nitrogen
Schrödinger's cat
- Nov 5, 2019
- 339
Greetings mothafakas/sweethearts/SS folks,
I've observed some interesting dynamics on this site after being a member for about 2.5 months.
One being this:
The moderators/admins set and enforce explicit rules, but highly active members who've written thousands of posts set the culture.
Another observation:
Some brand new members are anxious about making their first posts on the site. They seem to assume long term members' posts carry more weight.
Elaboration on my 1st observation:
@SinisterKid , the current site moderator, has made ~2100 posts with ~6500 likes. According to the forum statistics, there are ~10600 registered members. When I visit the site every time, the usernames/members that made the most recent posts in all 3 discussion sections almost always look familiar. It seems that a small group of SS members are highly active posters, while the vast majority of SS members lurk or occasionally drop a post here and there.
The number of posts that some highly active members have made exceeds 2100, or comes close. Imagine a few of those members share similar aspirations, values, posting styles, assumptions, beliefs, then their posts can add up and easily overwhelm the moderator even if the moderator's posts attract more attention and carry more authority by nature. It's like ocean waves with the same frequency and in phase can superimpose on top of one another - what ends up forming is a tsunami. The moderator is like a dam if I have to squeeze her into this analogy.
The implication of this effect is very interesting. If the highly active members align with this site's mission and have a good sense of boundary, then the moderator gets nice help regulating and running the site. On the other hand, if they misinterpret the site's mission, and try to morph the site into their ideal version that fits their personal needs and beliefs better, then it poses a threat to diversity and stifles discussions. The ways these toxic posts exert influence are subtle, most likely unenforcible because they don't read like blatant violations of forum rules.
Elaboration on my 2nd observation:
This is how some brand new members start a post: "I'm a nobody here, but......." That makes me want to point that being new members doesn't automatically make their posts lower quality or less impactful. In fact, if they were to make thousands of posts, they might even get more "likes" than many long-term members have.
Then this is how some highly active long-term members start a post, quite often just expressing personal sentiments: "We're here to.... We'd like to....." That makes me wonder what's with the tendency of overusing "we" instead of "I", do they mean to represent all the other members who post on a thread or all 10600 SS members?
Conclusion: Pay more attention to the moderator's posts. Try not to be easily intimidated or manipulated. Think independently.
Edit: adding this part
@Soulless_Angel Thanks for pointing out that the moderators aren't obvious. When I was a brand new member, I always thought certain active members were the mods based on the number of posts they made and the way they wrote - especially when they asserted that the main purpose of this site is "to support each other". Only later I found out they were just long-term members and SinisterKid clarified that the purpose of this site is much more than just peer support. Then @Alec mentioned that the site's atmosphere wasn't like this a while back.
@jgm63 The example you gave isn't what I was referring to, but I can't provide a detailed example to avoid calling people out.
I've observed some interesting dynamics on this site after being a member for about 2.5 months.
One being this:
The moderators/admins set and enforce explicit rules, but highly active members who've written thousands of posts set the culture.
Another observation:
Some brand new members are anxious about making their first posts on the site. They seem to assume long term members' posts carry more weight.
Elaboration on my 1st observation:
@SinisterKid , the current site moderator, has made ~2100 posts with ~6500 likes. According to the forum statistics, there are ~10600 registered members. When I visit the site every time, the usernames/members that made the most recent posts in all 3 discussion sections almost always look familiar. It seems that a small group of SS members are highly active posters, while the vast majority of SS members lurk or occasionally drop a post here and there.
The number of posts that some highly active members have made exceeds 2100, or comes close. Imagine a few of those members share similar aspirations, values, posting styles, assumptions, beliefs, then their posts can add up and easily overwhelm the moderator even if the moderator's posts attract more attention and carry more authority by nature. It's like ocean waves with the same frequency and in phase can superimpose on top of one another - what ends up forming is a tsunami. The moderator is like a dam if I have to squeeze her into this analogy.
The implication of this effect is very interesting. If the highly active members align with this site's mission and have a good sense of boundary, then the moderator gets nice help regulating and running the site. On the other hand, if they misinterpret the site's mission, and try to morph the site into their ideal version that fits their personal needs and beliefs better, then it poses a threat to diversity and stifles discussions. The ways these toxic posts exert influence are subtle, most likely unenforcible because they don't read like blatant violations of forum rules.
Elaboration on my 2nd observation:
This is how some brand new members start a post: "I'm a nobody here, but......." That makes me want to point that being new members doesn't automatically make their posts lower quality or less impactful. In fact, if they were to make thousands of posts, they might even get more "likes" than many long-term members have.
Then this is how some highly active long-term members start a post, quite often just expressing personal sentiments: "We're here to.... We'd like to....." That makes me wonder what's with the tendency of overusing "we" instead of "I", do they mean to represent all the other members who post on a thread or all 10600 SS members?
Conclusion: Pay more attention to the moderator's posts. Try not to be easily intimidated or manipulated. Think independently.
Edit: adding this part
@Soulless_Angel Thanks for pointing out that the moderators aren't obvious. When I was a brand new member, I always thought certain active members were the mods based on the number of posts they made and the way they wrote - especially when they asserted that the main purpose of this site is "to support each other". Only later I found out they were just long-term members and SinisterKid clarified that the purpose of this site is much more than just peer support. Then @Alec mentioned that the site's atmosphere wasn't like this a while back.
@jgm63 The example you gave isn't what I was referring to, but I can't provide a detailed example to avoid calling people out.
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