credits on IMDb.

17 minutes ago, JackFTwist said:

But who was the stud who was with the girl at the beginning of the clip?  His photo doesn't appear in the list of character credits on IMDb.

It's Neal Jones (Billy Kostecky, Johnny's cousin). 😁 

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0428925/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t11

On 11/11/2019 at 9:38 AM, malelover said:

The sequence of the listing worries me. You have made yourself a dream come true with AdonisMale. As soon as discomfort arises, this dream is in danger. 

Well, I think the point of this self reflection is coming to terms that it's not fair for me to wholly encapsulate AdonisMale as my dreams and my dreams only. 

It should be our dreams, and your dreams, and the dreams of the independent club owners. 

When I started a project many years ago, some time later it took a course I hadn't expected. It was a slow process, so I didn't notice the change right away. I felt less and less comfortable, I neglected everything more and more until I completely left the project. But in a way I was still connected with it, because it was originally my idea, my dream. When my attention was drawn to the fact that everything was about to collapse, I returned. I invested a lot of time and energy to change course and rescue everything.

I learned the lesson that it is much easier to check the course frequently and make tiny adjustments if necessary. These experiences also made me sensitive to sentences and thoughts that change from positive to rather negative. The reverse order would mean that after an initial shock the surprise and relief happened.

18 hours ago, JoelR said:

Well, I think the point of this self reflection is coming to terms that it's not fair for me to wholly encapsulate AdonisMale as my dreams and my dreams only. 

I like the way you think. Basically, it's your idea, your baby.

19 hours ago, JoelR said:

It should be our dreams, and your dreams, and the dreams of the independent club owners.

👍

Everything should play a part in contributing to still feel connected with AdonisMale in thirty and more years -  and to stay happy with it.