What was really causing the big shit storm and exodus back in 2020 was the world was in utter chaos, and the political/idealogical arguments got out of control. People started posting it on all the boards which wasn't allowed, but due to the current events happening at the time Rob started to engage with it, arguments got nasty, and then it just disintegrated from there.
When I took it on I made an executive decision that political stuff could go unchecked (except for threats/harassment/blatant racism/illegal stuff) on the un-moderated off topic board...with the understanding that if you do it outside there you get banned. There's also a moderated OT board which doesn't allow politics etc.
That seemed to keep people happy and has worked well. You can go to OT and complain about Trump/Biden/what have you, but not everyone who's just here for sports has to read it.
That's so weird.
I don't really remember that. I used to operate the messageboard for a certain sports radio station in Iowa back in the early days of messageboarding. I was also a longtime Usenet user which was almost always complete chaos. . I was much more of a "free speech absolutist" back then. But really, it was more "don't feed the trolls". The more you respond back to them or argue with them, etc. the more wind they have in their sails. The GM and others at the station would get mad and want me to delete stuff about them. Or advertisers. And I'm like "If you strike them down now Darth, they will become more powerful than you could ever imagine." There was good in most people. If the advertiser was not scammy the users would come to the rescue. If the advertiser was truly scammy.....so be it. We don't want their money and they won't be a repeat customer of ours anyway because they suck and will go away on their own accord. The more moderating you do, the worse it gets and the ONLY way to do it effectively is like it's been done here.
-Set clear rules for the 'main' board (mains in this case as it's by sport)
basically the rules are "don't be a d*ck" but spelled out in some simple binary rules
Then the moderator doesn't have to be a jury or judge. Take the information. Measure it against the rules. click the ban button or not. It's binary at that point.
-But otherwise, allow everything elsewhere in the board....(here it's in off topic "open discussion" and "off topic unmoderated")
That's the key most messageboards don't understand. ALLOW it all. Just not on the main board.
The market takes care of the rest. People who want to act like monkeys at the zoo throwing digital poo at each other can go do that. People who don't stick in the main board. Most people don't want that nonsense. I fully believe that's why the collection of misfit toys stick around. And enjoy the banter, even with differing opinions sometimes.
To make a long story longer (I'm good at that).....
I don't remember that COVID nonsense here. I'm sure it leaked in. But I remember feeling like this place was a refuge from Facebook which was just sick with covid nonsense or all sorts.
