The Big Answer: Microcommunities (MC) and Personal Status Boards (PSB™)

What is the Big Question that this website is the Big Answer to?

Our society is full of dysfunctional relationships in families and in communities, between spouses, lovers and friends, and between kids and parents. (See for yourself in the MC-Related Research section of the MC Articles section of the Articles page.) Parents work and have little time to nurture their kids. Communities exist only physically, but not as viable social groupings. Neighborhoods are groups of strangers putting up with other strangers. Politicians are putting the Corporatocracy's—and their own—interests above those of the people they're supposed to represent, and power rests with the Oligarchy, not with the people (like the country's Founders intended). There is an epidemic of psychological dysfunctionality and people fight off depression and loneliness with substance abuse and addiction to video games and social networks. The latter supplies only indirect (not direct) self acceptance since people don't really accept themselves due to dysfunctional childhoods that led to low self-esteem. We could go on . . .

So, the Big Question is simply this: HOW CAN WE FIX OUR AILING FAMILIES, AILING RELATIONSHIPS, AILING COMMUNITIES, AILING CHILDCARE, POLITICAL CORRUPTION, FAILING DEMOCRACY, AND AN EPIDEMIC OF LOW SELF-ESTEEM? (To name just a few—there are lots more broken areas.)

The happy answer is that the author of this website has researched this question for decades and has not only the general answer but also the detailed specific answer. Please keep an open mind, because you won't see him look toward stale clichés like government programs (or government anything), but toward self-empowerment via a grassroots movement of well-thought-out lifestyle enhancements that have the backing of science and research. These enhancements will make an incredible difference in American society as they launch a new era of social evolution destined to rejuvenate parenting, relationships, childcare, and community, as social evolution—stalled for so long—is finally given a chance to actualize the American Dream that has evaded us for so long.

By the way, we STRONGLY suggest that you read our ebook novel The Forest Through The Trees BEFORE you continue reading this page, or you won't understand the need for the content that follows!

What Is An MC? It’s a MicroCommunity, an intentional subcommunity located in a normally-structured block-house neighborhood, in an apartment complex, or in other neighborhood configurations. MCs have 10 to 40 people who’ve intentionally found each other by using computers and MC Matching tools for great compatibility. Families, whatever the configuration, remain in their family group within the MC. After getting to know each other remotely, MC member families relocate to their MC neighborhood. It’s possible that some members may already live at this location, but odds are against finding compatibility with current neighbors. MC members consider each other to be social resources for child care, elder care, deep friendship, and other nonsuperficial levels of communication. And all MC communication is guided by P.E.T. (Parent Effectiveness Training) or other authoritative parenting styles, and by PSB™s. (See below.) How do these people find each other? Through MC Matching methods. What are the other authoritative parenting styles? See the bottom of this page Why Register for MC Matching? for a list of the best ones there are and the books about them.

If you have questions about all this, check out MC F.A.Q.s and the articles on the MC section of the Articles page.

How Are MCs Different From Other Lifestyles? MCs are not random aggregations of people—like your current neighborhood, which is populated by people you barely know, people you don't know, and people you don't want to know, all of which is a pretty poor substitute for community. MC people have intentionally selected one another and become best friends and therefore trust fellow members with child care and elder care—and in other ways. So they’re not stuck with putting kids into day care centers with strangers who don’t care about their kids—their MC contains only people who care about them and their kids.

Care is given by MC members, not strangers. And care is flat-gradient nurturance (more caregiver choices) rather than steep-gradient nurturance, which is forcing kids to have one or two caretakers when they prefer a situation of several choices since sometimes parents don't feel like being around their kids and when they do it anyway, low quality care results. With steep-gradient nurturance, parents choose who will care for kids, and when, regardless of the kids' wants and needs, but in MCs the flat-gradient nurturance allows kids to choose their caregivers. (This is in keeping with the tenets of Attachment Parenting in which kids needs are filled when the kids manifest them and how kids want them filled, where possible, and this applies to caregiver choice as much as when to nurse them, feed them, comfort them, etc. If kids usually choose to be cared for by parents, that's fine, but the critical issue here is the kids need to be able to CHOOSE.)

Reitterating: kids choose whom to be with, to the largest degree possible. And abuse becomes nearly impossible, since there are other nurturers in whom the kids confide, and because kids would not choose to be with an abuser. And the communication and parenting style in an MC is P.E.T. (Parent Effectiveness Training) or one of the other authoritative parenting styles. However, not just parents but all relationships in the MC use this style, as it is the most effective for nurturing, conflict resolution, sensitivity to feelings, etc.

MC families live in normal houses and apartments as normal nuclear, single parent, extended, and mixed types of families. MCs are free to choose, if they prefer, only certain types of people, certain races, certain religions, all two-parent nuclear families, all singles, or whatever—people that choose each other really like each other and respect each other’s values and interests.

The wrong way to maximize social resources is via communes, socialism, communism, fascism, gurus, cults, etc. They give the very idea of maximal resources a bad name. The right way to maximize social resources is to empower democracy and responsible independence and leave people’s physical living modes and family styles alone. Instead, concentrate on making the relationships work optimally between spouses, parents and children, friends, committed neighbors, and committed relatives, so that they produce happiness, optimal childcare, fulfillment, and self-actualization, not symptoms and dysfunctional lifestyles.

