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Forums - Drama, Harrassing, Banning, Deleting Threads...

Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2006 6:56 am
by Andreas
An internet forum that I visited daily, just blew up. Dozens of threads of accusations, stories of sexual harrassment via pms, bans, thread deletion, senseless fights, people announcing their departure...it was really sickening. No, I am not talking about any sh.tv related issue.

Is any internet forum that exceeds a certain critical mass (I am postulating 300 active posters as the border) about to implode sooner or later? Is heavy moderation the only solution for big forums?

Re: Forums - Drama, Harrassing, Banning, Deleting Threads...

Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2006 1:10 pm
by krabapple
Andreas wrote:An internet forum that I visited daily, just blew up. Dozens of threads of accusations, stories of sexual harrassment via pms, bans, thread deletion, senseless fights, people announcing their departure...it was really sickening. No, I am not talking about any sh.tv related issue.

Is any internet forum that exceeds a certain critical mass (I am postulating 300 active posters as the border) about to implode sooner or later? Is heavy moderation the only solution for big forums?


I dunno, but I want to know what that exploding forum was.

I've seen forums get very ugly with far less than 300 active participants.

Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2006 1:48 pm
by Andreas
www.smileysmile.net/board

It looks quite civilized now, but there are still traces of the implosion. You have to be a member to see all forums. Some of the issues are still discussed at www.thesmileshop.net.

Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2006 1:58 pm
by Xenu
What happened?

Ehh. Maybe you can look to Usenet for some examples that both support and dispel your theory.

Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2006 2:55 pm
by lukpac
Hitler liked message boards. That makes you all Nazis.

Or something.