Very interesting thoughts regarding the fishing forum(s) John. Let's poke around a little more and see what is unearthed.

Fishing is truly a local experience, a hobby/sport one practices 1-2 hours from ones house in most cases...usually. Local/regional versus national/global.

Once when helping someone on a homeless project in Europe someone else asked me why I wasn’t helping a person/group in Portland, Oregon. The simple answer was because the person needing the help was in the forum, and their location was not really important to me.

Now is poverty different in Portland, Oregon that say Gulu, Uganda or Kathmandu, Nepal? I think it is different, or at least some of the root causes. To me, there is a scale and efficiency model in partnering with people and groups in developing country as there is just a "bang for the buck" effect overseas you cannot see in the US.

>>Just like national fishing forums have failed, if we want to create web based communities that are active on social topics I think we need to create communities that are more local, perhaps not geographically, but local in the sense of being a community for just one cause.<<

Social cause networks that are topic driven, rather than geographically driven. Perhaps. Though my gut tells me that action driven is the best of all. Be it make a donation, write the president, throw a party, make a phone call, write an article, spread the word, do something in the real world. I cannot only pick one topic (personally) I think they are also interrelated...and it's the lack of interconnected ideas and sharing that has not been very great for many causes.

Creating an environment where members cannot only talk...but also make something happen, that's the ticket for me. Talk, collaborate, share ideas...and take action as well. Chasing down 10K in Razoo funds didn't amount to much for anyone here. Think MTV is a vast wasteland so far. Ned is very slow (though happily not noisy and abusive). Though people still appear to be making good connections here...so that is good.

People under 25 have the time. People over 50 have the funds. Founders, CEO's and social entrepreneurs have little of each.