Taking about community

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@@ -22,13 +22,14 @@ There are many ways to be creative with starting a community. The advent of onli
 
 ## The difficulty in finding a good community
 
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+I recognize that not everyone can do this. Online spaces have a reputation of not being a welcoming place for folks, and in-person group meetings can use up whatever mental resources you have. It took me a long time to find the courage to go to my first in-person meetings as I'd had a bad experience with someone I worked with that I thought would be at these meetings. (I'm not sure if that person ever went it to those meetings). But I'm grateful that I did eventually attend my first meetings. Attending these meetings lead me to friendships, opportunities, and other "traveling companions" for our journey. It lead me to switch to one of my favorite programming languages (Python) and several of the jobs in my career. It also helped me to feel like I wasn't alone with my interests and had others I could rely on. It gave me a feeling of belonging.
+
+Getting over the initial hurdle is hard. Our fear of rejection and our fear of making ourselves vulnerable to strangers can wear us down. Overcoming that fear take a lot of our mental energy and can sap us of the desire to be part of yet-another-community. I can't say that it will be easy but I can point to some of the benefits it had in my life. I hope you can find those benefits as well.
 
-I recognize that not everyone can do this. Online spaces have a reputation of not being a welcoming place for folks, and in-person group meetings can use up whatever mental resources you have. It took me a long time to get up the courage to go to my first in-person meetings as I'd had a bad experience with someone who I thought was at these meetings. But I'm grateful that I did get the courage to attend my first meetings. These lead me to friendships and other "traveling companions" to help me along the way. It lead to switching to one of my favorite programming languages (Python) and a feeling of belonging. It also lead to other work as folks got to know me.
+Another alternative to in-person communities are online communities. Online communities can be a great way to find others. They gather folks from many different locations and bring them to a common area. Part of the reason I made my jump into meeting folks in person was because of the good experiences I had with these folks on IRC. I enjoyed the company of these folks I met online and felt comfortable meeting them in person.
 
-But betting over the initial hurdle is hard. Our fear of rejection or of making ourselves vulnerable to strangers takes a lot of mental energy and can sap us of the joy of wanting to be a part of this.
 
-Online communities can be a great way to find others. They gather folks from locations other than our own and bring them to a common area. Part of the reason I made my jump into meeting folks in person was because of good experiences on IRC. I started enjoying the company of these folks and felt comfortable meeting them in person.
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 The low barrier to entry for many online communities can allow us to see what the community is about. What are their priorities? Are they kind to folks who are starting out? Do they have a pattern of helping or of hurting? Do they have members who nurture their fellow members or are they cutting each other down?