[This topic is one of four seeking input and ideas from the ABM software development community regarding future directions for the ABM tools community. Even (especially?) if you aren't past of software development efforts please share your thoughts.]

As with tools themselves the ABM tools community seems somewhat fragmented. There is happily a lot of overlap but arguably communities have tended to follow toolsets and institutions.

1. See software tools discussion, but speaking for the ABM community as a whole, do the existing organizational structures map well to technical and domain communities?

2. Are existing internet communication forums and mailing lists overly fragmented or is the diversity useful? Are existing forums too focussed on one tool or is this focus necessary for enlivened discussion?

3. Is current ABM community focussed conference tradition the way to go? Again, too much focus on individual tools, or not enough? Too multi-disciplinary or too focussed? Is it better to stay within community or do people find more general conferences (e.g. GECCO) to be better avenues? Does a unified conference make any sense?!