More thoughts on commenting in GAM3R 7H30RY

I find it interesting that while there's only really one way to view the main text, there are multiple ways of dealing with the comments, either as sidebars to the main text, or as pages all by themselves organizable by time posted or card (added this past June). It feels to me like an attempt to add legitimacy to the comments, or perhaps make them seem more important or intergral to the work than they actually are. Because a lot of the comments don't feel particularly useful to the reading of the text, and seemed to really taper off once people adjusted to the format of the primary text.

I've poked around some on the site and I have yet to find an answer as to who is meant to have access to this. I mean, granted, it's in a public forum, but how did word spread about it, who was the target?

Also, this is version 1.1 of the text. Was 1.0 originally online? Or are we getting a near-complete draft that was tweaked specifically for this format to serve as Revolutionary, with comments and the forum being the fancy icing flowers and ribbons on the traditionally-published cake?

There's something about the commenting and the forum that feels vaguely...incestuous? to me. A chance to show off to one another, and a chance to chare "inside" information (there's a point in one of the final chapters where Wark and another author (post-modern, I think) start having a conversation in the comments, then obviously take it to another, private medium, as Wark mentions that they had aconversation but he won't mention details without both parties' consent. I don't remember if there was a conspiratal winking emoticon, but it certainly felt like there was.)