I have LOTS of friends. On-line...

The difference being with this analogy the other driver was the one inserting himself into your life. With the messageboard you are actively going and seeking it out. On your final point that is fine, but the issue is the anger that you feel can only exist because there is an emotional value that you have attached. Lets stick with an analogy, it is like going to a party thinking the guy throwing it and his friends are dicks, having a disagreement but getting pissed if they ask you too leave for you to go to a party next week and seethe with anger complaining to other guests.

In that analogy I can on a conceptual level understand the anger, I may not agree with it it, but I can understand. Your pride was hurt, you were maybe even publically humiliated. This is bound to hurt some people, and maybe even require venting. It is when we subsitute in messageboard to the analogy that I am struggling to make the mental leap between being offended online and being pissed off later in real life.

I think that by the very nature of a messageboard revolving around the individual and them telling their own experiences (always tell, rarely ask as opposed to real life which is a mix between ask and tell) either instrinsically attracts the narcissistic or within the confines of the messageboard heightens narcissistic traits. This then explains the anger that is then associated with any act against you within the messageboard, which would explain to me why people seem more insulted by being thrown off a messageboard then if they were kicked out of a bar. The messageboard is seeing the narcissistic side of us which is more prone offense from your detractors.

 

This is the only forum I go to these days. The main reason it that it is well moderated, and the fact that people can't just post the same thread over and over again in different variations.

I used to frequent a couple of gun forums, however as soon as it was clear Obama was going to win the racists and wingnuts came out in force and I just couldn't handle it.

 

I think that still remains to be seen. You'll notice that the random drunk threads usually involve the same 20-30 people every weekend, as do many of the General Discussion threads. While registration increases every day, participation by new people doesn't seem to. I'm not trying to be a negative nancy, because it has only been 6 months, but this board could easily suffer the same fate.

 

I like it here.
I get to see t&a, I get to laugh, I get to keep updated with things I normally wouldn't have the time to go search out myself, I get advice, opinions, and ideas (not all to be taken saltless...) and I get a cure for mild to moderate boredom.
I've met two board members outside of this place (back when it was still RMMB). Aetius who stopped by my bar in Virginia Beach when he was in town and TheLittlestRanger when he was promoting his company down at Fort Benning. Both cool guys, wish I had had more time with both but it was always just a 'passing through' kind of deal.
Oh yeah, and Toytoy still owes me some god damn raspberry wine or whatever the hell he brews.
Red dots, green dots... where are the yellow dots for when I might not like what you're saying but I'm not entirely sure?
Bottom line, thanks for Chater and friends who made the new board and thanks for everyone who makes me laugh on here. Stop on by VA Beach anytime and I'll buy you a beer.

 

I've always belonged to message boards for as long as I've been using the internet, on halflife2.net/forums I have over 10,000 posts. I also have an active social life, for some people however I think forums become a poor substitute for a 'real' life. That's certainly the case on a few forums I visit.

I enjoy this place but have always found it weird how people hide there identities so much, like blurring there faces out when they post picture. On no other forum I post do people do that, but maybe it's becuase of the nature of what people post here.

 

It's not a Friday afternoon if I don't remind everyone how precariously we teeter on the edge of the e-byss.

 

TMMB was the first and only forum I ever visited (until obviously I moved over to this place). I think about 5 or 6 years ago, somebody sent me a link to one of TM's stories, and from there I saw a link to the messageboard that said somethink like "this place defies all description". I clicked it, expecting to find a bunch of monkeys firing feces all over the place and urinating on one another. Oddly enough, that's pretty much what it was.

It's funny how people mention that the RMMB is the place they went to break up the monotonous work days. I get the strong sense that many people viewed work as the place they went to break up the monotonous days on the RMMB. People took shit WAY too seriously. I'll admit that even I got sucked into the whole "rep" bullshit for a while. I think the change over to the TiB has been a healthy one for most of us, although I do miss some of the characters and story-lines, which over time, I think this place will develop as well. We already have a resident escort and a resident sexual-predator-intervier/expert. It will evolve.

 

Done and done.

 

It's not a mystery. There are just over 3200 registered members on the board. Of those 3200, only 300 or so have more than 30 posts, which averages out to a little more than one post per week over the last 6 months. Only 10% participates with any regularity.

