Why do communities fail?

JackJack Regular
edited July 2010 in Spurious Generalities
I had an idea. People treat declines in the quality of internet communities as separate events, but maybe they're not. Around 2005-2006 is when every decently large internet community I was on at the time experienced more or less the same perceived decline in quality of posts and membership. At the time, that was pretty much just Totse and the forums at Neopets (I know, fuck off, I was still attached to my old account and shit). Posters at both of these sites, around this time, began to complain more than ever about perceived wrongs by staff, ways they thought the site wasn't being run properly, bitching about commercialization, going on about how the place going downhill, etc. I never went to 4chan much but I was well enough in touch with the culture to catch wind of the same perceptions from there.

Could this indicate a broader pattern? Maybe the real issue is that this generation of internet users grew up and became less blindly enamored to what they once thought was amazing and flawless. Maybe it's confirmation bias and/or nostalgia: they want to believe the past was better, or the past looks better by virtue of more enjoyable things being more memorable.

Thoughts?

Comments

  • VickyVicky Regular
    edited July 2010
    People will always complain that something isn't as good as it used to be. Always.

    It was like that in 2006 and it's like that now too.
  • DfgDfg Admin
    edited July 2010
    It's a cycle that repeats itself from time to time. It can easily be prevented if you know what to do. The only way out is to be transparent and let the community run the show. Then they can't blame the Administration because they are the Administration.
  • JackJack Regular
    edited July 2010
    I probably didn't know because I only started using the internet seriously in 2004 or so. Thanks.
  • Pill PopperPill Popper Regular
    edited July 2010
    Ask Zok

    The fucking nigger hated all of us
  • edited July 2010
    Dfg wrote: »
    It's a cycle that repeats itself from time to time. It can easily be prevented if you know what to do. The only way out is to be transparent and let the community run the show. Then they can't blame the Administration because they are the Administration.

    I tend to just say fuck it, and carry on. So what if a community isn't the same as it was back then? The newer community will always bring a different experience to the table, and it's good.

    I think it's just that people don't like change. It's something you have to get used to.
  • MantikoreMantikore Regular
    edited July 2010
    Jack wrote: »
    . Posters at both of these sites, around this time, began to complain more than ever about perceived wrongs by staff, ways they thought the site wasn't being run properly, bitching about commercialization, going on about how the place going downhill, etc. I never went to 4chan much but I was well enough in touch with the culture to catch wind of the same perceptions from there.

    sounds just like real life to me
  • fanglekaifanglekai Regular
    edited July 2010
    Problems arise when there is unrest and no one does anything to calm it. Zok could have prevented the shitstorm by doing a lot of things. On Totse there was always unrest. People hated a lot of the mods, and there was constant stupidity. Despite that, it was a great forum to post on. One way to prevent shittons of problems is to do what Dfg said and let people see what the admins/mods are up to. If they see there isn't some "man behind the curtain", there will be much less for them to get pissed about.
  • [][][][][][][][] Acolyte
    edited July 2010
    When totse died it kinda contrasted to me with the huge popularity of social networking sites which all seem so superficial to me, I don't know where I was going with this. it had something to do with ideas and pictures........*shrug*
  • da teachada teacha Regular
    edited July 2010
    There's too many faggots on the internet now, plaguing everywhere in site.

    Back in the day, shit was underground and tight. It had rawness and novelty.

    The only way forward is to create a feeder community like this site, then invite all the sick posters to a better place.
  • HTS-NoobHTS-Noob Regular
    edited July 2010
    da teacha wrote: »
    There's too many faggots on the internet now, plaguing everywhere in site.

    Back in the day, shit was underground and tight. It had rawness and novelty.

    The only way forward is to create a feeder community like this site, then invite all the sick posters to a better place.

    >implying zoklet isn't the feeder community ;)
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