I wasn't going to respond to this thread, preferring to stay away from most topics in General Discussion because they
really don't interest me. Such banality is depressing; the fact people want to talk about farting, or someone really believes we'd be interested that they are drunk is just sad. The ones that really annoy me are people that announce they are back after taking two days off the forum - in all likelihood nobody even noticed. Probably because the farting conversation was so engrossing.
So, let's have a look at some of the questions...
Motokid said:
I have no idea if what I’ve witnessed is normal for a forum this size or not, and if what I’ve seen happen has been going on for years, or is unique to the time I’ve been here.
Then forum, as far as I know, was a barren area, where discussion was rare. Looking back over the posts from 2002 and 2003 I certainly get that impression. When I joined the membership seemed to be picking up, people were chatting, and the General Discussion (or Spam Forum, as I tend to think of it) was taking off with Martin and SillyWabbit (now Wabbit) posting almost neverending links to games and silly little animations. In my opinion such non-content cheapened the term
discussion. Since then the membership has grown and every now and again there's the occasional tussle although little comes of it.
I’ve seen moderators quit, or be relieved from their post.
I think both were fair decisions. Ell's decision to quit the position gives her a chance, after a number of years, to get away from the bickering and just be a member. Martin's stepping down as moderator was a good decision and, after he had been restored to the role, his removal from the team was also justified due to his actions of that time.
I’ve seen longtime members get banned, and others just disappear.
The first member I've seen get banned was named
Not Edna, a fun character in my opinion, but he swore once at somebody and drew a moustache on bobbyburns' avatar - a bannable offence, of course, when you consider the sheer quantity of swearing that goes on here. I don't particularly like the use of the '****' word when it has no context other than to garnish a statement. However, the vBulletin software, like other forums, offers a swear filter wherein you can censor a phrase or convert one to something more euphemistic. Darren should really consider using this to dilute the unnecessary expletives.
It's a shame that members get banned. I think the policy here, as regards the three strikes policy, is a tad extreme. Personally, I think if you are going to ban someone then it should only be for a temporary space of time - a year, perhaps. People who spam, of course, should get a permanent ban and their details reported to their internet provider. The reason I think that a one year ban is enough is that people can change over time and, given time to think about their actions or to mature (in the case of younger trolls who may, eventually, become interested in the subject matter) can become better integrated.
I’ve seen squabbles and arguments over silly things get out of control, and I’ve seen people’s feelings get hurt.
In my opinion, all of these arguments are about ego. The Book Forum, as a discussion board, is rather restrictive. There are a number of features here which aren't switched on, such as custom user titles, which limit your ability to add to your visual personality - an avatar and a signature is your whack! So since we all have a user title set for us, we all become part of the same group. Aside from those who are Senior Moderator, Site Admin, or Banned, I am a Member, you are a Member; everyone is a Member. This puts everyone on an equal basis but, to add that extra bit of personality, you have to SHOUT! Who wants to be equal with someone inferior?
Recently Darren has announced there will be new moderators.
I hope that he makes some good choices this time and invites people who hold an interest in book discussion to the role over someone who obtains a lot of posts from spamming. A moderator, in a forum sense, isn't just there to edit threads, show people how to use the forum software, and to step in when things get messy; they are also required to guide the forum's content. If the forum is about books then they should be creating topics on books in order to get people discussing that and to help grow the community. I don't see much of that.
Long time members pine for the “good old days”.
I don't believe there ever was a period definable as the good old days.
If things change too much some members simply disappear. Find another place to play.
And so they should. If they don't feel comfortable here then it's their right to find somewhere that suits them. I'm a member of
Palimpsest, another book forum, and I find that the conversation there is far superior. They even talk in depth about books. Imagine
that! I'm a member of six other book forums and this forum is the only one where I see a poorly balanced level of discussion between books and general banality.
My biggest grievance, I suppose, is the
I just finished reading thread; people just post the titles of books without ever saying what they thought of it or, if they do offer a nugget of information, it's usually that it was good. Hardly a comment worthy of book discussion. The fact that they have read all these books, they should be encouraged to start threads on them (if one hasn't already been created) and give their real thoughts.
So, The Book Forum...
The thing I don't like about it most is that it is restrictive. I feel that the wrong approach has been taken with respect to its development. Darren has tried to guide it from the start: no custom member titles, a preference for people to use their real names, and limited discussion as regards politics and religion.
I don't fully know his reasons for this although I know he feels that people may become offended. If people are offended then it's not The Book Forum that is the offender but the forum's image could become tarnished. Fair enough, but to put such restrictions on the forum has stunted its development into a mature discussion board. So, with the heavy authoritarian hand, people can be left feeling like children (you can't talk about this, you can't talk about that) and its no surprise that it has devolved into a pit of spam and boring chat as people want to play within the rules and don't want to offend. The forum has developed now, after four years of existence, but it has been shaped from the start rather than let its members define its tone, which has left it more like a four year old forum with the mind of a two year old.
I find it interesting that this thread has over 400 views, but less than 30 posts at this time. Maybe that's a good thing.....
Don't necessarily believe that every one of these is a user. Since this site has a lot of content web spiders, such as GoogleBot, spend a lot of time indexing the site. When they view a page to index it, it counts as a view. You'll find that the different spiders crawl through the threads - they just follow links - again and again upping the count of views.
