|
In Reply to: the end posted by susie on November 09, 2004 at 22:40:48:
It's hard to explain. I've managed so many of these boards. I even had one called "Soapbox" back in the 80's.
When you are in charge of one of these boards you come under intense pressure from both sides to control things.
Probably the most workable thing I ever came up with was having NO Coordinator. We had one once where the only way to get kicked out of the Forum was to complain about someone else. Then we'd punch your ticket and ban you from the forum. But, that's the one that ended up with these nice folks (none of whom were ever in a cult) calling each other up at home and making violent threats. We had a guy in that forum who made a joke about Tipper Gore (VP Al Gore's wife) where the punchline had something to do with her getting shot. The guy had a knock on the door a few days later. It was the Secret Service.
People just get crazy and out of control, and when you are the party responsible for the space there comes a time when you just can't take it anymore.
This is just the way these things turn out most of the time. Being online just makes some people think they are safe from being punched in the nose. They say offensive things that they would never say in person. People get their feelings hurt, and it's just hell on wheels.
But, it's a big Internet out there. If there are people here who want to have a political board, it's pretty easy to go to Voy forums and set one up. It's free and can be done in minutes. It's the same system Lolo uses. I'll come by and chew the fat. I'll even put a link to it at NDN. But, just don't ask me to run it! It took many years, but Crossfire finally cured me of ever wanting to run anything intentionally controversial again.
http://www.voy.com