MCs are the opposite of Utopianism. Regardless of the "good" intentions of utopianists, their social engineering efforts invariably lead to tyranny, loss of liberty, corruption, loss of individuality, rule by "experts" that know what is best for you better than you do, loss of rights, and exploitation of the masses for the benefit of the few. MCs are the exact opposite. They have no patience for social engineering, the "programs" that administer it, or the pretentious leaders who lead its efforts. They want nothing to do with political leaders trying to socially engineer MCs or legislators trying to pass MC agendas, taxing the public to fund such ambitions.

So who will lead MCs, either nationally or locally? You'll love the answer to that question. The answer is ABSOLUTELY NOBODY! If someone is in charge, telling others what to do, either nationally or locally, then it is NOT an MC. NO ONE is in charge of anyone in MCs. Each person is his or her own leader. NO ONE tells others what to do. Nationally, there will be no national leader. But there will be spokepeople talking about MCs as great opportunities interested people might wish to check out. There will be an MC Corporation that has corporate leaders whose goal is to spread the MC movement via the creation and launch of a media blitz that includes MC-related movies, TV shows, speeches, social media, etc. No one will be inspired to start up MCs without this vital social marketing campaign. How much power over MCs will this corporation leader have? NONE WHATSOEVER. For frosting on the cake, how much more money will it cost to be in an MC than it does in your current lifestyle? The delicious answer is this: After relocating costs, you'll spend much LESS per month than you do now. All childcare and elder care, and a good portion of transportation costs are FREE! (Which is especially important these days with the cost of childcare through the roof, as is the cost of not working and being a stay-at-home parent.)

Even though MCs are a great goal to shoot for, they MUST come out of individuals' local efforts. Forget government. Forget politicians. Forget programs. MCs are intentional communities (see The Responsive Communitarian Platform) of the very best type: people jointly deciding that they can get together and make life work much better in tiny subcommunities than they ever could as individuals relying on social engineering foolishness. For thousands of years people have known that little villages or subcommunities in small towns led to far superior lives than living as isolated families or individuals. People in the last century also became aware that cities were good environments if the communities within them worked well, and poor environments if the communities within them worked poorly. A microcommunity, whether rural, suburban, or urban, is the optimal social configuration if the relationships and parenting within it are optimal. This website will explain exactly how to accomplish such a thing.

Village subcommunity of the past

Village subcommunity of the past

Village subcommunity of the past

Village subcommunity of the past

Village subcommunity of the past

Village subcommunity of the past

Modern subcommunity: MC with Japanese Garden and Central Hub for Childcare, etc.

The Standard Personal Status Board (PSB™) is a 1-page website that functions as a communications center that can inform any/all of the group members about the personal statuses of each of the group members, and any group member can update/edit status codes and comments of anyone once s/he logs in (trust is implied) although normally members would update only their own status and comment. It can allow children to get their needs met better, parents to meet their kids' and their own needs better, caregivers to find out which kids want a different nurturer currently, group members to declare their need to be alone (do not disturb), etc.

There are 100 customizable status codes in which general feelings, needs, wants, desires, and openness can be expressed to the group, and coordination of activities can be greatly facilitated due to the fact that any group members can consult it (keeping it open as a window on their computer screen) and instantly learn what everyone else is into. Along with this new level of social connectedness, a calendar program for groups would be a great way to see specific schedule details to coordinate activities. For larger groups, Office Calendar for Outlook or AirSet Cloud Computers is good, and for smaller groups, Cozi Family Calendar is good.

Returning to the subject of PSB™s: Think about it—how often do you, your kids, or your friends simply plop down in front of the boob tube or play video games or check out YouTube videos simply because trying to deal with the logistics of getting together with one or more friends for real, old fashioned direct social contact seems like too much of a bother? How many parents, or adults in general, say they're too busy to pursue friendships? How many kids are too busy playing video games or watching TV or texting or updating their Facebook page to pursue f2f (face to face), irl (in real life) relationships and how many of their parents are seriously concerned about this social opt-out?

And yet if socializing irl and f2f was easy and effortless, would you or your kids still choose social opt-out? How about a lifestyle in which those best friends you most want to socialize with are in the house next door? Now contrast a quick glance at a PSB™ with the time and effort it takes to call all your friends and mostly get voicemail or "sorry, I'm too busy now" responses. They were disturbed to no avail and you were left singing the blues. See why PSB™s (free forever) are super empowering for the entire relationship context of any families or group of families (like MCs—see below), groups of close friends, or members of closeknit organizations where members are often interacting.

PSB™s help grease the relationship wheels!

Check out the following links to learn more about the various PSB™s:

Free Personal Status Boards (PSB™)

Free Standard Free PSB

Free PSB Pro Version

Free Social PSB

Free Social PSB Plus (with Email)

Free Business PSB

Free Business PSB Plus (with Email)

PSB demo

Social PSB demo

Business PSB demo

So what's all this PSB stuff about?

Chart comparing business status boards

PSB hosting diagram

PSB Licence Agreement

Comparison of Various Social Communication Methods
Method	Communicates Current Status	Communicates Current Comment	Customizable Status Codes	See All Friends' Statuses at Once
Social Personal Status Board (PSB™)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
MySpace, Facebook, Bebo, etc.	Rarely	Rarely	Only Emoticons	No
Twitter	Rarely	Rarely	No	No
Phone (voice)	Yes	Yes	No	No
Texting	Yes	Yes	Only Emoticons	No
IMing	Yes	Yes	Only Emoticons	No
Emailing	Rarely	Rarely	Only Emoticons	No

Also check out our chart above comparing our six different status boards: PSB™ Version Comparison.