You have to assume that a large number of non-participating members registered hoping to get some information on Max or the old board and might never return. The rest of them are lurking if they're reading at all. While they lurk, they see the same core of 40-50 people who moved here from another messageboard talking to each other with a sense of familiarity. And that, essentially, is what defines this place. It is still a refugee camp of the RMMB. If you didn't know about the old board, what's the draw? Yes, there's an above-average literacy rate and yes, we have some funny posters, but an e-stranger would almost need to stumble upon the board accidentally to find that out. That's why so many forums are attached as complements to larger sites, rather than being freestanding.

Again, I'm not trying to be disparaging toward the Leader and his project. I'm just pointing out the issues as I see them. People are criticizing all the morons that infested the old place, but the influx of said morons meant the place was growing. Also, with those morons came a handful of good contributors who offered alternate viewpoints and kept it from becoming a gathering of individuals who sit around agreeing with each other all the time.

 

That's because 50%-90% of the posts in this board aren't on topic, have some inside joke no new member would know, and aren't interesting or funny. As beefy Phil states the same people post over and over again. It intimidates people. And yes shegirl this place does resemble a circle jerk. A large one, but still a jerk. People read, think we are idiots and move on. The one good thing about heavy moderation is it keeps the idiots out and keeps things on topic. The only thing that gets censored here are religion and tucker max bashing. We need less one liners/you tube videos, and more relevant content in every thread.

 

Quick Blue Dog, shut down the main system control! The machine is becoming self-aware!

 

See, I disagree, here. I think threads should be allowed to run their course, where ever that might end up being. Sure, they might end up completely different from what they were intended to be, but that isn't always a bad thing. I think the mods need to keep people from personally attacking each other (unless it is in the red dots, where apparently its all personal attacks), and keep the trolls out. Personally, I think the mods on this board do an excellent job.

I wouldn't consider myself in some 'inner circle' on this board. I have a grand total of 69 posts (including this one), and I was barely around on the old board. I don't feel left out when I read threads, and if I do see some obscure inside joke, I tend to just skip it and move on. I post when I feel I have something to contribute, and otherwise I find myself much more of a lurker, who reads threads when he is bored. I'm willing to bet that there are a lot of people like me who lurk a LOT, and only post once a week, maybe less. The thing is, the RMMB had us all conditioned that if we didn't have something constructive to add to a thread, then don't say anything at all. Then everyone from RMMB came here, and that same mentality followed. That is why I think there are so many registered members, and so few regular posters. Some people have a lot to contribute, they have tons of stories and offer great perspective on a lot of topics. Others (like me) really don't have as much to offer outside of certain threads (for me, it is the video game thread, where I bet at least 1/4, if not half, of my posts are located), so it seems like there are a lot of people that just lurk.

That's just my two cents. Like I've said, I do like this board a lot, think the mods do a good job, and overall have a good time reading the funny and sometimes insane ramblings of you weird fucks.

 

I can't remember who it was 6 months ago, but somebody voiced this exact concern then. The problem of members losing interest and leaving vs. no new members coming in was brought up. Places like this can't be successful without a fair amount of turnover.

We'd only have ourselves to blame if this place dies prematurely. Read through this very thread: how many of you claim not to speak to another soul about this place? It's your "escape," your little piece of the Internet. We lament that this place doesn't have more participation, yet won't so much as tell our friends about it. When the health care discussion went down, did any of you send your friends a link and say, "Hey, this person makes an interesting point" (I'll admit I didn't, but my peers are much less inclined to care than those of you in your 30s)? The deeper, more thought-provoking discussions like that can give way to us showing people we know (*gasp!*), and thus bring in more participation. It wouldn't hurt to see threads gear towards more intelligent topics than an umpteenth AskMen.com list or what Lady GaGa means to pop culture. Not that there's anything wrong with those topics, but those should be reserved for a slow day, not become a regular feature (which is what happened in the last 12 months of the RMMB). As much as I enjoy the occasional "let's make fun of Blue Dog/shegirl/toytoy88" posts, we're still those kids at the middle school lunch table with our inside jokes that nobody else gives a shit about.

I know I'll piss off a few people with this, but I think the regular weekend drunk threads ought to go. At least limit them to once a month. People spending every Friday/Saturday night drinking in front of their computer telling the same few dozen strangers and sharing e-high fives is not an alluring feature for any website. Those threads have come to define this place, rather than being a funny sideshow.

Unless we start taking this place more seriously, why should anyone else?

