The Ultimate Game of Strategy
Chapter 15
Communication strategy

Rejection and redundancy isn't a problem

Conceptually, this strategy suffers from the same problems as the idea of discarding co-operation in favour of collaboration. It doesn't 'feel' right. It doesn't seem ethical to make friends with people and just discard them when they are no longer of any use. But, this is a view that is only valid in the slow, changing world of bricks and mortar, where a loss of contact with people tends to be permanent. In the world of the Internet, friendships and relationships can remain just as strong with a high proportion of discontinuity.

It has to be remembered that practically everyone who uses the Internet regularly for communication has more contacts than they can comfortably handle. It suits everyone to have discontinuity because this allows them to have a greater number of contacts than their bandwidth can cope with. It is quite usual for a regular dialogue between people to suddenly cease and then resume again, as if there hadn't been a break, several months, even years, later.

If you think again of the film making industry, everyone involved in the making of a film will be highly cooperative at the time of shooting. There is no animosity when the shooting finishes. They part amicably and if they meet in the making of another film they take up their relationships again exactly where they left off. This is the spirit of many associations that are struck up on the Internet.