In what significant ways has the nature of this board changed over the years?
I joined in 2009. That was a pretty big deal.
I was in college when I joined in 1999, when message boards were really blossoming. I remember it having a gigantic number of threads and a vast number of posters. It felt very impersonal to me. I drifted away because BreakupGirl became a hugely popular site for people of my age group. I mean, is there anything that girls would rather talk about more than love and relationships? After Oprah bought the site, it died in an amazingly short period of time, and I moved on to other relationship based sites like “Nice Guys”, etc.
Message boards in general have declined greatly because of Facebook, Twitter, texting, etc. The fact that this site is still vibrant and interesting is an incredible testament to the way it has been run over the years and the quality of its content.
I’ve been curious about this, too.
I joined in 2010, which was not all that long ago. But since the election, I think the tone has gotten nastier and snarkier, especially in the politically-related forums. Was the Pit even used all that much before a year+ ago?
I joined right when it stopped being exclusive on AOL. I had a different user name back then, which I don’t remember, andI forgot the password and started a new account as Madmonk28. Technically, I’ve been a sock for that other account for the past 19 years or so.
I’ll wait for the ban hammer. Until then, I’ll say that the board is more insular than it used to be. It seems like there’s a lot of the same people having the same conversations. I guess it’s inevitable that would happen at a board that’s been around this long and I don’t know what could be done about it. A lot of what this board does is now done by other platforms, but the SD has a community with norms and a history that can’t be replaced. One of my favorite things about this board is that people write in complete sentences and make an effort to post coherent essays; it’s part of what makes it special.
It had a much more “soap opera” vibe back when I first joined. There seemed to be more than a few posters who constantly had drama swirling around them, which was only magnified by Dopefests, which happened much more frequently back then, in which much alcohol (and possibly other substance) was consumed.
And a lot of backbiting and sniping on other venues (Livejournal, etc). Oh, sure we’ve still got other sites where people talk about SDMB posters, but back then, it was much more…snarky and focused. There seemed to be a whole cottage industry associated with SDMB snark.
That’s a good observation. There did seem to be more drama and it did seem to bleed out into real life. People followed each other around to other platforms, I forgot about that.
I joined in 2005. The biggest change I have seen is the pace of posting. In my memory, I would write a post, hit preview, and usually find that about ten replies had been posted since I started writing mine, at least one of which contained my own brilliant insight. I discarded a lot of posts back then.
Yes, the Boards used to be faster. I think the number of active posting members have gone down, and the average age of posters has gone up; not so many new members joining, because message boards are sooo yesterday.
I also think the election of Trump has really affected the boards. The number of Trump related threads in all forums is tremendous. If you’re not interested in all-Trump-all-the-time, it’s a bit depressing.
The Pit, though - hoo-boy. Back when you could pit moderators and use much nastier language - I stayed away from it pretty much. I go there now more regularly, but don’t really like posting there.
I think the posting membership has steadily drifted leftwards. We used to have more active posters on the right-wing side, but many of those have drifted away, which I think reduces the debate, unfortunately. I also think the political debates have gotten sharper and meaner. (Although the debates during the Great Election Recount of 2000 were pretty heated.)
Heh, heh.
You have no idea. The Pit used to be a free-wheeling cage match, no holds barred. Today’s version is Saturday Morning Kiddy Show by comparison.
As for the political nature of the Pit, ask old timers about the late Reeder and his obsession with “W.” Or “My post is my cite” Aldebaran.
I remember when the server was over worked, people would get PISSED at misleading thread titles.
You’d click n a thread, 2 minutes later the thread would actually open, only to find out the thread is a “joke”.
The Pit was more fun back in the day. I recall there being a mass exodus (a temporary one) over rule changes in the Pit.
We used to have more babbys, trenches and pies.
As a newbie, I can tell you first hand, newbies are beaten up to the point of distraction. If I hadn’t have had a friend or 2, I would’ve walked on months ago. If we want the board to build up again there has got to be a place where newbies can learn the board culture and rules safely without the cursing and name calling. That is another point of contention I have, the name calling and foul language for nothing more than a typo or mis-placed comma is crazy. It is just so juvenile. Anywhoo that’s my thoughts on it, FWIW.
Those should be reported. Even if we don’t act on all such reports, they’re reviewed. And such can cause mods to intervene on the side of the newbie.
Frankly, I’m glad you stuck it out. You’ll be fine here. But I’d like to point out that noobs are not beaten up without cause. We won’t go there, but for others who bring things like text speak, comic sans, bright colored fonts, and conspiracy theories, well yeah, they get roughed up a tad. Pity the poor Christian who wants to witness. Pity the Republican who wants to discuss how athletic trump is. Trolls and trocks generally follow the same pattern, lots of unsupported opinions and no facts needed or desired in response. The past was far bloodier I think.
There used to be a more Wild West feeling here. There were a lot of different topics, and without Wikipedia and other online resources, arguments would rage on until someone could dig up an actual first edition of Darwin’s On the Origin of a Species to settle it, etc. There were board wars including a couple of invasions by Fundamentalists that had the liberal Christians and hard-core atheists united for once.
As for those who say the board is more politicized now, I’ve been here starting with the aftermath of the Clinton impeachment, through Bush v. Gore, 9/11, the Iraq War, the 2004 election, the 2006 election, the 2008 election. . . It was political then and it’s political now.
Indeed. The Pit used to be far more entertaining. How long has it been since we’ve had a good rant?
Heck, you guys remember we used to limit threads to about 300 replies? To reduce server load mods - before my time - would close threads that hit that limit.
Smaller and maybe less active but the main thing that springs to my brain is that we seem much less snarky than we did. And calls for “cite?” are fewer and further between. When I first started posting you could (as I remember) not get through 5 posts in a thread before at least one call for a citation.
People like that want to bait you into an argument. I think it’s important to maintain the difference between a debate and an argument. I say what I think. You say what you think. We answer each other’s challenges/questions ONCE, and that’s the end. Past that, they can pursue an argument in an “empty room” if they so desire. All I can say is that it"s a philosophy that has served me well.
Another useful tool for me is knowing my own hot spots and triggers. For example, I have nothing but complete loathing and disrespect for the current President of the United States. I know that, if I get into any discussion about him at all, it is very likely that I will cross into “warning” territory rather quickly. So, I avoid that. That has also served me well.