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What we learned on the Moon.

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grant

19:46 / 30.06.05

So, we just had a week off Barbelith. Or more.

I'm curious what people might have learned from time away, lurking on/participating on other boards.

What seems to work on Barbelith that doesn't on other boards -- like, what functionality (or general board culture) is in place here that makes a difference?

And, conversely, what works elsewhere that might make Barbelith more like what you'd want? What did you find useful elsewhere?

sleazenation

20:05 / 30.06.05

I suddenly realized the immense traffic barbelith gets in comparison ot TMO - It felt like people were hardly posting there...

Mourne Kransky

20:17 / 30.06.05

Or that the same two or three people were posting there. Can't say there was anything in the functionality that appealed but I read more than posted elsewhere. Confirmed me in my belief that signatures and avatars are to be avoided at all costs,

sleazenation

20:27 / 30.06.05

IT's funny how quickly you forget - Barbelith used to have pretty much all the functionality (apart from the avatars and sigs) that TMO has - but i had forgotten how to use them...

■

20:30 / 30.06.05

I was glad to get a life. Then quickly lost it again when I bought GTA:San Andreas. Didn't even try to replace the 'lith with another forum. Sure, I get pissed off and sulk when certain people get a touch haughty, but there really is nowhere else like it.

All Acting Regiment

20:37 / 30.06.05

Without wanting to sound a) self righteous or b) sanctimonious, the simple answer is that there just doesn't seem to be anywhere where you get this standard of debate and a sense of us all being sorta pals and a remit that our discussions can cover pretty much everything.

Other boards might have one or two of these factors but I haven't yet found one, in a week of looking, that combines all three.

Ganesh

20:41 / 30.06.05

I found I really appreciated Barbelith's snobtrolly ontopic fascism. It frustrated me a little when, after a couple of posts, a thread was diverted onto "are you going to see X in concert tonight?" and so on.

Having said which, there were aspects of TMO I liked.

grant

21:01 / 30.06.05

The main thing I liked was the "active topics" option. The one on the main page -- it was sort of like what I imagine an RSS feed to be like (not having an RSS reader at work, where I do most of my browsing, I don't really know how they operate).

This sort of surprised me.

I also like the scrappiness there -- probably part of the informality/non-on-topicness thing.

grant

21:31 / 30.06.05

Did I just imagine it, or when replying to a Music forum topic did I see, under the reply box, a list of the prior posts?

Is there new functionality here?

Ganesh

21:37 / 30.06.05

New functionality here? Oooooh...

I did miss the Preview Post function.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

21:37 / 30.06.05

The "light bulbs" thing like what we used to have was just as confusing as it was when we used to have it, I noticed.

grant

22:02 / 30.06.05

Yeah, that never really worked for me, either.

Olulabelle

22:03 / 30.06.05

TMO scared me. There were far too many confusing little icons. I just watched you all and felt like 'Lith lurkers must do, when they don't post here.

It does make me appreciate and understand how this sentiment appears so much in membership submission emails:

"I have looked at other boards and then I found Barbelith. There doesn't seem to be anywhere else quite like it, and I love the standard of debate. I have finally found somewhere where I would fit in."

Hear, hear.

Ganesh

22:15 / 30.06.05

I reckon most of them were hot for me.

Tryphena Absent

22:21 / 30.06.05

The lack of topic commitment at TMO annoyed me too but the things that I really love about barbelith are the things that posters aren't allowed to say. I appreciate that people aren't allowed to be mindlessly stupid here, that racism is racism, sexism is sexism and Andrea Dworkin's size is not brought up. I can easily give up the page 3 button on the topics list for that. I'm also glad that we use html rather than UBB here.

sleazenation

22:28 / 30.06.05

I love the standard of debate [on barbelith].

I dunno - I still think it could be better... this is not a time to be complacent - it's a time to think more rigourously...

Shrug

22:48 / 30.06.05

I don't think that it's a matter of other fora's fauna being of a lower standard than here necessarily though I do appreciate what Barbelith encourages in its posters.

Less searchable M0rd4nt

23:08 / 30.06.05

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Much as I get pissed off with the Temple at times, it's still the best place I know of to talk about teh nmadgykix. I did have a shufti for another comparable forum, but eventually I gave up and just got on with cracking some PDFs instead.

Loomis

07:37 / 01.07.05

I popped over there briefly and found a thread where someone was calling George Monbiot a cunt and saying haven't we given Africa enough money already.

I left right around then.

ONLY NICE THINGS

07:56 / 01.07.05

Well, Monbiot is a ladypart, and jbsays is questioning the wisdom of charity for Africa on this very board... it might be a question of style rather than content.

