Tag Archives: Forums

Forums vs. Twitter vs. Blogs

Posted on June 25, 2013 by Tim Hall

Over on Twitter, Rosie Sherry lamented the fact that too many conversations happen in ephemeral places like Twitter rather than on forums with greater permanence.

I’ve previously blogged about the ways social networking sites all too frequently suck the life out of forums and blogging, and I think the challenge is finding a space for blogs and forums in a world where everyone has accounts in Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. People are naturally lazy, and prefer a “one stop shop” approach expecting content to come to them rather than keep track of dozens of individual sites. It’s why so many businesses have abandoned their own web forums in favour of Facebook groups; that’s where their customers are.

A technical fix would be on solution; synching content between a blog or forum and a social network; I’ve looked at WordPress plugins that do precisely that. It’s certainly technically feasible for content to be shared both ways, for example, between a Facebook group and a stand-alone forum. The bigger problem is this comes up against the social networks’ walled-garden approach to monetising their services.

But that’s probably only a partial solution. For example, I find Twitter especially is very different in style and feel from blog and forum discussions. In some contexts, blogs and their associated comments sections are like conference presentations followed by a formal Q&A session. In contrast, Twitter is more like the informal discussions in the bar afterwards. So I’m not convinced that it’s a good idea to try and merge the two.

On the other hand, far more people are likely to read what I say on Twitter than on my blog, so the two need to coexist. Bloggers and forum owners need to make their sites sufficiently compelling that people will visit, and to use social media to promote them.

What do you think?

Posted in Social Media | Tagged , , | 10 Comments

The perils and pitfalls of moderating online comments

Posted on October 30, 2010 by Tim Hall

Very good post on the role of a moderator on online forums.

The rule of thumb I find useful both there and here (and, more importantly given the way people’s internet habits are changing, over on Facebook where blog content is imported) is to approach moderation the same way a good chair would approach chairing a public meeting.

Giving people a chance to have their say is right up there at the top of the list of objectives for chairing. Alongside it are other considerations like trying to give lots of people in the meeting the chance to have their say: the free speech of one person shouting down whatever anyone else says infringes the free speech of all the others also wanting to talk.

While it’s obvious that political (and for that matter, religious) forums are far more likely to turn toxic, at least in theory, than those devoted to subjects like model railways or music, I’ve always found that many online community sites are only as good as their moderators.

The point about shouting down others is a very good point. What’s worse is when the shouting down isn’t just one disruptive individual but two or three backing each other up. It seems to me that it’s a case of “civil behaviour”, “high traffic”, “no moderation”, pick any two. Do nothing to rein them in, and the loud aggressive types will drive away many of the more reasonable posters, who might otherwise have made a useful contribution, but find the online atmosphere too unpleasant. It’s why, for example, I give the official Marillion forum a very wide berth.

Although sometimes I wonder whether at least some of the trolls aren’t necessarily malicious, but demonstrate the Dunning-Kruger effect when it comes to online discourse. This would explain why they always blame ‘the other guy’ when a thread turns nasty.

Blogs are a bit different, in that many of them are very much personal soapboxes, and their owners primary interest isn’t to build a community around the blog – those such as Making Light are very much the exception here.

Posted in Miscellaneous | Tagged | 2 Comments

A Public Plea About Forum Behaviour

Posted on August 28, 2010 by Tim Hall

Don’t know if it’s the time of year, or it’s something in the water, but a number of small prog bands’ web forums have turned rather toxic lately, and worse still, the discord has spilled from one forum to another.

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve read some quite spiteful and mean-spirited attacks against one or two bands, followed up by complaints that the band’s fans are unable to handle criticism. And of course you find some of the very same people will be up in arms if anyone says a word against their band. Too much of it has got very unpleasantly personal.

I am really sick of these “My band is better than your band” pissing contests. Why is it that some people seem incapable of praising one band without simultaneously bad-mouthing another band who are perceived to be competitors? I’m thinking here particularly of a scene of interrelated bands where many of the regular forum posters know band members personally, and have a natural instinct to be defensive when they’re subject to what can easily be seen as unfair criticism.

I recognise that it should it’s perfectly OK to say you didn’t enjoy a particular album or gig, and to explain why. But I really wish people would at least try to be a little bit more gracious about it. I don’t think it’s on to imply that if someone else did enjoy a gig that their judgement must have been impaired. All these bands put their heart and soul their music. If you don’t care for a particular band, just leave them to people who do like them, and don’t keep carping on about how much you think they suck.

And I don’t think it’s OK to post jibes at other forum members who saw things differently, then claim it was only “witty banter between friends” when you find that they take offence. If you don’t know someone well enough to know what you can get away with saying, then don’t say it! And if they do take offence, then it can’t have been just ‘witty banter’. Is that really that difficult to understand?

And before people accuse me of hypocrisy because of some of the things I say about overrated indie bands on places like The Guardian Music Blog, I think completely different rules apply when it comes to big corporate rock acts or currently fashionable bands who have been ridiculously hyped by certain sections of the media – think of it as putting the boot into the hype as much as the act themselves.

Is a little bit more civility and mutual respect too much to ask for?

Posted in Miscellaneous, Music | Tagged | 6 Comments