the new TOU

I don't.

I have removed all my content.


See more discussions here:


http://pods.gaia.com/gaia/discussions/view/227574#227574


http://singstoeagles.gaia.com/blog/2008/1/weep_with_me_a_time_for_tears

Where is the welcome from Gaiam?

Where is the welcome from GAIA?
 
A purple banner and a sneaky new TOU?
 
NOT ONE WORD OF WELCOME?

Not one word for this glorious community of light

on its first day of assimilation?

just ....a tiny "Powered by zaadz."

......as though zaadz was a new widget

no celebration, no joy, just "business" as usual.

?zaadz who?

(Insert sound of retching here.)

How are conscious communities created? Through conscious choice. Not buying and selling. 

W e individually will craft this new relationship to gaiam. My understanding of how  the creation of things work is simple. You have an idea, you set an intention. Others join as their intentions resonate, and together you make the dreams and ideas real. In this case, zaadz was created with a certain set of intentions, ones we all loved and proceeded to use as tools to create our own niches and content. Now, how can you sell/buy those intentions? You absolutely can not.  This is where the zaadz team lost their greatest opportunity imo,  to clarify intentions, dreams, goals about the new "company" we would keep.

So now, I feel I must start at the beginning again, and decide, whether I can align, attune, agree, with the intentions and ideas of gaiam. It is my opinion that the terms of "use" of zaadz, should have been adopted by gaiam for their whole company, instead of the other way around. 

 Powered by zaadz? Use our original intentions.

Once upon a time,

after eons of repression,
 
the flowering

of  a connected

human

spirituality began

in an online community
 
called

zaadz.




Intending freedom for individuals

and the entire world

they actually succeeded

in creating a new one;

allowing awesomely abundant potentials
 
to begin to expand

into manifested beauty.



They created virtual places

where people could gather

and begin to believe

and feel

and see

their highest hopes

becoming their experiences.



The community became an expression

of  the complexity and brilliance

of humanity's soul

that yearned

for passionate expansion

 creativity

appreciation

sharing
 
balance

loving

and just

being.



One day,

the forces of control showed up

at  zaadz's brilliant, light filled doorstep.

With them they brought dazzlingly powerful tools

and even larger, grander vistas for  expansion,

All that was needed,  they  said with a smile,

to gain these wonderful

new opportunities


was to    just    sign


 on    this   itty      bitty      dotted      line


right here.



X.................................................................................................................



(-to be continued.)





There was a lovely instance of our zaadz community spirit issuing a red alert post about the Gaiam terms of use  here, along with the team responses. It seems extreme, to call for leaving, but is, in my mind, a reasoned reponse to an extreme situation.

http://sengmo.gaia.com/blog/2008/1/a_call_for_all_creatives_to_leave_the_gaia_community

There has been, throughout human history, the triumph of forces of control over efforts of creative expansion and expression. (To circumvent any analysis of the why's of this let it be known that you will hear no blame from me because of any of it, victimization or perpetration. That is not the purpose of these comments.) I only wish to express here my own thoughts about the current situation. I do so in the way that I know best. I am also not pointing fingers at any one in particular who is involved in the TOU flap.



*thanks to Jo.in.pink  at  http://www.flickr.com/photos/alternateparadise/ for the use of this creative commons licensed photo.

I wish .....all to know that the beauty and goodness and sweetness of what zaadz was ,
will ever be shining  within the hearts of those who loved it into life.

I wish .....all to know that any plan started with such immense, audacious hopes,
will continue to have consequences of unimaginable joy and blessing
rippling out into the universe forever.

I wish .....that no matter what becomes of this merging and morphing
 of the two entities known as gaiam and zaadz,
that we remember our highest dreams will manifest
 if we still desire them.

I wish .....that everyone who has had a part in the creation of this community
 sees the worth of all that they have done,
the beauty outside a reflection of  the beauty within themselves.


how it all began


thanks to  SqueakyMarmot at flickr for this creatvie commons licensed photo. Some rights reserved

Here     is a link to people that are serious about community. A light filled reminder that great, grand, sweeping dreams can become real.

I add my blessings to their efforts.