The Miserable End of the Open Forum

[More Power]

An article appearing in PC Magazine, entitled The Miserable End of the Open Forum (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1821934,00.asp) By John C. Dvorak is an interesting read, especially since Yahoo recently announced pulling the plug on its discussion forums.

MP

[ 06-24-2005, 12:38 PM: Message edited by: More Power ]

[tom.mcinerney]

Thanks, Jim, this is illuminating, and John Dvorak is certainly highly regarded.
It's interesting that since the early ARPANET days the use of computers for (mere, and oft personal) communications has far exceeded expectations. Can we be surprised that such broad activity reflects manifold aspects of a diversified society? No society has functioned without some sort of policing. Particularly when personal-gain/money is involved, we tend to warp.

[A year or so ago] I noticed how ubiquitous were 'Stephen D. Ambrose' posts until he discovered that a sophisticated aftermarket FSD was in production, and he vanished. He was a good forum member, no complaints.

More recently 'Arrowhead' seems to have joined the anti JK conspiracy theorists. Too bad.... It is fascinating to observe how we adopt perspectives, refine viewpoints, invest in applications. I always enjoy engineering as a realm of affairs where it is possible to develop a consensus as regards what is appropriate (or 'good') in a particular application environment. {This becomes vastly more difficult when imagining policies guiding human activity, since our behavior is so variable , and reacts in unexpected ways to guides/restrictions}.

[More Power]

In the November 2004 issue of Four Wheeler magazine, writer Dennis Pierce contributed a "Low Rage" editorial entitled "www . misinformation . com'. In it, he wrote about the decline of usefulness in discussion forums, even including their own online Four Wheeler forums. Here is one of the more poignant excerpts from his editorial:


"I recently took a spin on the Four Wheeler online forum and was appalled at the garbage and trash talk that was being passed off as an exchange of information… I can point to at least a half dozen other special-interest Web forums that are nothing more than a platform for the opinions of people who probably have serious self-esteem issues."It'll be interesting to see how things are in a few years...

MP

[rjschoolcraft]

That's my primary complaint with the offshoot, diesel place forum. Too much garbage with very little real information. I'm happy that the folks on The Diesel Page are mostly above all of that nonesense.

[befland]

Yep...I agree with Tom (at least what I understood of what he said!):) and RJ. I've tried to gleen information from other forums but the arguing back and forth gets on my nerves and is not worth the effort. I continue to like this group and forum the best.

Bill

[More Power]

I read the editor's column in the current Truckin' magazine (volume 31, No. 9) with interest because it is on-topic with this thread. It appears Steve Warner, Truckin's current editor, is just becoming aware of the dark side of open forums.

The editorial begins with: "Man, I love people who badmouth my editors' hard work on a monthly basis on Internet truck forums."

Steve then made a mistake (in my opinion) of attempting to answer the critics and explain the magazine's position. I've learned that there is always a small segment within a BB community that cannot be satisfied, and I don't know of a BB admin who's been operating a worthwhile forum for more than 2 years who isn't grumpy.

My wife and daughter share a common interest in Barbie collecting. Now, who would think a Barbie forum would be a place for rancor and troublemakers? It was. Mattel (maker of Barbie) once had an open BB forum, but was forced to close it down, and then allow only subscribers access - all because of the dark side of open BB's.

Jim

[JD Diesel]

Yeah thats what I like about this place you can ask the stupid question even if its been asked a 1000 times nobdy gets bashed for it. And best of all NO body is nasty here. What a country. :D JD ;)

[GregCrabb]

I agree...I'm sure I asked many repeat questions when I first bought my '86 silverado...but y'all were so polite and helpful...and encouraging. I've been on the Cadillac forums...those guys are jerks. Some of the Mercedes forums appear to all be younger, hot rodding speed demons with no real useful information for us regular yuppy commuter drivers. Thanks.
my .02
:D

[Marty Lau]

Originally posted by JD Diesel:
Yeah thats what I like about this place you can ask the stupid question even if its been asked a 1000 times nobdy gets bashed for it. And best of all NO body is nasty here. What a country. :D JD ;) Hey I get nasty and so does RJ. tongue.gif

[JD Diesel]

Yeah But you do funny nasty. :rolleyes: JD tongue.gif