 

I lurked on Tucker's message board for years. The content that he posted on pursuing passion, how to pick up girls, etc. have given me more perspective than anyone I know in real life. The 'fanboyism' on RMMB always disgusted me though. Some of the RMMB mods were fucking awesome. I've sent DCH and CaptCapital PM's and (despite me being a dumbass teenager) received excellent advice with zero harassment. Testosterone-ridden beta male nerds need to chill the fuck out online. Tucker and the mods never saw the board as anything other than a source of cheap amusement, so getting your panties in a wad for them trying to fuck with you seems pointless.

I read TiB religiously because of the life experiences our members have to share. This board is solid, but I agree with Frebis. The way this message board can truly create value is if it continues to pump out intelligent threads on relevant topics outside of pop culture. Posting nerdy e-inside jokes, silly youtube links and getting drunk and chatting with your board e-friends is all lame as fuck.

 

I come here for the funny. Granted, I think some posters here couldn't make a baby laugh by blowing on its belly, but in general, there is enough consistent entertainment to keep me around. The TiB also acts a filter. I don't have time to wade through a sea of internet shit to find the few gems out there. At the TiB, I have a small army of people bringing those gems to my attention. I like that.

 

This.

I migrated from RMMB like everyone else, but I only registered there to get full access to the board; I never bothered posting because I was too intimidated by the whole process. Besides, the way I always lurked was I'd pay more attention to posts from users with more rep, often outright skipping those with 0 or negative rep. I always assumed everyone else functioned similarly, and since I never had anything particularly insightful to contribute, I never posted (probably should've stuck to that mantra, eh?).

I feel like that isn't as much of a problem here. The mods aren't intimidating, threads can go where they go most of the time, and I think that's great. However, this board has a lot of intelligent people on it, and what I come here for is to read intelligent commentary, not random posts in drunk threads. I never bother even reading the drunk thread since, as others have stated, I feel like that is the realm of the "old friends" from the old board to hang out and shoot shit with each other, and I'm not part of that. Just my perspective I guess.

Edit: Oh, and I come here for the funny, of course. But then, I rarely have funny stories to tell myself, so I tend not to post in those threads either...

Double Edit: I suppose I should actually post something related to the focus. This is the only message board I currently read with any regularity, and I have no problem telling people that I got an idea from "this message board I read." That having been said, there's very few people I would dare show this place to, but I have shown it to a friend or two, particularly for the Lost thread.

 

This.

The TiB is great for taking a few of the hilarious/interesting/relevant things on the internet and in general, bringing them to your attention, and providing an opportunity to either read or participate in discussion on the topic if you so choose. Some discussions, like the threads on legal drinking age and legalizing marijuana, I'll toss in my opinion, then read for the commentary. I could go elsewhere and read what talking heads have to say on the subject, but I'd rather have other perspectives from real people I, in some ways, kind of trust. Just like that there's posters who's opinions I ignore, there's opinions I respect and look forward to reading on subjects as well.

As far as self-disclosure goes, I work in a job that, if anyone knew I was even reading (never mind participating in) threads that are... let's say, politically incorrect, I'd be shunned from the profession on the spot. So I try to keep those details private, and there's no way in hell I'd admit to anyone that I read this.

I do believe that online forums are, to extents, considered real social interaction, and I certainly don't lose respect when others say they read forums as well. Especially when it's things like car, writing, sports, industry talk where you actually want to hear other opinions and you learn from them. But online forum/chat room stuff can be taken too far, and that's where it gets to be a bad thing -- when it affects your emotional health, or other "real life" responsibilities, that's where it becomes a problem.

I guess online social interaction (e.g. forums/message boards, chat rooms) is kind of like video games. Everyone says they play video games, no big deal. But if you're a "gamer" to the extent it becomes a priority? Well, that kind of is a big deal.

(And just to throw in my 2 cents on my participation on here: NASCAR thread, cooking thread, general discussion, and I read a good majority of the active threads in permanent threads. Hell, I almost wish we'd do a culinary sub-forum, to include cooking, drinks, home brewing etc. I've gotten so many damn good recipes off that thing. It's a good outlet. The fiance watches Friends re-runs, I participate on the TiB.)

 

I am here for one reason and one reason only: Rep. Sweet delicious sensual rep. The more rep I get the bigger my e-penis grows and the more shegirl's airway gets blocked.