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

[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?

[krabapple]

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.

[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.

[Xenu]

What happened?

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

[lukpac]

Hitler liked message boards. That makes you all Nazis.

Or something.