Why do all message boards Devolve?

[Ripley]

In the beginning people have a shared goal and comradery.

But they always end up cesspools of sexism and juvenililty.

Boring and Annoying.

[leftofthedial]

1. I know you are but what am I?

[Ripley]

4. See.

What a thoughtful reply.

[leftofthedial]

5. would it be better with a

;-) ?


I think DU just goes through phases of positive and negative periods. There has almost always been a fair share of internecine bickering.

[Terran]

42. Also people without a sense of humor

tend to be a problem.

[underseasurveyor]

58. Highly annoying aren't they

:spank:

[Captain Hilts]

2. Even IMDB. nt

[ColbertWatcher]

3. Figures YOU'd say something like that. Poop. n/t

[Ripley]

9. Um. Who are You and how do you know me?

Perfect example. Somebody named "ColbertWatcher" has determined that I would say something "he thinks is poop" yet I can't recall any dialog with him ever.

I should write a thesis.

[hfojvt]

17. believe it or not

that comment was probably meant to humorously illustrate the point of your OP.

But is there lots of sexism here?

[ColbertWatcher]

28. Figures a chick would say that. Vagina. n/t

[blondeatlast]

52. Tell me a joke--ANY joke. Elephant, kangaroo, anything. intelligence and

a sense of humor are related; clearly you lack one, so do you lack the other?

Try this: How does an elephant hide in a cherry tree?

[QueenOfCalifornia]

57. That

would be titled:

Poop, What's It Good For?

(I think you need to lighten up... maybe go outside and breath in some fresh air. Really... don't let people on a message board get to you.)

Also - a sense of humor here is a necessity.

[bridgit]

6. Entropy

[raccoon]

41. You beat me to it! I was going to say, law of entropy. nt

[whippo]

7. fail

{lol}

[Gwendolyn]

8. Cause there is no reason to evolve.

That's it. :)

[TheFarseer]

10. because

we've apparently accomplished our goal of getting a Democratic President and Congress? :shrug:

[Ripley]

14. My question was larger than Politics

Are You saying that once the goal of a Democratic President has been achieved, it's okay to um.

Talk trash?

[DainBramaged]

11. XXX%%%X%X%^^^% $X$X$X##X@@ X@@X@X@X

so there.

[Marr]

12. I assume you've been offended by someone--

and you're taking offense as conspicuously as possible?

Ironically, I think this is the sort of thing that makes some boards devolve. They sometimes become more about dualing internet personalities than the subjects they're meant to be built around.

[Lex]

13. LOL. I'd say because of TROLLS.

nt

[Gwendolyn]

15. Nah...

... you're only saying that because you don't like what's been said about your weight. :) get over it.

[Lex]

16. rofl - Once I'm a perfect size 8, then I'll be smart!

nt

[Gwendolyn]

19. nope you'll be thin... but still as dumb as you are

Why do you keep answering me. It's because you are not happy within yourself. Once you actually do something physical that you would like, enjoy for yourself, you will be happy. Till then you'll feel some need for someone to answer some stupid questions you know yourself how to anwser. You know why you've gained weight. :)

[Lex]

24. Well actually

I've lost 60 pounds through good ol' diet and exercise, best shape of my life, but I loathe climbing up on soapboxes as my exercise of choice. :)

[Gwendolyn]

27. Lol

You should though. I do all the time. :)

Even when I have no business to do so. It makes me feel good to interfere with the lives of others :-D

Not really but sometimes yes. Only when it helps feed people. :-)

Sorry.

[hfojvt]

18. when was the beginning?

Some of it is your own personal honeymoon. As the N00b, you are in a discovery phase, meeting new people and they seem great, but as time goes on, you find your place in a clique. You find people that you agree with and people who get on your nerves. It's sorta natural group behaviour.

Perhaps more to the point, there have been "DU (or GD) has really gone downhill" threads periodically since I have been here.

There may be some causation there.

