I used to post on a forum dedicated to the discussion of all things relating to Faith and Religion. Hosted by the band Creed (don't start on me about Creed, I only used the forum... -_- )
Dear god, the fights we'd have. It's a subject most people seem unable to discuss without resorting to the outright flaming of any opinion that differs from the norm.
And it got worse over time.
When I started posting there (this was years ago) folk were generally polite in most topics. We had a few trolls, but generally everything was dandy.
In all honesty the place really began to degrade when the folk who posted there started trying to enforce rules about posting, which essentially amounts to "I don't see a point to this post, therefore I'm going to flame you."
I eventually got banned by Wind-up Records. Creed had a new album coming out, and in order to promote message boards safe for Creed's average listener demographic (minors) they banned anyone who had swore, even slightly, in the last 3 months, or had expressed an opinion which differed greatly from the ones promoted by the band.
I had been posting there for 2 years, had close to 10,000 posts in.
By comparison the alla boards, even the main boards, are pretty tame.
But there's still no call for flaming (unless in a flame thread or toward a post expressing true social bigotry). There's no call for rating down just because
you (they) don't see a purpose to a particular thread or post.
That's something that always irked me about the convoluted rules of etiquette associated with forums nowadays. That every thread must "contribute".
In my mind, any thread in which one member of a community engaging in conversation with another contributes to the community at large.
But its a general rule that the more frivolous threads will get burried if you leave them alone. And if they don't, then perhaps others disagree with you as to whether or not it "contributes".
At the very least, no one is forcing you to enter any given thread.
From many years of experience with forums, I can sum up the key characteristic of a good forum in one word.
Relaxed. Getting your panties in a wad never helps anything.
That wasn't really directed at anyone, just thinking out loud.
It's something I've been thinking about for a while. This thread allowed me to put it into words.
Thanks for creating a thread which "contributes", Seriph.