We’ve been working hard getting new features to you as soon as we can. The latest–profiles and account settings. How can something as basic as a profile and account editing not be in there already? Well, it wasn’t clear there was a need for it was, as the focus was on uploading and sharing 3D models. In addition, no one was asking for it, so I put it off as long as I could.

When the internet first appeared, people used it for point to point communication (email), and soon after, group communications (in the form of usenet). As it turns out, the internet was really good at fostering a sense of community for demographics in niche topics that wasn’t bound by geography or proximity.

To have a community, you need to have something for people to share or talk about: a theme or topic. It’s the campfire around which people gather. And for certain types of communities, people will need identities first. It’s not always the case, as 2-chan and 4-chan are notable examples.

But without identity, some types of interactions aren’t possible, such as taking permanent credit for ideas or work shared amongst community members, or being able to follow the published activity of someone in the community. With the goal of collaboration and sharing of 3D models, some interactions would be impossible without the mundane profile.

More importantly, to keep a community, you’ll need to give them tools to protect the group against itself. Clay Shirky’s written about this extensively. Having a profile is just a start to rooting a member’s identity, so that the group can act on it if it needs to, in order to protect itself.

Now, the logo takes you back home and dashboard when you’re logged in. There you can see a list of your physibles, and create new physibles.

Well, enjoy your new sense of identity, and check out the changes at Cubehero. Let me know how you like the changes!

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