Some forum observations

[chaoman45]

This applies not just to PX, but also to other forums I visited. Consider the following:

-It's harder to let things go on forums than real life because you can always go back and reread posts you hate from other members and reignite negative feelings.
-It's hard to determine the "slow season" of forum activity. Some forums believe it's during the school year when everybody is studying. Others think it's summer because people travel more often and are away from the forums for an extended period of time.
-The typical, average lifespan of a forum member is anywhere from 1-2 years.
-Even when the most controversial or disliked members get banned, activity tends to dip.
-You hate the posts you made a year ago. ("Oh my god I was so stupid back then")
-Internet noobs and preteens are almost indistinguishable.
-After a major update, several members will join. About 10% remain active after a year.

There are always "exceptions" to these, and your mileage may vary. What do you think, given your forum/internet experience?

[SeriousJupiter]

I'm not a member of many forums, but yes, I think your list is pretty accurate. I don't even remember some places I used to join on a whim and never went there again, but I assure you, there aren't many of them.

In fact, the only places I'm a regular member of are these forums, Pokemopolis forums and DeviantArt. If I wanted to, I could register in many other web comics' forums, but I think I just don't have the time or energy for that.

[mechy]

Not much of a forum goer myself, but from what I've generally seen your obeservations are more or less on the ball.
(I know I've had one or two of those "Oh my god I was so stupid back then" moments myself....)

[Jacio]

I think that many of my older posts can be seen as an "I was so stupid" moment. But other than this, I am only active on one other forum, much more than this one. And to be honest, the other one I'm on doesn't have these traits. We've had members that have lasted since the beginning, which was actually on another forum before we moved. So that makes about 70% of our active members 4-5 years old. And when we get rid of a troll/disliked person, people tend to go on much more often. However, the only ones we get really don't do much until they find an opening or get agitated. And when they do, they get banned. One time, there was a guy who had stopped posting due to this one guy(who pretended to be a girl) who was trolling him. After a time, we banned him, and after he learned this, he came back again. But of course, this is from my experience. Everyone will have different forum experiences.

[mechy]

Everyone will have different forum experiences.

That and it, to a degree, depends on the type of forum you're on; because you're going to get at least somewhat different community dynamics based on what the "purpose" of the forum is. Even between those that are based on similar/identical subjects.

[Jafar]

Seems accurate, Chaoman. I'm kind of put off now on the idea of online communication (deleted my Facebook account just recently), but come on here and another forum simply because once and a while a worthwhile debate pops up. I was a member on this Sonic the Hedgehog forum that started up in December 2004. I joined in August 2005 and the last post on the forum was made by me this June... But the forum had essentially died in early 2009. I looked back at some old posts to see how I've changed and I thanked God quite a lot for making me more intelligent and sensible now than I was then.

[dravarian26]

Your list seems accurate enough. I used to be pretty active on Inheritance Forums, but that is a really popular site so there are lots of exceptions to your rules. Lots of people were active due to all the debate around the books in that series. Most of the active people tended to hang around the general discussion and other books/ media threads. In fact most people really thought of Eragon as a really mediocre book, still fun to read though.

I've only really visited this forum (for teh Minecraft) and I like reading the Pokemopolis forums, I never comment though.

[Rapter]

Your list is very accurate. I used to be a member of a Digimon forum, but I stopped going. And this is the only forum that I bother even checking and joining anymore.

[SeriousJupiter]

Dec 1, 2011 18:25:39 GMT -6 dravarian26 said:

I like reading the Pokemopolis forums, I never comment though.

Well, feel free to join. The Pokemopolis forums are lots of fun, as I'm sure you know.

