With the Dope being down it made me realise just how often I casually put the adblock on and then click the SD bookmark. I’ve been doing it reflexively all day and keep forgetting to expect the maintenance message.
This made me think that I don’t really know any other message boards that I like. I used to know a few but they withered. I look in at the Giraffe Boards but only really the one thread to look at snark about here, so that doesn’t really count, besides it’s generally just a subset of the same group.
So anybody got any web forum recommendations?
No reddit, I don’t like the reddit format. I would prefer the SDMB style linear thread system but threaded would be acceptable.
It must be somewhere where people are generally expected to use correct grammar and orthography. This rules out about 95% of places.
Ideally it wouldn’t be about anything, or the reason it was about something has been transcended. A lot of SDMB regulars have probably never read a Cecil column for example, so I’d say SDMB isn’t really “about” the Straight Dope any more.
It should have a large enough critical mass that there are regular discussions on a variety of topics.
A lot of people think its only purpose is to be nasty and snark on other Dopers, but that’s only one thread. If you don’t like the snark, you can avoid that thread. Many current Dopers hang out there and discuss anything under the sun. There are many forums about arts and entertainment, great debates, and just mundane, pointless shit, just like here. We had a lot of activity during the outage.
The moderation is looser, much looser. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone get a warning. Nuisance posters are sent to the Box, which is the only forum they’re allowed to post in. If they’re really being an asshole, they’re confined there permanently.
I’m using Twitter a lot more than I used to and I’ve finally figured out Reddit, so I visit the political section there.
What I like about twitter (and dislike about Reddit) is that I know the source of the opinion I’m reading. Mostly anyway. I’m tired of wasting my time with bots and trolls.
Problem is with reddit there are so many users you never know who you’re talking to. Like here I feel I know a lot of users, so I know who is a good source of info and who isn’t. On Reddit everyone is a stranger, you never know if you’re talking to a genius or a crackpot. Here people establish themselves.
There are a bunch of us that are pretty active there. It’s not as big as this board and I found I’ve gotten to know people on a more personal level. When my husband died last November, 'Raffers were so helpful and supportive, and even sent me flowers. It took a while to get used to GB after this place moving so fast, but I really like both boards and each has their place.
These days? None. The only other boards I follow anymore is a specialized Harley one that uses a similar form of vBullitin and a horror-movie-board that is trying to use a Tapatalk version of Yuku. Both just seem really clumsy compared to this place.
I’ve only looked through the window, but the Absolute Write Water Cooler seems like a nice forum for authors. It does largely stick to that one subject, though. It has a rich culture dating back to '99. They are famous for their hatred of vanity publishers, see Atlanta Nights on Wikipedia.
A couple D&D RPG sites where I mainly just read rather than post and a video game forum or two. I do most of my inane prattling on either Facebook or Discord.
Yes, I mentioned them in passing in my OP. The big problem with GB for me is that, other than the Snark thread, they fail with the “critical mass”. Take their Cafe Society equivalent. There’s been 4 active threads, (i.e more than zero posts), in August, one of which is a long running thread about a kids show that only the OP seems to have any interest in. Only 12 active threads since June. Cafe Society is my favourite forum so I used it as the example, but it’s pretty much the same for everywhere there.
