Board Dynamics

[Grace]

There are many message boards. Why do you, personally, post at this one? What are the pros and cons here if someone asks you about the board you post at although you do not tell them exactly where it is located?
I have been asked where I disappeared to from my old home board I used to hang out at. My response was vague but it made me think about why I came here...and stayed.
So I thought I'd ask you why you came here...and stayed as well.

 

[HUGGY]

There are many message boards. Why do you, personally, post at this one? What are the pros and cons here if someone asks you about the board you post at although you do not tell them exactly where it is located?
I have been asked where I disappeared to from my old home board I used to hang out at. My response was vague but it made me think about why I came here...and stayed.
So I thought I'd ask you why you came here...and stayed as well.

Duh! Cuz Gunny runs the best damn board on the internets ya goof!

 

[Grace]

But why do you think he runs the best board?

 

[HUGGY]

But why do you think he runs the best board?

Two words.. And don't tell him I told ya the secret!!! SHHHHHH!!!!!!

"Wild Turkey"!

OK seriously...Best mods.. Best mix of mods.. Total fairness. No favorites.. Everybody gets a shot. You make it or break it here on what ya bring...straight up. Simple rules.

 

[Luissa]

It is like crack.

 

[Grace]

I guess I should answer my own question, eh?

Recently, I returned to my old home board. I knew they would be looking for me and was afraid I would be found. So I have been careful. I am their nemesis. The one they like to pile on. They are strange people who hang on to the past and keep archives just to post to remind everyone what was said by whom to whom in cat fights 10 years ago or even last year. They don't like me very much. I stayed there because I could not believe people could be so shallow minded, or that evil. I was wrong. But it took many years for me to realize that indeed, people can be that way and revel in it.

One of them posted a story they read on the net. I responded with just a smilie that was similar to this one: ....meaning the OP was just weird, not the poster who posted it. In essence, I was agreeing with the poster that the story was crazy. I also knew just that one smiley would be enough for the majority to go into complete meltdown mode that I dared to respond at all. Their goal for many years was to get me gone. But when I am gone, they go hunting for me so they can "report" on where I am, what I am saying and in general use me as their focal point for thread after thread on their own respective boards (there are 4 public ones, 1 private one). So when I am there, someone is always on my back. Continually.

Here? I get reps. Some people like what I have to say. Nothing I post is twisted around and carried forth for months. I am free here. Some like me, some ignore me, some dislike me but the majority is positive, not negative. THAT is why I stayed. Because I am no longer in a cage being poked with a long stick no matter what topic I reply to, no matter which forum. And instead of being told over and over again what a horrible person I am, I am told often that I am appreciated here. For someone like me and what I've dealt with for so long, it's priceless.

 

[007]

Been here so long already, it wouldn't make any sense to leave.

 

[JBeukema]

This is where I post the first drafts and new programs before they're further refined and prepared for mass dissemination.

 

[Grace]

Been here so long already, it wouldn't make any sense to leave.

That was my outlook at the old home place. Funny how one becomes accustomed to the environment they find themselves in and the things that make them go....or stay put for years.
New member post introductions all the time, but very few stay. Makes me wonder if they are on the search as well and just don't stick around long enough to give a really good try before choosing whether to stay or go.

Like I said, the dynamics of it all interests me.

 

[AllieBaba]

I came here years ago, was here for a while under another name, then left (nothing personal, I think it had to do with my computer dying. i took a break from the itnernet). Then I re-joined and..I dunno, I just like it.

I like that it's pretty hard to get banned; the rules are fairly straight forward. I have been banned from other boards before, just for arguing a point. I've been banned forever from Helium, though I notice that my few articles still pop up on google when I google myself. That sort of pisses me off but there's not much I can do about it.

Also over the last several years I have formed bonds with other posters and I like to interact with them. I'm accustomed to and comfortable navigating the site and it's busy enough to stay interesting. I hate sites where you have little traffic. Boring. I also hate sites where people are gumdrops and rainbows all the time. Boring.

 

[Mr. H.]

I've been on another message board for over 10 years, primarily fan-based, and someone suggested I check this place out. I totally forget who that was and for all I know I could be shitting all over his threads LOL. Anyhow, these days I spend much more time here than there.

The sheer volume of topics, volume of posts, volume of bullshit.
It's all about volume.

 

[rightwinger]

I like the moderators..

They step in when needed but are mostly hands off

What I don't get is they let you say **** but they don't let you say *****

Edit: ***** the guy in the helmet from Star Wars

 

[editec]

I'd been posting at a unmoderated free speech board with a small population of players.

Eventually the aggregate personality conflicts grew so tedious that one faction (the majority) migrated to another board.

The completely unfettered FREE SPEECH model of community boards is, I think, impossible to sustain unless the players are vetted at the door.

And even then I suspect that every such community has a shelf life beyond which it cannot suvive.

 

[Cuyo]

I have noticed that a lot of the people here post on multiple message boards. Myself? I got bored one day and googled "Political message board," and here I am. Have never posted anywhere else. Idk, nothing else seemed to appeal to me.

 

[AllieBaba]

I'd been posting at a unmoderated free speech board with a small population of players.

Eventually the aggregate personality conflicts grew so tedious that one faction (the majority) migrated to another board.

The completely unfettered FREE SPEECH model of community boards is, I think, impossible to sustain unless the players are vetted at the door.

And even then I suspect that every such community has a shelf life beyond which it cannot suvive.

I think this one might be here to stay, however.

It is about the freedom.

 

[007]

Been here so long already, it wouldn't make any sense to leave.

That was my outlook at the old home place. Funny how one becomes accustomed to the environment they find themselves in and the things that make them go....or stay put for years.
New member post introductions all the time, but very few stay. Makes me wonder if they are on the search as well and just don't stick around long enough to give a really good try before choosing whether to stay or go.

Like I said, the dynamics of it all interests me.

It hasn't all been a bed of roses. Yes as a conservative and as old fashioned as I am I can be pretty polarizing, so naturally there's been and still is a segment of people here that I really piss off, and it can get pretty brutal at times because people here that are in a click like to "gang up" on people they don't like. However, I have found that they come and go. All one has to do is hang in there and usually the trouble makers leave, or get banned. But, those that have been here since the beginning, like myself, that I have had diabolical disagreements with, like Dr Grump, now he's on my friends list because I've grown to respect the guys opinion, even if it's different than mine, and I respect him for sticking around for so long. That's what makes the board for me basically, is seeing the few of us left that have been here for so long. Dr Grump, Dilloduck, Avatar, Sitarro, Stephanie, Annie, Gunny, Dis - a.k.a. Shattered, whom I miss, and sorry if I'm missing any board old timers. They give the place a real sense of familiarity that I wouldn't have if I joined another board, so I stay.

 

[boedicca]

We're a bunch of misfits with nowhere else to go.

 

[Grace]

I have noticed that a lot of the people here post on multiple message boards. Myself? I got bored one day and googled "Political message board," and here I am. Have never posted anywhere else. Idk, nothing else seemed to appeal to me.

Same here. Googled. Found it.

 

[kiwiman127]

I've been posting on various political boards for well over ten years.
Some very good boards came and went (USA Today, The Atlantic, MSNBC, Pro-American and MSN UK), others were either dominated by far rightwing or leftwing posters which was too much of a lovefest.
This board is well set up and has the best mix of characters of all the boards and a great variety of political beliefs. And the Mods do a good job of letting things go ala free speech.
I found this board via Google. It was one of many boards I experimented with and I chose US Message Board as my new home for political discussions based on it's quality and the quality of the posters.

 

[random3434]

I came for the trolls, I stayed for the sock puppets.