7 ms·

Developed/ran a message board software for 4 years. Running a large message board network is one of the worst experiences I have ever had. You are constantly

Developed/ran a message board software for 4 years. Running a large message board network is one of the worst experiences I have ever had. You are constantly wasting time moderating people, blocking people, recalculating algorithms, dealing with attacks and explaining to the police you don't have the IP address in question. Every large message board I have developed or managed revolted or sued us ([1][2] random example revolts). One of the largest being niketalk.com. THIS, while making NO MONEY. Users that use generic message boards are extremely hostile towards ads and refuse to pay for anything. EVERYTHING done by the moderators is overblown and people working there are publicly quartered. Yeah no thanks. I would have removed the boards too - then got a coffee. [1] http://mashable.com/2010/08/30/users-revolt-against-new-digg/#IbYcilA7MkqY http://mashable.com/2010/08/30/users-revolt-against-new-digg... [2] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jul/07/reddit-revolt-ellen-pao-fate https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jul/07/reddit-re...

alistproducer2 10y ago
Great point.
- TD-Linux 10y ago
  That's an awfully big generalization to post on an internet commenting system.
  - sgustard 10y ago
    His comment made me slightly sadder than I was before I read it, so from that viewpoint it is accurate.
- DanBC 10y ago
  They're just much harder than people thought. It's weird that people thought you could just bolt comments onto a webpage without problems, because we had all those years of Usenet to show that it wasn't that easy.
- striking 10y ago
  ...he posted, on an online comment system. edit: before the parent comment was edited, the most charitable reading of the comment was that internet commenting systems have a net negative effect on humanity
hkmurakami 10y ago
Agreed. I used to moderate the largest English Starcraft forum. We had a pretty low tolerance for poor behavior, and people would cause shitstorms on other forums about our allegedly heavy handed moderation style. I'm no longer active on staff duties but the site is going strong so I'm guessing we did something right.
- spbaar 10y ago
  Team liquid is what I think of when I think of active moderation done right
  - iamdave 10y ago
    That's a name I havent heard in a long time. Some of my best gaming experiences were with people I met there. Agreed 100% Those guys and the DAD clan from TFC (now disbanded) had some of the greatest mods. They kept the places in check but they had a sense of humor about it.
    - hkmurakami 10y ago
      What was your TL ID? :)
  - hkmurakami 10y ago
    Thanks for the compliment :)
  - 2Pacalypse- 10y ago
    TeamLiquid has some sensible rules[1] that are being carried out by a numerable sensible staff members[2]. Its longevity speak to the effectiveness of this formula. [1] - http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/tl-community/17883-tlnet-ten-commandments http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/tl-community/17883-tlnet-ten... [2] - http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/TeamLiquid.net_Staff http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/TeamLiquid.net_Staff
    - hkmurakami 10y ago
alex_hitchins 10y ago
Interesting to read your post. I had always thought running a forum would be hard work but somehow rewarding. What where some of the reasons you would get sued?
- ransom1538 10y ago
  Not quickly responding to DMCA complaints[1], subpoenas[2], death threats [mainly just working with police], illegal content. With one forum, the owner sued saying that content was 'theirs' and wanted us to provide the mysqldump as a settlement. [1]http://www.dmca.com/FAQ/What-is-a-DMCA-Takedown http://www.dmca.com/FAQ/What-is-a-DMCA-Takedown [2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doe_subpoena https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doe_subpoena
  - alex_hitchins 10y ago
    Thanks for replying. I guess hosting something successful will result in these becoming a daily reality.
malz 10y ago
I developed and ran social networking features for a fashion site with an almost entirely female audience, age range 20-50. I was fully expecting bad behavior but was surprised as it grew that people were unfailingly nice, supportive and encouraging to each other, with only a few exceptions. Of course I'm aware that females, like anyone else, can be nasty to each other, but it barely happened here with membership in the thousands. It would be an interesting social experiement to replicate that on a larger scale while limiting the demographic by gender, age, and so on to see how it affects the behavior of the group.
- sova 10y ago
  A fascinating proposition!
- briholt 10y ago
  I would guess fashion-interest is a better selector for positive interaction than female. Try an all-female board about veganism and watch them eat each other alive in a race to the righteousness bottom.
  - sanderjd 10y ago
    This seems like odd and unsupported speculation to me...
  - dorianm 10y ago
    Seems pretty civil and reasonable to me: https://www.reddit.com/r/vegan/comments/4hnzyz/why_are_most_vegans_women/ https://www.reddit.com/r/vegan/comments/4hnzyz/why_are_most_...
    - carapat_virulat 10y ago
      Reddit doesn't really work like a traditional forum. In a traditional forum everybody has the same visibility, in reddit it's very easy to create like-minded communities because anything controversial gets out of view very fast.
  - 10y ago
lucker 10y ago
Seems like a lot of that can be solved by simply not moderating or censoring anythng.
- RUG3Y 10y ago
  4chan seems to do ok. Or maybe not, depending on your perspective. There are a ton of smaller chan style boards that are awesome and don't seem to have the problems everyone is talking about here.
  - kibwen 10y ago
    Though 4chan does have moderators.
    - azinman2 10y ago
      So why is there so much racism, doxing, and other horrible behavior? Or are only some of the boards moderated?
      - naranana 10y ago
        All boards are moderated in a completely different way. Most of the boards have a pinned post with the rules. Most moderation occurs stealthily. Also, racism and doxxing are not comparable at all.
        RUG3Y 10y ago
        The double-edged sword of not moderating based on racism and other undesirable behavior is that your job as a moderator is much easier, but you have the terrible reputation that 4chan has. I am personally fine with boards that allow pretty much everything other than CP and other illegal content. I think this is how a number of chan boards operate.
        azinman2 10y ago
        Do they both not belong to "horrible behavior?"
scriptproof 10y ago
I can not agree with the "making NO MONEY" assertion. Many users come here to get the opinions of others about a movie. Another example: The success of Amazon is for a part to the positive/negative comments because you need the experience of users about their product. The money do not come from the comment, but they bring visitors... and their money.

alistproducer2 10y ago

Great point.

