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Why online communities decay over time

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  Why online communities decay over time RS Wood  <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2014-05-23 20:56 +0000
    Re: Why online communities decay over time Whiskers <catwheezel@operamail.com> - 2014-05-24 15:17 +0100
    Re: Why online communities decay over time RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2014-05-27 15:14 +0000
      Re: Why online communities decay over time Mike Easter <MikeE@ster.invalid> - 2014-05-27 09:50 -0700

#3042 — Why online communities decay over time

From the «by all means, do not follow-up to this post» department:
Title: Why Online Communities Decay Over Time
Author:
Date: Fri, 23 May 2014 16:46:20 -0400
Link: http://rs.io/2014/02/26/why-online-communities-decay-over-time.html

Comments[1]

Links:
[1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7790755 (link)

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#3077

On 2014-05-23, RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> wrote:
> From the «by all means, do not follow-up to this post» department:
> Title: Why Online Communities Decay Over Time
> Author:
> Date: Fri, 23 May 2014 16:46:20 -0400
> Link: http://rs.io/2014/02/26/why-online-communities-decay-over-time.html
>
> Comments[1]
>
> Links:
> [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7790755 (link)

Feeling anonymous, and the ability to have multiple identities, also
contribute towards bad behaviour.

Usenet has the advantage, shared with few if any web-based forums, that
each user can choose which other users' contributions to 'hide'; this
cuts down on the amount of annoyance that has to be endured.

-- 
-- ^^^^^^^^^^
--  Whiskers 
-- ~~~~~~~~~~

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#3292

On Fri, 23 May 2014 20:56:16 +0000 (UTC)
RS Wood  <rsw@therandymon.com> wrote:

> From the «by all means, do not follow-up to this post» department:
> Title: Why Online Communities Decay Over Time
> Author:
> Date: Fri, 23 May 2014 16:46:20 -0400
> Link: http://rs.io/2014/02/26/why-online-communities-decay-over-time.html
> 
> Comments[1]
> 
> Links:
> [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7790755 (link)


Have a look at the comments on HackerNews and you'll see right at the
top, some very flattering commentary about Usenet and how despite its
flaws, most communities using any software have trouble meeting the bar
it set back in its earliest designs.   (link [1] above).

I'm increasingly convinced it's not a software issue, it's that human
beings are by nature antisocial, aggressive, vindictive, petty, and
stupid with limited communication skills: basically, monkeys on
keyboards.  No algorithm or interface is going to change that.

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#3297

RS Wood wrote:

> human beings are by nature antisocial, aggressive, vindictive, petty,
> and stupid with limited communication skills: basically, monkeys on
> keyboards.

That analysis only explains the bad (decayed?) aspect of usenet.

But it isn't consistent with the halcyon days of many many dynamic 
usenet groups or earlier online communities such as GEnie RoundTables or 
CompuServe forums.

Under 'these' conditions, humans interact (very) badly/poorly.  Under 
'those' conditions, humans interact (very) positively.


-- 
Mike Easter

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