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That’s untrue, and ignored evidence from many newer forums and their descent into madness. Take HN, gaming forums and so on - they work decently. Here’s my ru
by intended 8y ago
That’s untrue, and ignored evidence from many newer forums and their descent into madness.
Take HN, gaming forums and so on - they work decently.
Here’s my rules of the network from a moderators perspective
1) politics and religion are about maximally polarizing. If your forum/topic has no need for these topics, exclude them with great prejudice.
2) there are 2 types of forums. Some forums are built around goal driven topics. Like vectors units, they have both intensity and a direction.
Scalar topics, tend to gather opinions.
Of the two, vectored forums are easier to manage. When people have a goal and progress to make, it naturally reduces a lot of non-specific wool gathering.
3) the web is the best and worst of books and phones. Like a book, you can always revisit what was written. Like a phone you can always interact with what was said.
This means that if something is incendiary, it stays up for days, and people respond to it as if it was spoken aloud a few seconds ago.
Removing incendiary content early is better!
Community cohesion can happen by content, more than demographics.
- baud147258 8y ago> 1) politics and religion are about maximally polarizing. If your forum/topic has no need for these topics, exclude them with great prejudice. I know one forum where all such topics are banned, which seems to be effective. And another of that section of the forum is closed to only visible to accounts older than one one year.
- jplayer01 8y agoGaming forums? They rank up there as the worst the internet has to offer. Which one exactly are you taking about? Because all the ones I've seen are toxic cesspools unless it's a subreddit for a niche game like Factorio, which is consequently small with a very specific demographic.
- TeMPOraL 8y agoI would guess they're talking about niche gaming forums. I know a bunch myself - /r/Factorio, /r/KerbalSpaceProgram, /r/Subnautica, /r/StardewValley... oh wait, the latter two aren't that niche. In my experience, it's a matter of focus and moderation. Unfocused groups turn quickly into toxic cesspools, whether the groups are made of nerds (e.g. 4chan) or genpop (Facebook threads, or comment sections in those publications who didn't yet turn them off).
- intended 8y agoYes, you are right. I was wrong to being up plain “gaming”. I should have made that clear - the dwarf fortress forums are benign and healthy. The world of Warcraft forums are lexical hellscapes in comparison. As long as the game has some effort barrier which needs to be overcomed to be enjoyed, the community will be healthy and civil. (All things held equal)
- jplayer01 8y agoThere are plenty of factors that play into how or why a forum turns to shit. You're right that size or "niche" isn't always the dominating factor, but in most cases, it's clearly important. There are, on the other hand, plenty of incredibly niche and focused communities that do turn toxic and insufferable (as any Darkfall game shows). People are complex and we tend to talk in short-hand because we don't have the time or desire to write entire papers about why people tend to suck when you put them together.
- intended 8y agoHow toxic was dark fall, what was the type of game and what was the effort barrier required to play it?
- intended 8y agoSorry, I meant dwarf fortress forums, for certain complex games which act as natural effort filters.