Whats really going on here....

[pink]

bickering on a thread partly about how people cannot stop bickering.

Hey we are talking college football, this is important stuff.

 

[Bidin~Time]

Bickering with arms. Sharpen the stick and it's fencing?

Can I have a light sabre instead?

 

[hashtag45]

What you describe constitutes fun for him. I don't know why, it makes no sense to me, but trolling in order to shut down discourse is pleasurable for him. I could bump that thread a year from now and he will respond by hurling insults within 2 minutes. Again, I don't understand it, hitting F5 hundreds of times per day, week after week, year after year, while foaming at the mouth. But it's his life; his personal pleasure is his own.

I've been pretty nasty here too, on quite a few occasions.
I'm not like that IRL, but for me here it's a strategy; otherwise I'll be eaten alive like I was in my first few months here.
And other posters can be mean too, and they have their own reasons for that.

But I and they do that shit only from time to time.

Whereas Disgustipated? He lives for it.
He has this split personality where he's sweet and supportive of the Blurt Thread female posters. Yet out of that thread, he behaves like a jerk, and all he does all day long is troll troll troll (under his username or idiotic attack alts) and try to shut down any constructive discourse.

And no, Disgustipated, I'm not sticking my nose where ot doesn't belong.
This is my business too, because you destroyed too many threads that interested me, and chased away too many posters who got fed up with that stupid drama.

 

[RobDownSouth]

Can I have a light sabre instead?

There was a news video here in Houston a few days ago about two Hispanic guys beating the hell out of each other with 2X4s in a road rage incident.

A few hours later, it went viral when those 2X4s were photoshopped into light sabers, complete with sound effects.

 

[Not Normal]

bickering on a thread partly about how people cannot stop bickering.

This thread has devolved into true bickering yet. This is just your run of the mill poking with a stick.

These both made me laugh.

Its forum life, that's just how it goes.

 

[Disgustipated]

because you destroyed too many threads that interested me, and chased away too many posters who got fed up with that stupid drama.

http://imgur.com/gallery/w4E3D

 

[FknNemesis]

The GB is dying, dying a slow, hateful, nasty death, and we have no one to blame but the person we see in the mirror each morning.

As a new member here, i can attest that years of internet experience and also experience in larger and older online communities does come in handy. Older communities like Lit generally are not nice places at first and often require a "thick skin" to survive the initial months.

There have been moments I have thought this is a waste of my time. But of course it's an election year which brings a certain specific different dynamic to the internet and obviously with leading recent political players such as Johnson, Faragae, and Donald the rubbish spewed online tends to be of an even lower level than in other election years. That not aided by nowadays average English skills(*).

I have thought I may have joined at the wrong time, in the wrong year. And I could be misled thinking I joined politico forums.


That said... even when taking out the political threads from GB, I disagree it is dying. Many boards would die to have as many active threads at any given time as GB has.


But it just isn't a nice place for newcomers. And Lit forums generally don't have any element of 'onboarding' helping new members find their way through the water, boards, and maybe even discover where to go with whatever question they have.

Lit forums even don't have a section for new members to introduce themselves. Well there's the PG.

If you want to talk about personals, instead of posting a personal ad, please do it here!

So the new member who joined, maybe with questions and possibly even shy, just has the option to post a personal, talk about a personal or immediately take the plunge and go in a forum with named with an acronym.

Or join one of the many 'would you x to x' threads. Of course all we can base that on is a small avatar, typically positioning ourselves as desperate when joining those threads without first knowing the members.


But don't worry... all that stuff is typical for [strike]institutions[/strike] older and larger forums.


As both 'outsider' and Lit Forums newbie, who also makes a living from the internet, I will just say that Lit is stale. Probably became a long time ago already. Only its size will keep it alive for longer time to come.

Online in this day and era it's all about innovate or perish. That also applies to keeping the community/forums open and active recruitment. Being welcoming is just one aspect of that.
The modern era internet user doesn't need the institutions anymore like they once did because of lack of 'portals'. The portals need the visitors though today.

Tumblr came knocking, more stories posted every day, easier to publish and definitely more feedback.


Lit could be so much more. I don't think it wants to though.
Thinking a specific forum is dying is more a case of not seeing the trees for the forest rather than it seems an actual issue. Internet commenters would probably say 'Slow news day' or 'too insidery'.


Keep this thread going. Self-analysis is often an interesting process.
Also... It keeps me away from the politico threads. Plus I prefer to see proactive communities thinking about how to stay on top rather than being a covert troll myself [out of defense] in not gentle politico threads.




(*) English is only my fourth language and my (poor) grammar is based first on what I learned from watching English movies (with subtitles) as a kid, then the early MTV, and only later on from reading. I never actually invested in grammar... the internet doesn't always help my case either.

 

[Wrong Element]

message boards are built to die. besides, with places like reddit out there with it's seemingly endless array of subreddits for nearly any imaginable taste and facebook, twitter and the rest there's just far too many options for time wasting on the internet these days.

That's part of it. Another part is that we don't have anywhere near the number of younger posters that we used to have. Message boards seem to be populated mostly by people who remember a world without the web. This is not a Lit-specific issue.

