Mostly from here:
When Internet Forums Are A Waste Of Time (texastoastguitars.com)
When Internet Forums
Are A Waste Of Time
One of the biggest time
wasters in the world is the internet forum. Regardless
of the topic the conversations are universally asinine
exchanges between yes men. I’m not telling you anything you don’t
already know and I can’t be the only person who has noticed this.
There are always a
handful of respected shot callers that set the standards for what is
cool. They are what I call “Keyboard Commandos”. Without these
folks, there would be no forum because they establish the flavour of
the month as well as how many days are in that month. These elite
ranks are always occupied by people with well-known back
stories and credentials… or at the very least take the best
pictures.
The rank and file
participants spend an inordinate amount of time idly lurking, like
hungry sharks, ready to spew catch phrases. Anxious to cling to the
identity they get from their beloved forum, these basement dwellers
know exactly what can and cannot be said. Their status depends on
them daring to be the same as all the others.
The anonymity provided
by the dim light of the screen changes a lot of people.
I urge you to use your
time wisely, after all, you have a finite amount of it. Seek out the
good stuff and reject the bad stuff.
More on Internet Forums
- Don't think that an internet forum is full of good people, very often it is not. Some of them might be the scum of the earth. It's advisable to enter an internet forum expecting the worse (then you won't be disappointed.)
- Most people on internet forums only care about attention, they definitely do not care about you. They post the same stuff on multiple forums, instagram, twitter, etcetera ... all to get their fix of attention.
- Many internet forums are about product, "oh, I rescued this product, I'm preserving this product" and we're supposed to feel incredible respect that this person is being good to a product!? What about being good to your fellow humans!?
- Another good read:
The Red Pill Moment When You Realise That Forum You Were Led to Believe Was a Nice Friendly Place, You Realise It Is Not! (2022.06.12)
This happened to me a while back.
I joined an internet forum in April 2021. Initially everyone was so welcoming and friendly "welcome", "welcome", "welcome" .... And then the cracks started to appear.
The shocking realization of how toxic the place was, happened in around November 2021. I had posted a jokey light hearted post, that I knew would wind someone up, but I thought he was man enough to be wound up (and this guy sure liked winding people up himself.) This person didn't take it light hearted at all and revealed himself as a total bully. But what made it worse was the realization that the forum moderators permitted his behaviour, they did nothing to step in. That's why I made the decision to quit that forum (it wasn't the good place to be that I had thought, it was a bad place.) But I was encouraged to stay on so foolishly I did.
I ended up on the receiving end of a blatantly bullying thread aimed at denigrating me, but this time I didn't take it on the chin and bit back. Realizing public barneys are not good for forums, I said I wasn't going to reply any more, but that - if this person was even half a man - he would apologize (like I had done for my "wind-up" thread.) Of course no apology came. But what was even worse, was the chief moderator stepped in and publicly attacked me, and wrote a total load of untrue bollocks, which I could not defend myself against (as I'd said I wasn't commenting in that thread anymore.) The chief moderator did nothing against his friend (who he was happy to call a c^nt very recently), did nothing to step in and prevent bullying.
Finally, another forum member got publicly attacked by the same chief moderator, he went off in a hump, and to try and get him come back, one of my characters made a jokey post (that the chief moderator didn't get) and I got banned/terminated/cancelled (forum bans are like being cancelled.) The joke was that a forum is like a monarchy, and they proved this by going "off with your head!" I actually think the CCP is more like it - they don't like you, they cancel you.
And the chief moderator loves to hide behind forum rules (which are selectively applied), but doesn't have the decency to reach out to you and communicate the reason for your ban (there was no reason given why I was banned - I'm not a mind reader so I had to guess,) or even the simple courtesy of warning you, or give a right of reply.
This is proof that no matter how good you think you are,
you are not a "valued forum member." The forum does not give a sh!t about individuals.
In other words,
give internet forums the same respect and loyalty they'll give you, which is none!
Stupidly, and against my better judgement, I returned to the same forum after my ban expired and a similar situation occurred. Someone I was close to on the forum left, I tried to get them to return. Posted a thread that got another totally incorrect stupid public attack by said chief moderator. Then they discovered I had a personal blog and didn't like what was written on there, so decided to apply their rules and ban me again, this time forever.
Definitely for good! I would not touch that forum with a barge pole ever again, I will never even visit. They will score no pageviews from me. That forum is toxic and badly run, and to be avoided!
And I really wanted to believe that the chief moderator was a good guy, but, the realization that the guy at the top is not a good guy ... well, as the saying goes "a fish rots from the head down."
When you get banned, you get to see how good these "forum friends" are! They don't give a f^ck. But ask yourself this, if one of your forum friends got banned, would you care?
Internet forums, like twitter and other social media, are toxic, and not conducive to a healthy life. Best avoided!
Don't get sucked in by the forum bullshit! The forum will chew you up and spit you out without a second glance!
