Read virtually any message board on the Internet, then come here.
As probably all of you know, you’ll notice a stark difference.
Few people here say “LOL.” Even fewer here type “u” instead of “you.” Hardly anyone writes in all lowercase.
Those things are quite prevalent on every other message board I’ve ever seen.
So, are we driving them away by Pitting and laughing at them, or do they catch on quickly to the tone of the board, realize that it’s not for them, and slink away?
I considered posting this in ATMB, but since I’m soliciting opinions, I put it here. Mods, feel free to move it if you feel that it’s appropriate.
1: Birds of a feather flock together: Most pursuers of knowledge have done their fair share of reading and are therefore aware how one best conveys information in text.
2: The membership fee. The people who are here WANT to be here and are capable and willing to cough up the dough. Most untelligent members of the interweb don’t even have a creditcard.
Excuse me a moment, I need to go retrieve my brain. It crawled out through my ear again…
I have to agree with MostlyClueless’s first point though. One of the other boards I visit regularly is a hobbiest board that gets a lot of questions from people who are new to it. The regulars all type in proper english, and many of the base-level questions get asked in some form of chat-speak.
All boards have different styles. You don’t see LOL here, but I have yet to see another board where people sign their posts like a letter. Probably the strangest thing I’ve ever seen on a forum. Not nearly as annoying as the glitter signatures on some boards though.
A membership fee isn’t that uncommon. Lots of forums on Ezboard require that you have a Gold membership ($12 a year) to post in some sections to keep the bandwith down and the cost lower. Not so bad because you can use it at several boards but not really enough to pay for the board. So they still require donations to keep going.
I’m sure the fees and ridicule help drive away the total doorknobs, but ultimately, I think this place would get boring for someone who wasn’t at least a little educated, cultured and/or introspective.
Perhaps the look of the board helps as well: few graphics, no avatars, no posting of photos by users, no huge sigs. It’s mostly text, using complete words.
If you’re used to boards with all those things we don’t have, the SDMB probably looks very boring at first glance.
There wasn’t much LOL-ing going on here even before the board went pay, so I don’t think the membership fees have anything to do with it.
I think it’s mostly just the tone of the board. If you LOL and l33t speak the regular crowd here isn’t going to be impressed with it, so if you’re that type of person you’ll naturally want to find someplace where your behavior is more welcome. Similarly, if LOL and l33t gets on your nerves (like it does mine) then you won’t last long on a board where that sort of behavior is common either. People congregate in similar groups.
I realize the irony that it takes a non-moron to point this out, but the topic begs the question: does the culture of the Straight Dope drive away morons at all?
Some people can appear very intelligent, in their field of expertise, when their ideas are presented pleasingly. The culture here definitely encourages the use of real English communication, and that might assist.
Also, some people may not be as stupid as they appear to be on other message boards.
Also, we may still have some morons here in disguise — lurking, lurking, always lurking, haunting the newspaper-strewn back alleys of the board with the ghosts of hamsters gone by, plotting their muttering revenge upon the world, which one day will fall like a mighty oak, ha ha ha!
