>This sounds harsh but not everyone deserves to be heard all of the time- myself included. The exact same rules don't quite apply to real life, but they make f

>This sounds harsh but not everyone deserves to be heard all of the time- myself included. The exact same rules don't quite apply to real life, but they make for a nice comparison: in a small group of people (say, 4-5 people) no formal rules are needed. Generally, everyone will have a chance to speak and be heard. Imagine a a much larger group, say, 300 people. There's no way everyone can meaningfully be heard. In the real world no one goes into a group of 300 people to communicate with those 300 people. Usually there is a speaker or performer communicating them as an audience. Even if those 300 people wanted to set aside the time to listen to every audience member, it'd be meaningless: no one would remember anything meaningful from most of the 300 different speakers. In any case, it should be obvious that group dynamics and the need for structure are modified by group size. A very large online community can never be intimate, and perfectly healthy communities can be irreparably damaged simply be in influx of people.