[daveshn]

Nov 30, 2011 10:59:54 GMT -6 chaoman45 said:

This applies not just to PX, but also to other forums I visited. Consider the following:

-It's harder to let things go on forums than real life because you can always go back and reread posts you hate from other members and reignite negative feelings.
-It's hard to determine the "slow season" of forum activity. Some forums believe it's during the school year when everybody is studying. Others think it's summer because people travel more often and are away from the forums for an extended period of time.
-The typical, average lifespan of a forum member is anywhere from 1-2 years.
-Even when the most controversial or disliked members get banned, activity tends to dip.
-You hate the posts you made a year ago. ("Oh my god I was so stupid back then")
-Internet noobs and preteens are almost indistinguishable.
-After a major update, several members will join. About 10% remain active after a year.

There are always "exceptions" to these, and your mileage may vary. What do you think, given your forum/internet experience?

Throw in a two week-long flame war every three and a half weeks and you've got the P-X forum that I talked about in podcast #11.

[Gooman]

The other forum I post on is dedicated to a group of online space games (made by the same guy, which is why they all have one forum). A lot of those apply to the game, actually moreso than the forum. Most people will actively play the game for 6 months to 2 years before they get bored and either leave, only stay active on the forum and chatroom, or just lurk.

My hatred for Deklan (warlord) and Geff (wannabe Deklan) still burns hot when I look over the old posts from three or four years ago. And when they left, waddya know, activity dipped because we lost someone to fight. Either that or we find a new scapegoat to paint as the galaxies' tyrant.

"Jeez, I was stupid back then."

So many preteens and noobs in the game. It's irritating, especially knowing that I was once one of them (see above statement.)

[mechy]

Dec 7, 2011 17:26:44 GMT -6 Gooman said:

The other forum I post on is dedicated to a group of online space games (made by the same guy, which is why they all have one forum). A lot of those apply to the game, actually moreso than the forum. Most people will actively play the game for 6 months to 2 years before they get bored and either leave, only stay active on the forum and chatroom, or just lurk.

My hatred for Deklan (warlord) and Geff (wannabe Deklan) still burns hot when I look over the old posts from three or four years ago. And when they left, waddya know, activity dipped because we lost someone to fight. Either that or we find a new scapegoat to paint as the galaxies' tyrant.

"Jeez, I was stupid back then."

So many preteens and noobs in the game. It's irritating, especially knowing that I was once one of them (see above statement.)

... you wouldn't happen to be talking about the old and new Chosen Space and Galactic Fleets would ya? That would explain why I always found your name eerily familiar...

[Gooman]

You play(ed) CS?

[mechy]

Dec 8, 2011 15:09:39 GMT -6 Gooman said:

You play(ed) CS?

Aye, first game I remember playing online. Played for a while before CS2 came out and after, but eventually drifted from it after CS began dying down hard and failing to find CS2 capturing my attention. Remember how even in the forums you were never far from the game, hell they practically are a part of the game. XD
Artemis, Deklan, Geff and couple others (hard to remember since it always changed out through time and galaxies involved) usually engaged in some bickering on forums, that always ended up in them and whoever else happened to be near that sector going on a stroll in their escape pods.

Jim and Matt always getting into some squabble, usually provoked by Matt.

The "3 words per person" "story" thread that started out fine but gradually became a cess-pit (I want to say it was around the 80's but not sure).

The little avatar shop section that always had a slew of people either making them for free or charging points for 'em (though that was mostly towards the earlier years when there were few people to actually do so).

All the fun, arguements and tensions in the Raxia section from everyone and their mother trying to get a share of the cake themselves; always accusing others of being Solian/Casian puppets.

Anyways I'll cut my ramble short since I'm kinda off-topic by now. If you're curious, while I wasn't much of an anybody, if ya payed any mind to Jim's "lounge" or the ship design contests, then Zake should sound a bit familiar. ^_^;

[Gooman]

*faints*

Holy hell, you're Zake? You're one of the players I've been hoping would come back for a helluva long time! I mostly knew you towards the start of Jim's Magic Realm on the new forum. He started another one recently, and I actually mentioned you because I wanted to take your job as inventor

Seriously, that made my heart skip a beat.