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Topic: Insight into the evolution of FF forums (Read 560 times) |
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Philosopher King
of Fantasy Football
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Champ - '94, '99, '02, '04
I love ''the Gridiron''!
  
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Insight into the evolution of FF forums
« on: Sep 23rd, 2006, 6:11pm » |
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How FF Message-board Forums Evolve
Inspired by what transpired amidst good folk on the following thread:
http://www.fantasyfootballer.com/cgi-bin/theGridiron/YaBB.cgi?board=55;a ction=display;num=1157326844.
Yous see,... message board forums, and this one is no different, usually get off the ground with a few guys. There may be an "original" core of guys, but, in any event, sooner or later you end up with pockets of guys here and there who came over primarily by word-of-mouth. Now, these pockets, as well as any original core that existed, are, well, groups of friends, fellow office workers, family members, or whatever have you, i.e. personal and perhaps long-time friends and family. Even if they are just internet friends, e.g. playing, probably years, in a league together, they are still close enough to be part of a, by and large, "word-of-mouth" effort. Now, friends that you established a personal relationship with and family, especially if you are engaging in a hobby like fantasy football, which lends itself to serious trash-talk, tend to engage each other in a friendly, but, what can appear to an outsider to be, hostile manner.
Now, message-board forums themselves, by their very nature, exacerbate this "brand of" communication because there isn't immediate reaction or, for that matter, retraction, and it's difficult to communicate pathos/emotions. On these boards, emotions tend to be "one-way",... "yours". The "sterile" environment of message-board forums can even have personal friends at each others' throats as what would amount to giggle-filled, back-slappin', dynamic trash-talkin' if done face-to-face becomes infused with a sterility leading to mean-spiritedness. Nevertheless, by and large, a group of friends will get by (at least by picking up the  phone if things get too ugly).
But, things ratchet up a notch when these groups collide,... when people forget the(ir) boundaries (and those of others) and start trash-talkin' in the more public areas of the forum (as opposed to keeping the trash-talkin' on the league boards) to people they don't know. That doesn't work. People cannot take the same bullshit they take from someone they do personally know from someone they don't personally know. Moreover, though, there is a further more insidious scenario,... namely when personal friends bring their "friendly", but, objectively-speaking, harsh trash-talkin' up to those more public boards where it is hard for the general public to interpret. Now, if this isn't kept in check, it can become the foundation of a forum. In other words, if you let "friends" go about (harshly) trash-talkin' one another, no less others, in the more public areas of the forum in the way that they are used to doing in the office, on the couch on Sunday, over the phone, at the water cooler, wherever these "personal" friends get together and do their ribbing, new members and onlookers, who don't know the established relationships of the members of the forum, come in thinking that that "level" of trash-talkin', trash-talkin' with a "personal touch... slap in the face",  is par for the course.
So, now you have new members, real outsiders at first, coming in doing the same, and that ain't flyin'! No member can take the same shit they get from their friends from other members who they don't really know well, no less from newcomers. And, if all this isn't kept in check and made understood (by the administrator), not an easy venture, mind you (that is why it is the road less traveled), and a foundation to the contrary not laid, you end up with the mean-spirited, loudmouth "drivelfests" that most FF message-board forums seem to deteriorate... devolve into.
Let's not do that!
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| « Last Edit: Sep 24th, 2006, 5:36am by Stegfucius » |
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Philosopher King
of Fantasy Football
Site Administrator
GBRFLer
Champ - '94, '99, '02, '04
I love ''the Gridiron''!
Posts: 19699
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Re: Insight into the evolution of FF forums
« Reply #2 on: Sep 27th, 2006, 8:29am » |
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Thank you for the recognition, rickster! That little treatise in and of itself, i.e. not including all "else" that went into it, took a good 90 minutes of my life. I appreciate its being noticed. I work my ass off maintaining the "bigger picture", which the tide, even of good people mind you, often want to go against. I want this place to remain a place I am proud of when I look at myself in the mirror. In that sense, it will (continue to) attract others who want to be proud of who they look at in the mirror every day and repel the rest, either immediately or eventually.  Anyway, thanks again for the props, man.  Made my day (the other day). 
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