Regrettable Juvenilia

08:37 / 01.07.05

I dunno, while I agree with sleaze that complacency is not something to aspire to, I do think the enforced break from Barbelith, and in particular some Lithers' choice of the Moon Online as a temporary refuge, has been quite an eye-opener. The dominant cultural mode of Barbelith is not perfect, but sweet Christ, it's preferable to a place where the vast majority of people posting to a thread about Big Brother think it's crazy over-sensitive political correctness to object to a bald black man being called 'Malteser head'. There are some smart, nice people at TMO, but they seem to be a less-than-vocal minority.

Tom Coates

09:16 / 01.07.05

It occured to me that some of the people on TMO might like to join Barbelith. I have no idea whether or not they'd want to, and I'm certainly not implying that Barbelith is preferable for everyone (I haven't wandered around it enough for that), but I just thought maybe we could extend an invitation to some of the older members or something?

Haus of Mystery

10:07 / 01.07.05

I'm still loving the fact (as Grant pointed out) that Barbelith crashed and everyone decamped to the Moon....

ONLY NICE THINGS

10:26 / 01.07.05

As a thankyou? Yeah, possibly... I think "people-who-want-to-join-Barbelith" on TMO is probably pretty self-selecting...

dj kali_ma

12:04 / 01.07.05

I'd never even heard of TMO, before...

Which brings me to (respectfully!) ask a question of the 'Lith people who'll answer:

I wonder how "incestuous" any particular online forum gets after a while? I mean, I've seen smaller BBS communities get swallowed up by the gaping maw of LiveJournal. I, myself, have been "stuck" there for about five years.

Since Barbelith is free-flowing and seemingly democratic in nature, do the outlying politics get shaped by other factors?

One of the things I like most about Barbelith: not distracted by avatars/icons. We're judged on words and not how physically pretty/ugly we may be (or how "cool" our icons are).

Just wondering what others thought.

FinderWolf

12:49 / 01.07.05

I didn't go to the Moon, I'm just glad to have Barbelith back. I was surprised to see it up and running today; I suppose I had imagined (prepared myself) for it being gone for longer. Thanks Tom!

illmatic

13:34 / 01.07.05

So did no one follow me to geoffthompson.com? Lightweights.

Jub

13:35 / 01.07.05

I didn't go to TMO either. I remember when they first discovered us, or vice versa and there was a bit of flirting between the two boards but afaik the only person to keep a presence on barbelith after this was kovacs.

I've mostly been reading blogs but i did stumble across www.rollonfriday.com (click on community and then discussion) - it's okay and the odd thread is okay, but mostly just descends quickly into childish sniping. Also some of the thread titles are things like "i still don't know what i'm going to do for..." and once you've clicked through the first post says "lunch". Seems the ultimate in time wasting at work for lawyers.

Benny the Ball

14:00 / 01.07.05

I think both boards are good in what they do, and both are quite clichie in many ways. There are a core of main posters on both, and a lot of satalitte posters. As for the whole racism thing on TMO, I always put it down to the fact that the main gang had had enough of talking about that/proving that they aren't racist, and went the whole other way, and so a lot of posts are what some folk over here would call un-PC, but that Mooners (Moonies) wouldn't give the time of day to. I like both boards though, for different reasons.

Regrettable Juvenilia

14:12 / 01.07.05

what some folk over here would call un-PC

Are you sure that's the term they'd use?

Benny the Ball

14:19 / 01.07.05

They certainly wouldn't, but both boards have different ways of dealing with any -isms, seems TMO is more likely to take it to an absurd level and mock it openly, where as here it's less tolerated.

grant

14:20 / 01.07.05

Tom: but I just thought maybe we could extend an invitation to some of the older members or something?

I think that's a swell idea.

One of them did say this, over yonder:

We can only read. Us povvo mongs are'nt so-fist-elated enough to punch our way through education. Actually I just mean me. I don't like reading a board I can't join in on. It'd be like watching your prospective partner having a wank and not being allowed to join in.

I should probably post something about new process, yes?

Yes.

ONLY NICE THINGS

14:35 / 01.07.05

I find that the great thing about not being racist at all is that I can call people names based on their race and suggest that they like to rape people/ have the clap/ smell funny, and nobody can be offended at all, because I'm so incredibly not racist. IIf only Barbelith would loosen up a bit, we could _all_ be non-racist like that. Jewish conspiracy, anyone? It is, after all, not racist when it's a fact...

Or, to put it another way, I think I prefer the Barbelith approach.

Regrettable Juvenilia

14:36 / 01.07.05

seems TMO is more likely to take it to an absurd level and mock it openly

Or claim that it is not racist at all, as in the example I gave above.

Benny the Ball

14:40 / 01.07.05

Yeah.

Anyway, the thing about the two places are that TMO will attack you for being a new poster, Barbelith will attack you for being an empty poster, if you get what I mean? Maybe I should shut up now.

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