Why do some people stop using online forums?

So yeah that's what I think anyways.

0lddog

Spot on !

Vote Frostie

0lddog

0lddog wrote: »

Spot on !

Vote Frostie

JupiterKid

Lots of reasons - change in life circumstances, migrating over to other online platforms such as social media (Facebook made huge inroads on boards, Gaire etc and many other web based forums), younger adults favouring Twitter etc over web forums.

And then there are the forums that have inconsistent/antagonistic/vindictive moderation and idiot posters and trolls who simply drive many others away, as they can poison the atmosphere of threads and even forums very quickly.

Also, I get the distinct impression - perhaps correctly, perhaps wrongly - that many posters including long-standing ones suffer from mental health and addiction issues, which can quite often come out in their posts. Before anyone leaps to defend themselves or these posters - I am a recovering alcoholic myself!

Batattackrat

I think a lot of people if sent to prison are sick of the smart comments they receive from the moderators when appealing their ban. It really degrades the site if you look through the prison forum. They nearly make you beg and apologize and reply with smart ass comments.

Also I think strict moderation and people just moving on with their lives with kids, work etc. and finally realized its pointless getting into arguments with random people on the internet.

There are much better sites out there with basically zero moderation.

Arghus

To be honest without some form of moderation the site would be an unreadable disaster zone. The crazies would completely take over. You might get a whole lot more conversation going on alright, but not much of it would be worth a shyte.

If you can express yourself without being dickish about it then most of the time you won't even notice the moderation is even there.

Ten of Swords

Thread seriously went off the deep end there, a large number of posts have been deleted for being completely off topic. If you want to discuss politics or politicians there is a dedicated forum for that and it's not After Hours


AndrewJRenko do not post in this thread again

begbysback

People stop using online forums when they think it’s better to discuss topics face to face, then they end up in court for assault and realise this is the safest option.

Hamachi

JupiterKid wrote: »

Also, I get the distinct impression - perhaps correctly, perhaps wrongly - that many posters including long-standing ones suffer from mental health and addiction issues, which can quite often come out in their posts. Before anyone leaps to defend themselves or these posters - I am a recovering alcoholic myself!

Interesting. Can you explain a little your reasoning for that opinion? Personally, I only started posting this past year, due to having more time on my hands working from home and many / all of my non-family social outlets being curtailed.

I haven’t noticed a higher preponderance of people with clear mental health issues posting. Might just be oblivious to these things. Have to say that I do wonder about people in their 30s - 50s with enormous posts counts and who seem to spend their entire day sniffing around threads, goading other posters, and looking for arguments.

Surely there’s a more productive way of passing the day...

GreeBo

Batattackrat wrote: »

It really degrades the site if you look through the prison forum. They nearly make you beg and apologize and reply with smart ass comments.

I 100% agree with this.
Reading the prison forum really doesn't give one a good impression of how things are managed.
Either ignore the person or treat them as you would wish to be treated, at the moment its more of a playground for some.

I like the Prison forum. I’d also bring back the Thunderdome and the banlist.

end of the road

Deleted User wrote: »

I like the Prison forum. I’d also bring back the Thunderdome and the banlist.

would second the ban list and the thunderdome just to experience it.
i believe it was closed before i joined which is unfortunate.

GarIT

Arghus wrote: »

To be honest without some form of moderation the site would be an unreadable disaster zone. The crazies would completely take over. You might get a whole lot more conversation going on alright, but not much of it would be worth a shyte.

If you can express yourself without being dickish about it then most of the time you won't even notice the moderation is even there.

The no.1 rule used to be attack the post not the poster. You could make almost any argument you wanted against a post as long as you left the poster alone. Now petty insults are common and arguments that don't agree with the theme of the forum e.g. something anti-Catholic in the Christanity forum isn't allowed.

Rules seem to be applied based on feelings and playing favourites now.

We also end up with discussions where it's something like a discussion on gender-neutral toilets, with a note saying transphobia will get you banned, and in the thread it turns out disagreeing with a trans person counts as transphobia.