TD-Linux 10y ago
That's an awfully big generalization to post on an internet commenting system.
- sgustard 10y ago
  His comment made me slightly sadder than I was before I read it, so from that viewpoint it is accurate.
DanBC 10y ago
They're just much harder than people thought. It's weird that people thought you could just bolt comments onto a webpage without problems, because we had all those years of Usenet to show that it wasn't that easy.
striking 10y ago
...he posted, on an online comment system. edit: before the parent comment was edited, the most charitable reading of the comment was that internet commenting systems have a net negative effect on humanity

hkmurakami 10y ago

Agreed. I used to moderate the largest English Starcraft forum. We had a pretty low tolerance for poor behavior, and people would cause shitstorms on other forums about our allegedly heavy handed moderation style. I'm no longer active on staff duties but the site is going strong so I'm guessing we did something right.

spbaar 10y ago
Team liquid is what I think of when I think of active moderation done right
- iamdave 10y ago
  That's a name I havent heard in a long time. Some of my best gaming experiences were with people I met there. Agreed 100% Those guys and the DAD clan from TFC (now disbanded) had some of the greatest mods. They kept the places in check but they had a sense of humor about it.
  - hkmurakami 10y ago
    What was your TL ID? :)
- hkmurakami 10y ago
  Thanks for the compliment :)
- 2Pacalypse- 10y ago
  TeamLiquid has some sensible rules[1] that are being carried out by a numerable sensible staff members[2]. Its longevity speak to the effectiveness of this formula. [1] - http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/tl-community/17883-tlnet-ten-commandments http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/tl-community/17883-tlnet-ten... [2] - http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/TeamLiquid.net_Staff http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/TeamLiquid.net_Staff
  - hkmurakami 10y ago

alex_hitchins 10y ago

Interesting to read your post. I had always thought running a forum would be hard work but somehow rewarding. What where some of the reasons you would get sued?

ransom1538 10y ago
Not quickly responding to DMCA complaints[1], subpoenas[2], death threats [mainly just working with police], illegal content. With one forum, the owner sued saying that content was 'theirs' and wanted us to provide the mysqldump as a settlement. [1]http://www.dmca.com/FAQ/What-is-a-DMCA-Takedown http://www.dmca.com/FAQ/What-is-a-DMCA-Takedown [2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doe_subpoena https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doe_subpoena
- alex_hitchins 10y ago
  Thanks for replying. I guess hosting something successful will result in these becoming a daily reality.

malz 10y ago

I developed and ran social networking features for a fashion site with an almost entirely female audience, age range 20-50. I was fully expecting bad behavior but was surprised as it grew that people were unfailingly nice, supportive and encouraging to each other, with only a few exceptions. Of course I'm aware that females, like anyone else, can be nasty to each other, but it barely happened here with membership in the thousands. It would be an interesting social experiement to replicate that on a larger scale while limiting the demographic by gender, age, and so on to see how it affects the behavior of the group.

sova 10y ago
A fascinating proposition!
briholt 10y ago
I would guess fashion-interest is a better selector for positive interaction than female. Try an all-female board about veganism and watch them eat each other alive in a race to the righteousness bottom.
- sanderjd 10y ago
  This seems like odd and unsupported speculation to me...
- dorianm 10y ago
  Seems pretty civil and reasonable to me: https://www.reddit.com/r/vegan/comments/4hnzyz/why_are_most_vegans_women/ https://www.reddit.com/r/vegan/comments/4hnzyz/why_are_most_...
  - carapat_virulat 10y ago
    Reddit doesn't really work like a traditional forum. In a traditional forum everybody has the same visibility, in reddit it's very easy to create like-minded communities because anything controversial gets out of view very fast.
- 10y ago

lucker 10y ago

Seems like a lot of that can be solved by simply not moderating or censoring anythng.

RUG3Y 10y ago
4chan seems to do ok. Or maybe not, depending on your perspective. There are a ton of smaller chan style boards that are awesome and don't seem to have the problems everyone is talking about here.
- kibwen 10y ago
  Though 4chan does have moderators.
  - azinman2 10y ago
    So why is there so much racism, doxing, and other horrible behavior? Or are only some of the boards moderated?
    - naranana 10y ago
      All boards are moderated in a completely different way. Most of the boards have a pinned post with the rules. Most moderation occurs stealthily. Also, racism and doxxing are not comparable at all.
      - RUG3Y 10y ago
        The double-edged sword of not moderating based on racism and other undesirable behavior is that your job as a moderator is much easier, but you have the terrible reputation that 4chan has. I am personally fine with boards that allow pretty much everything other than CP and other illegal content. I think this is how a number of chan boards operate.
      - azinman2 10y ago
        Do they both not belong to "horrible behavior?"

scriptproof 10y ago

I can not agree with the "making NO MONEY" assertion. Many users come here to get the opinions of others about a movie. Another example: The success of Amazon is for a part to the positive/negative comments because you need the experience of users about their product. The money do not come from the comment, but they bring visitors... and their money.