How to destroy a forum

[PaulB47]

This article goes into some techniques for destroying or turning a forum:

http://whowhatwhy.org/2016/01/27/disinformation-part-1-how-trolls-control-an-internet-forum/

Note it is multi-part.

I wrote a little article along this line myself:

http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2009/tle524-20090621-06.html

Being aware of these techniques will allow us to counter them.

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[Stomper]

Rules for Radicals is another good playbook...

 

[IheartSig]

This article goes into some techniques for destroying or turning a forum:

http://whowhatwhy.org/2016/01/27/disinformation-part-1-how-trolls-control-an-internet-forum/

Note it is multi-part.

I wrote a little article along this line myself:

http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2009/tle524-20090621-06.html

Being aware of these techniques will allow us to counter them.

When I click the second link Fortiguard blocks it as a "Phishing" site.

 

[308]

Good forum mods and admins pay attention to their membership and have a pretty good idea who is who. Trolls are generally easy to spot if one is paying attention. They really aren't that clever.

 

[Stomper]

The thing about "internet trolls" is..... SQUIRREL!!

 

[Andy54Hawken]

Not sure on how destroy a forum , but I do know why I have left a few forums.
Personal attacks and insults regarding a position that I have taken on an issue have driven me from gun forums before.
I do not mind opposing views . In fact reading what other people like and think , sharing opinions etc ... Is a prime reason for me to join a forum.
When folks get unreasonable or resort to insults is when I just hit the ignore button or leave all together , if it gets bad enough.
Thankfully here at Northwestfirearms I have not seen this or have had to use the ignore option.
I have read threads here, where people disagree and sometimes its gets heated , but the folks on here seem to police themselves and turn it around.
Every forum seems to attract trolls , it seems to me that for the most part they are fairly easy to spot and ignore or report , if needed.
Luckily in the short time that I have been here , I have not seen many.
The reason for this , I think is to the forum members here , looking out for each other and the forum itself.
Andy

 

[etrain16]

 

[Hal Jordan]

Long ago I was a mod on a forum where the owners would calm things down with what they called a "bubblegum edit" after someone's angry post. They would just edit the post to say something different. So if one person attacked someone else, suddenly the attacking post would say "I like daffodils." Everyone knew what had happened and the admins never had to shake a finger in someone's face. Plus it was a lot of fun!

I have always loved the Flame Warriors listing, from way back in the Usenet Newsgroups days.

<broken link removed>

 

[Certaindeaf]

 

[Stomper]

I like Santa.....

 

[Larrytpdx]

I have always loved the Flame Warriors listing, from way back in the Usenet Newsgroups days.

Seems like yesterday. "No matter how much things change, they stay the same"

 

[MrNatural]

Forums, like nations, die from causes both external and internal. I copied this from another board back about a decade ago.

"Commissar Vollmer Syndrome"

"Seems that something about running a bulletin board brings out the granny in a man.

Starts out as a free exchange of ideas.

Then the op starts nuking posts that use "impolite language"

Then the op starts nuking posts for the "reason du jour." Like auto-nuking the name of competing bulletin boards, for one.

Decisions formerly based on reason are now based on "policy."

Then the op, finding that all this micromanaging is burning too much of his time, hires on a bunch of moderators, a job whose primary benefit is having power over people who know more than they do. Kinda like being a cop without having to go to the police academy. The position of both moderator and cop attract and retain a similar personality type.

Then anyone who offends any moderator gets their post nuked. The op cannot control the moderators because the he hired them so he doesn't have to fiddle with things in the first place.

Finally anyone who disagrees with anyone in power over anything gets banned.

Decisions are now based on whim, rationalized (if at all) by selected interpretation of "policy"

Symptoms of this stage include a choir of hangers on chanting "Its his site, he can do whatever he wants." When this is the best justification that can be found, its a sign that things have taken a turn.

The final stage appears to be getting ulcers and taking down the board. Very unfortunate.

A public bulletin board isn't like a garden. People's ideas and input don't grow in ordered rows like cabbages and carrots. Free men argue when they congregate and they tend to do it in language mom wouldn't approve of. Free speech and free thought aren't always pretty.

But some people just get a real charge out of being in control. Thus the eternal struggle continues."
************************
As just one example, the Oregon home page on AR15.com has effectively been killed because it has a reputation of trigger-happy moderators with a Judge Judy complex.

A pound of salt is NOT better than a pinch of salt.

 

[albin25]

A pound of salt is NOT better than a pinch of salt.

It can be...if your garden gets infested with slugs

 

[Greenbug]

SB941 pretty much killed this forum for me....
Now it is just political BS and people whining at each other over different views or opinions...

 

[Larrytpdx]

SB941 pretty much killed this forum for me....
Now it is just political BS and people whining at each other over different views or opinions...

Too bad you feel that way. EVERYTHING is political but this forum offers a LOT more that politics.

 

[etrain16]

SB941 pretty much killed this forum for me....
Now it is just political BS and people whining at each other over different views or opinions...

Yeah, there's always more than just classified ads and politics. There have been great discussions on platforms, hunting, optics, ballistics, humor, reloading and a lot more. Maybe try looking around the forum a bit more.

 

[Bealzybub]

I got a 90 day delay on a stripped shotgun receiver but it didnt prompt me to argue on a forum lol......

 

[tac]

I like this forum because I travel at least once, sometimes twice a year to the PNW, and therefore get the chance to actually meet up with people, even if it's only the one time.

As a furriner, living in a place where place where guns of any kind are extraordinary, and those who have them are classed as somewhat odd to say the least, it would be easy to turn me away from this site by simply being antagonistic to my posts. It only happened once, not long after I joined, and was not even on the open forum, but a simply-worded and carefully-considered response from me, in a PM, cured the problem.

tac

 

[Certaindeaf]

Didn't click. Probably saw all that stuff before anyway.
You probably meant "steer" instead of "destroy".
Sure destruction is atrophy/disinterest..

 

[jashof]

I like the forum, just not all the political BS. That's not what I come here for.