Why Online Communites Decay Over Time

Size does matter, it seems. The article's too long to quote effectively, but the gist of it is that once a community gets above a certain point, it just becomes a mass of screaming shitheads.

The article makes sense, though I'm not certain the number of people to which it applies. I, for example, treat strangers with kindness. A stranger is a blank slate, and I prefer to leave them with an impression of kindness rather than one of distrust or even ambivalence. I do it because I know how I behaved, even if I never see them again.

@John: you might be an outlier personality type. I think the reaal issue is that communities of a certain size lose the personal touch of knowing the other contributors. So the question, then -- what is the optimal size? Is Wordforge too big, too small, Goldilocks?

I run a small message board of about 130 people, of whom about 25 are quite active. We're a very open, inviting community, and most members get along without a hitch. Strangers are gladly greeted, and given chances to mesh with the existing community. To me, that's Goldilocks. Wordforge being larger doesn't mean the community will be colder, but then I think it comes down to makeup of the board. Many of the members here are anti-authoritarian, and are usually suspicious of new members, though that's largely because many new members are often just duals of already registered members. So it's hard to say.

I mean, TrekBBS is a big damn board, but new people seem to be welcome there without much issue, so it brings it back to my point that it's likely more about makeup rather than population count. Just my two bits.

Yeah, but Bronie boards are, you know, different.

We're all about friendship and shit.

So why does this place suck? There's, like 15 posters most of the time and a half dozen regular posters. If this guy's theory applied here we'd all hold hands and sing Kumbaya.

Firstly, Wordforge doesn't suck. Secondly, some people are naturally contentious, and will generally flout the rules whenever it suits them. You don't get Kumbaya from that.

Don't feed the troll.

I can't help it. These sandwiches are delicious.

Troll? I don't even come here anymore. The place is too dead and boring to troll. The rare occasion that I do show up just reinforces the suckitude of the place.

You come here long enough to complain, but you offer nothing else. So how would you know the board sucks?

He comes here long enough to remind everybody that he gets sad when not enough people agree with him on the ways of the world. He seems to have this idea that engagement with differing perspectives is only worthwhile when he can gather a majority with which to taunt others. Since his majority is gone, he continues to see things through that lens, and therefore is fearful that every word from a leftist is intended to harm him in some fashion. Thus all the passive aggression.

So... Is it anyone's position, then, that the reason this place is so shitty is because there are so many posters here? And that, because there are so many posters here, that it is so easy to do a one-off drive-by flaming? Is that really the thinking? Because otherwise the article has exactly nothing to do with this place. I tried to suggest some ways you guys were stepping on your dicks and was universally met with "grow a backbone" and "we know what we're doing," so I gave up. Enjoy the flaming bag of dogshit you guys have built for us. I know I do.

You do know that what you're claiming now and what you claimed then, are two entirely different things, don't you? (Since the thread is locked, I'll have to do some kludgey quoting, but everybody will be able to see that I've not altered anything.)

And so on. I could quote more portions of that thread, like I've done in the past, but suffice it to say, the only person here who thinks that this place sucks and is abusing you, is well, you. When asked what your beef was, you offered nothing. When given the chance to enact changes, you, by your own admission, did nothing. In short, its painfully obvious to everyone here that you're the kind of person who isn't happy unless they've got several beaches worth of sand in their mangina and are tumbling around in the drum of a cement mixer.

You claim to hate this place, and find your only amusement is trying to troll the people here. What a sad, pathetic little life you must lead if that kind of thing provides any sort of solace to your clearly wounded soul. You should probably just kill yourself as slowly and painfully as humanly possible. Perhaps then you can be happy as your life slowly ebbs from you.

Where were these suggestions? It seems like most of what you've posted on the subject has followed this template:

1. Assert that it sucks.

2. When asked for specifics, assert that it sucks again, only using slightly different words.

3. Assert that the owners are making big mistakes.

4. When asked what those mistakes are, assert that it sucks again.

Although Volpone's dejection is entertaining, maybe we should avoid his derailment efforts.

I think the point of posting the article is that maybe looking for growth is a fools' errand. Not that we've been all that successful anyway, but if we grew and then became what the article described, would that be a good thing? Probably not. The appeal of this place has always been community. I really like just about everybody who posts here, even Volpone. I think most people would say the same. And I think most of us also enjoy the free form discussion offered by the Red Room. So, maybe that's all it is, and all it should be. Eventually we'll all die and that will be that.

If there is something to improve, probably the most sensible area of focus is more diverse and stimulating thread topics. Volpone's minimum wage thread actually worked fairly well in that regard, but then Lanzman's attempt to get a discussion going on the Thai coup was fairly ignored, which is unfortunate. Gotta work on this part a bit more -- give people more to do when they are here.

When I had Starscape as a single forum, and how I have the board I Admin now (not WF of course), it's all about quality over quantity. I'm more likely to breeze past a hundred garbage posts than I will even 1 quality, content post.

To add, it really is about content. Go look at the Red Room. Most topics are started by trolls, and posters who have no intention of giving a shit about what anyone has to say. So many people in the Red Room talk past each other, and everything is so old hat because we all know each other so well. That's why drama is so much "fun," because it actually delves into people and their characters on the board. That's when people start to pay attention, is when the good juicy gossip comes out, and the old topical arguments take a backseat. That's when the board comes alive, at least in the Red Room.

We could always make the RR a no trolling/flaming forum

Well, there goes my fun, if that happens. Much as I love to troll and flame, I won't do it where it's not allowed.

That won't happen. Ever. I saw what happened to TNZ when that kind of thing was implemented. I doubt very highly the owners would ever go in for that.

Chuck disapproves, Lucy. Yank that football!

None of you (obviously not Volpone) even mention the last link in the article that quality goes down on sites with down vote mechanisms....... http://arxiv.org/abs/1405.1429