[silverojo]

21. Somebody needs to read more

The "n00b" has over 1000 posts here. :eyes:

To answer the OP's question, I'd volunteer my theory that if you get more than one person together, there's going to be conflict at some point. If that happens with 2 people, imagine the odds of conflict with as many people as there are on a forum, esp. one as large as DU.

Plus, we're Democrats. We're incapable of walking in lockstep. If we could do that, we'd be Republicans. ;)

[hfojvt]

29. that was kind of the point

everyone begins as a n00b, and the n00b time is a wonderful time of discovery. It's the honeymoon. Then time passes and the glory fades and the now old-timer thinks "this ain't the place it used to be".

But the cast of characters has changed too. This is not the same group of people it was in 2002. It's not the same cast of characters it was when I re-joined in late 2004. Something like 60,000 people have registered or re-registered since then. Many of them were axed and some of them read more than post or get bored or discouraged and wander away and perhaps wander back. or only get involved during big events (witness the Defcon levels when participation is much higher during debates or election night).

Along with the honeymoon, is 'the way we were'. "What's too painful to remember, we simply choose to forget." The Carlos wars are forgotten and the past is remembered at 100x glory. So how can any nasty old present measure up to that 'blend of Paul Bunyan, St. Pat and Noah Webster we've concocted for ourselves out of our Irish imagination and Iowa stubbornness and our library full of books'?

[dionysus]

47. CARLOS! that poor lad

:rofl:

[lukasahero]

59. The beginning for the poster in question was 2002 eom

[fla nocount]

20. The Royal Cod-Bearer to HeWhoMustNotBeFondled...

leaps to the front of my mind but there are others. Sophomoric cheerleaders of single issues, shallow thinkers without ideology, those without a philosophical sense of right and wrong or the struggles of mankind through history and wars. Party-Firsters, Candidate Idolaters, people that can spell Democrat and New Deal but don't know what either means.

In short, the ignorant children wrought by the last three decades of education and politics. If you want to roll in the rhetorical, ask us a hard one.

Where's Walt, CrewLeader, RB Ham, FrankNStein, MoPaul and the like, that's what I want to know.

Did I mention the conscience of the party and DU, the Net Nannies?...them too.

[Ripley]

23. Secret revealed

Wow, NO!

Yeah, Sexist shit is so enjoyable!

(note to male journalist..we do not like being groped at work, 'k?)

[IDemo]

22. Devolution is just a theory. I believe we were all created this way.

[TahitiNut]

25. Well...

... perhaps FreeRepublic is an exception?

I think it started out that way.

:dunce:

[Renew Deal]

26. Spoken like a typical woman.

:evilgrin:

:pals:

[originalpckelly]

30. Now listen, Hitler...

why don't you go goosestepping somewhere else? :P

[dbt]

31. I gotta go with Mutant Crab Bucket Syndrome first.

Then, there's the irresistably twisted appeal of Public Assholery Under Protection Of Anonymity, which is the fifth- or sixth-generation descendant of drawing glasses and a Van Dyke beard on a poster--or scrawling "pussy" on a chalkboard and giggling in the broom closet whilst people become outraged. The syndrome is probably best explained thusly:

If you can't make a contribution, make a mess.

[Ripley]

38. DSHB:

Dinner at the restaurant at the end of the universe.

YBCWLT

;p

[depakid]

32. Regression to the mean

http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/regrmean.htm

[Sentath]

56. Hmm, Ok. Some of that

But I say that along with that we have radically enlarged our sample, with low filter boundaries (a policy I almost 100% align with). And, face both hobbyist and professional infiltrators (very few).

[pampango]

33. You're either with us or against us. No shades of gray allowed. n/t

[BoneDaddy]

34. Wow

you are right, I do see alot of male bashing sexism in here.

[Alter Ego]

35. Is this like social commentary or something?

Are you making a point, being sarcastic, or making a joke that I'm missing?

