Human nature and forums
 

This might get a little deep but I think what I'm about to say is pretty much the truth.

It's just human nature I guess.

Don't know how many of you have seen Runaway Jury with John Cusack, Gene Hackman, and Dustin Hoffman but there's a scene in the jury room that applies.

One guy wants to rule for the defendant and his reasons arent altogether clear. Well John Cusack kind of lets him hang himself for the real reason he want's to vote the way he does. Once that is let out, they put all their feelings aside and look at the evidence impartially and rule for the defendant.

This brings me to Forums. If you were to take some tape and cover up where the posters name shows up and turn off signature displays and then just look at what was written, the responses would be different than if you knew who was saying what.

Recently, I brought up and issue but lets not go there again. Lets talk about human nature.

If a person with 1 post were to post something and lets say the main admin where to disagree with me, most people would follow the admins lead and agree with him. If the poster where to post the exact opposite and the admin would likewise switch his position 180 degrees the same thing would happen.

This happens on my forums, everyone tends to agree with me more because I am the admin. Not really because of what I say. The same goes for this forum and basically most forums.

Would be an interesting experiment to disable any identifiable information on the poster and see how different things would come out.

Any psychologists in the room? :)

On my board where there is no right or wrong really, this doesnt happen. The problem is that most admins try to enforce the loss of freedom of speach and free mind to the point that anyone that does not share the same opinion as the admin is banned. I have three simple rules and as long as they dont break them they can say whatever about me that they want, sometimes they do. One mind and one opinion will never build a database of information.


I hate when people call boards forums and forums boards.

The one thing that is forgotten, most of the members here are admins on their own sites. We tend to think alike as far as what's good for the site and what's allowed.

Please refer to the feedback section te boths of youvs. You would think we think alike however we do not.

After thinking about it a bit, I think the only way to get an accurate feel of where people stand is through polling. Of course it would have to be anonymous, no one would be able to leave comments and it could not be done on vb software because admins can see who voted for what. Also, the way the questions are put must not lean in any direction.

Only then will you get the "truth" or whatever

well on my board i allow people to call me and my mother names and dont ban them
im pretty lax with things, as long as they are not posting disgusting pics and stuff or talking about illegal activities im fine

just yesterday someone said to me that i pleasured myself to midget porn or was it sheep? :ermm:
i just laughed it up and didnt even respond

the problem i have is mods who think they deserve "respect" as if they were someones parents and want to ban someone as soon as they argue with them :(

I will have to agree with Jenta on this one , who posts does sadly have alot to do with how others view it.

Yes 'most' of us on this board do admin our own, but to what level? Alot have 100 members or less, alot have 1,000 and some have more then vb.com or vb.org. But all dif levels of boards with people who may or may not have any 'admin' skills as it is.

I have found many change their view to mine when I post with in my community, is it due to I am all knowing? Or perhaps maybe they want to kiss up to the admin a tad?

You will never know for sure if a reply to a statement is unbias unless the posts are secret. You can speculate but that is as far as it goes.

YES, my exact problem.

Fire the mods and get new (is what I would do), my mods know they are nothing more then servants to the community, any who step out of line get punished faster then a normal member.

Holding your staff to a higher standard and allowing less slip ups from them I have found make them humble rather fast.

Treat them like they are rushing for a frat.

Well think about it (even though this is getting off topic) if your mods are thinking they are better then your members (with out members who needs mods , for that fact the board) then kick them down a few notches.

If the possition of mod becomes one of service and not of status, you end up with more useful people in staff, and when they know they have to be more with in the rules and such then a regular member, they do not act up.

Its easier to replace a hand full of mods then a board for of members :ermm: