People are strange...

[thormagni]

Do you ever get the feeling that people are just... I don't know. Strange? Until last weekend, we had a forum on the Web site. We moderated it though, so we didn't let people get too out of hand. Just tried to keep it at a nice friendly level. No insults. No libel. Everyone being civil to each other. yahdda yahdda...

In 9 months, we had 26,000 posts and were spending 20+ hours a week of staff time keeping this stupid thing running. It was a lot of work. And there were 200+ users but only about 35 of them were regular posters.

Meanwhile, I found out a few weeks ago that a group of disgruntled former (and current) posters had gone off to form another forum. I joined, looked around and saw that most of them, if not all, started their first posts talking about what a terrible job I was doing on our forum. How unfair I was, how authoritarian I was, how much of a liar I was, etc. etc. Yet, most of them, continued to post on OUR forum and were more or less nice to me to my face.

So, we closed our forum this weekend to spend staff time more wisely, thank Pelor and Iuz (obligatory D&D reference) and I directed anyone I could find on how to reach their board, so they had a place to go. Their membership has jumped dramatically but these people are all really, really angry. Insulting, nasty, ugly comments are just going left and right and they are just tearing into each other. And of course, there are more less-than-kind things being said about me.

I never really believed in moderating forums before this. And I was opposed to moderating ours when we started. But it is like the Lord of the Flies over there right now. And now I am realizing that it was only our policing efforts, that so many of them hated, which kept the thing relatively friendly on our site. And if they hated me and our site so much, why did they spend so much time there?

So I am perplexed. On the one hand, I want to say "These are a bunch of hateful idiots and why do I care anyway since they didn't know me?" yet on the other hand I am thinking "Why do they hate ME so much? What did I do except force them to play nice?"

The whole thing just puzzles me.

 

[Grimhelm]

Link to the forum?

As the Scarecrow once said: I know a lot of people without brains who do an awful lot of talking...

 

[InzeladunMaster]

I think people don't like to be nice when they feel they are anonymous. Their anonymity gives them immunity from repercussions, but when moderated, they feel oppressed and constrained, even though the moderation usually just tries to maintain a societal norm for polite behavior. Moderation robs anonymity of its immunity from repurcussions aspect!

If a person feels immune, then that person sees no need for morality, societal expectations, or compassion.

I don't know. It's as I have always said...

 

[thormagni]

As the Scarecrow once said: I know a lot of people without brains who do an awful lot of talking...

I can e-mail it to you. I am reluctant to post it here and have them find out what I REALLY think about them.

 

[thormagni]

I think that is a great idea for our relaunch Vince! They can participate unmoderated, but they have to use their real name!

 

[Grimhelm]

There is truth in them thar wurds, Mr. Master. It really does fascinate me. This aspect of human conduct and character can be seen in other situations too. Any time a man is deprived of societal pressure to conform he is likely to become slightly exaggerated in some aspect of his character. Freedom to be our nasty little selves, so to speak, is an entertaining notion.

I think to some degree forums just naturally attract the sort of people who need to spew rhetorical vitriol. There is a lot of veiled anger in society that must find an outlet somewhere. You are providing a much needed public service! Catharsis for the disgruntled masses.

 

[Odovacar's Ghost]

I'm sure most of those guys are like this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NYn9xvF2bo&watch_response

 

[chachi]

I think that there probably is a kernel of truth to your statements regarding people’s inherent desire to be nasty, vile creatures. That being said, I don’t do that. And I doubt that you guys do either. I have no desire to be anonymously mean to other anonymous people. I absolutely hate forums. I really do. They invariably consist of people screaming at each other, or in the case of unmoderated forums, people screaming insults and threats to each other. As much as I really and truly believe that information should be free and accessible, and that any information is good information, substantive content so rarely pops up in user forums that I question the need for them. What purpose do they serve? They don’t add any content to the items that they are attached to, and people who are really passionate about a topic can easily start their own boards, blogs, wikis or websites. One of the great failings of the world wide web is this phenomenon of anonymous pointless yelling. It dilutes worthwhile information and continues to dumb down discussions even further. I think that more institutions should follow the lead of Thor’s and kill their forums. Place the burden of posting dumb comments on the ones who want to keep making them.

 

[Grimhelm]

The evidence is out there, though. People do enjoy being nasty asses. Does everyone enjoy this? No.

I think it is interesting. I have often wondered if we could just take Chachi, for instance, give him scads of wealth and see how this might change his character. It rather depends on how much of himself he keeps buried beneath the veils of social propriety and self preservation. Some people repress a great deal while others do not. Regardless, sudden freedom from social laws and constraints will ultimately lead one to reveal his repressed tendencies.

For many this is anger. I think there is a great deal of anger in this society, whether veiled or not, and it tends to seek expression. Whether it is school shootings, nasty posts, or going to bars just to pick fights, this anger will seek outlets. The Internet forum is often just such an outlet.

I do agree with you that the existence of most forums is redundant and completely trivial, yet we are sort of having an interesting discussion here!

 

[chachi]

I agree wholeheartedly with your idea. In fact, it may be the best idea ever. Indeed, give me scads of wealth (I prefer my scads in paper or doubloon form, something suitable to roll around in whilst giggling) and see what does happen!!

While school shootings are horrific and undoubtedly angry acts, they also are indicative of serious mental problems apart from repressed anger. I surely hope that they represent a different mindset than guys posting on forums. But your point stands nonetheless. There are some really angry and mean people in the world. I can't explain it, because I don't really experience that. My anger tends to be the I-hit-my-thumb-with-this-*@$!**-hammer kind of experience, and it passes. It must be truly horrible to be so angry at 'them' all the time. What a dismal way to go through life! Anger can be useful and even productive, but just stamping out bile with your fingers all day over every tiny injustice must be exhausting.

Our civility and fawning offers to give each other wealth in this space are a testament to us as individuals. We don't yell at each other and we get along swimmingly, even faced with disagreements. So, are we the normal ones discussing the aberrant angry weirdos or are we the unknowing exceptions, afloat in the e-detrius of an increasingly angry mob?