[atommom]

36. The sense of anonymity makes people feel safe in expressing their

biases, and some of them feel a sense of power if they shake their weenie at someone on the internets? I'm just guessing. Message boards often remind me of primate interactions ... tribalism, territorialism, jumping and shrieking, etc. :hide:

[Ripley]

39. Hey!

Nice to see You am. Yes, I think that anonymity plays a part. But it's more complicated than that. If there are "rules" about what is allowed to stand and which posts are deleted and which people get tombstoned then there is a direction the board is being moved to with intention. The discrepancies and hypocrisies are legendary and obvious to anyone who observes the phenomena objectively. Who has the hardest time letting go of their egocentric views?

:)

[atommom]

61. You raise some interesting questions.

:)

[Orsino]

37. Strictly to frighten those who fear diverging views...

...the ones who dont' understand that every new member increases the chance for disagreement.

The authoritarian-minded ones who fear democracy most of all.

[HamdenRice]

40. Hitler!!!

nt eom

[knitter4democracy]

43. Not all message boards.

I'm on a knitting messageboard that has never gone through that phase. Of course, the main rule there is "play nice" with the second rule being "respect." It's worked there.

[QC]

44. Lost sense of community. As forums get bigger, they get dumber and meaner.

Look at what's happened to DU for a perfect example.

At one time, we actually discussed things and exchanged information here. Now the place is a damn fansite, kinda like a Britney Spears board, but with intellectual pretensions.

[BelgianMadCow]

45. Law of Thermodynamics: in a closed system, the entropy (chaos) can only increase n/t

[Tommy_Carcetti]

46. Nice post, Hitler-as-a-baby!

[Peacetrain]

48. I have noticed that myself.. and I think it is because a core group

develops, aligning itself alone lines (I am talking about political message boards) and any new people who wander by are usually attacked or quickly jump to a side, to save themselves from being eaten alive.


And then the worst of the core groups will bully everyone else off, even their own allies.

Which at that point new people do not even want to enter a boiling cesspool

That is why a moderated board is a better for long term growth of a message area.

Unmoderated boards no matter how they start out, seem to go to the lowest brow within a year or two.

edit for misspelling

[Lerkfish]

49. the inevitable dynamic of enlarging social groups.

As a group enlarges, or as members vy for defacto alpha dog status, inevitable fractures occur and splinters become cliques and rivalries develop. Sometimes this can self-destruct the group, or if the original cause and members are strong enough, it can weather the rumbles, but ALL large group suffer this pressure.

[trayfoot]

50. Just the nature of "politically oriented people"..................

But this board is NOTHING like the others I have visited! At least, people here DO discuss issues reasonable from time to time!

[AngryAmish]

51. I actually read some research on this issue a few days ago

IIRC, there needs to be strong moderation or else they devolve. One troll is not enough, there needs to be two or more.

Maybe someone can find it...

[nichomachus]

53. It's normal, human behavior

When groups -- families, religions, countries and, I guess, message boards -- run out of external enemies, they turn on each other.

Now, that the goal has been achieved of putting a Dem in the White House and getting control of Congress, the outside-enemy focus has been kind of lost. So, people turn on each other.

Most other groups do the same thing. Look at Christians. They love being persecuted. When they gain power, they persecute others -- gays are the current target. When they no long have an external enemy to focus on, they turn on each other. Most anti-Christian violence in history has come from other Christians. Put 10 Christians in a locked room for a week and you'll end up with 11 feuding sects.

[mtnsnake]

54. Good stuff

I love posts like yours. Seriously. :thumbsup:

[mikelgb]

55. anonymity

[Tesha]

60. "Friends come and go; enemies accumulate." (NT)

[Threedifferentones]

62. Well for what its worth

this is one of the most boring and annoying posts I have read here all day.

Although it did get me to reply.

Shit...

[Vanje]

63. Good question

....for me to poop on