 

[La damnee elle la licorne]

 

[FknNemesis]

Fknnemesis, I am your opposite! I am completely technologically illiterate, ( hmm, I imagine jokes about all my other illitarcies too ). I eschew most forms of social media but Enjoy fora a great deal. They are simple for people who can envisage them as a real life social engagement.

Don't misread. I'm not necessarily 'young' in terms of internet demographic. In fact I've been online since long before the "www". I still do love forums and while the clients we service with web development, and the startups we have do-founded as technical partner in recent years, move at a different pace and in a different direction... I still love forums. More than internet "groups" (read Facebook/Reddit/Google groups/their equivalent).

I will also admit to have participated to many a flame war over the decades. Both in more modern platforms and also in pre-www boards. Being thick skinned and blunt can be fun at times. Luckily I'm only an arse "on request". :d

I was new here so recently ( I am new by GB terms still) and yes, it can feel very hostile from some quarters, but can I assure you there is warmth here if you want to find it.

There's gems everywhere, in every community. I'm pretty sure that with this being a 'niche' community the amount and quality of gems is higher than in many other a forum.

My stance is that fora cannot avoid being cliques, but there is a difference between being cliques because you have jokes over past history and time spent together over life events shared and time, and being 'closed' and feeling hostile to newness. I don't actually think the majority of the GB is so much hostile to new people , maybe just ....unexpecting of it? In a habit? I found warmth here.

The internet is a mirror of society. As cliques age, turf defending [consciously or subconsciously] by some 'elders' always becomes an issue.

But as said... this is normal and often in forums it is merely amplified because of posting frequency. Threads like these are usually 'slow news day' material. When there's nothing to write about except for 'insidery'.

I also think it's a shame things like the support thread raised today cannot find room somewhere here. There is such wisdom in some of you people, and obvious strength. No one would have to take part in it, it would not be mandatory! But, you know, people could....just, say 'well done, good luck' or offer advice if they had any, if, you know, maybe they had had too much to drink and forgot to keep the bravado up or something.

For all its open-mindedness, I think Lit forums could indeed be slightly more open. And that "wisdom", combined with the topic, and the usually innate "good" of internet communities makes me think that Lit could be so much more.

If it tried to and switched from "we are Litsters, we matter" to "we are Lit and we are huge, how can we be of more value and help more people [with their wank/kink/deviant/happy days]". Disrupt the status quo?


All good.

 

[Hard_Rom]

En Garde!

*Le Slash*
*Le Slash*
*Le Slash*

Voila! Ze marque of Zorro upon yon posterior!

Hon hon hon!

Spoken like a true native.

 

[La damnee elle la licorne]

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Why won't anyone post here anymore.

Is there something more to the old it's mean and negative all the time? There has to be more than that.

There is certainly the old summer lull happening but this is different.

That being said is there anything we can do to improve the board? Garage sale? Spring Cleaning?

Maybe some advertising or networking to try to bring in some new people?

I know this is a take off of the same old this place sucks right now deal but Im trying to put a new spin on it and see what we can do to improve this place.

Theres 100 people viewing half the time and five people posting.

What the hell?

When the beautiful people won the day and got their politics thread in order to turn the GB into the Playground, they stopped talking to anyone who still talks politics, ethics, morality...,

 

[La damnee elle la licorne]

 

[hashtag45]

When the beautiful people won the day and got their politics thread in order to turn the GB into the Playground, they stopped talking to anyone who still talks politics, ethics, morality...,

Shit-stirrer.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Shit-stirrer.

It's already paying off...

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

I've been here since late 1999 and this has always been a politics board with Laurel as the Liberal Queen of the Salon.


So some people should either migrate to the playground, stay silent, or just go fuck themselves...

Most of the dearth of posting comes directly from the antics and boorish behavior of the Progressive (Fabian Socialism) Democrats, especially the pajama bois who only become alphas online.

 

[Bookishleigh]

Wants more political discussion but only if everyone agrees with point of view. Seems quite reasonable.....

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Wants more political discussion but only if everyone agrees with point of view. Seems quite reasonable.....

Pretty vague statement...

On purpose?

 

[RobDownSouth]

When the beautiful people won the day and got their politics thread in order to turn the GB into the Playground, they stopped talking to anyone who still talks politics, ethics, morality...,

But half-breed half-baked half-witted homophobic hatemongers such as yourself all decided that your Poutrage Du Jour was too large to be confined to a "politics board".

You needed....NEEDED...the maximum audience possible for your soapbox, which is why you'd never "lower" yourself to posting on a board for politics.

 

[RobDownSouth]

Wants more political discussion but only if everyone agrees with point of view. Seems quite reasonable.....

Ask him to explain his pet theory "ad hominem by class".

I double dog dare ya.

 

[pointless]

That's part of it. Another part is that we don't have anywhere near the number of younger posters that we used to have. Message boards seem to be populated mostly by people who remember a world without the web. This is not a Lit-specific issue.

yeah, all that as well. message boards like this are mostly a gen x and older kind of a thing.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Yes.

I am more comfortable with a keyboard that trying to hit the tiny little "keys" on my phone. My hands are so big that even my little finger covers about four keys at a time...

I don't even think that my teen uses a computer anymore.

But that doesn't stop her for a BB when her attention span is geared to Instagram and Twitter.

 

[La damnee elle la licorne]

 

[Disgustipated]

I'm sure it has nothing to do with the same Luddites posting the same shit for decades.