Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Policy & Help >

The wheels on the bus...

18:02 / 14.12.06

Even with the more stringent process of application in place, Barebelith has an incredible amount of members - granted not all are active, and the ebb and flow of poster frequency and who are deemed the regulars seems to change quite a bit. There is, however, seemingly an establishment in place, the small group, often though not always, moderators that seem an ever present voice on the board. However, does the influx of new people lead to the same problems rising up - for example, the spoilers thread, does it feel like going over old ground for new posters and will trolls always get through? Does anyone get the sense that the board not so much grows but just mutates without evolving? Does having a set in stone group of mods help the place? Would having a revolving set of mods or even elections freshen up the place, or lead to disaster?

Less searchable M0rd4nt

18:11 / 14.12.06

None of the major players involved in the Spoilers thread were new, though.

ONLY NICE THINGS

18:18 / 14.12.06

Also, no trolls have got through so far - people who are finding their level, sure, but nobody who has maliciously attacked the board. I'm more surprised that people are not posting having gained membership...but maybe the thing that inspired them to apply has gone dormant, and they are waiting to see if anything else catches the eye, or are shy, or and so on, really. Maybe we need to be _less_ intimidating...

18:28 / 14.12.06

I'm not sure how important this is, but I've noticed that only two or three of the Head Shop moderators are regular contributors at the moment. I don't know if that's true of other forums? I guess things are working fine, so its not really a problem if the moderators only function is to keep things running smoothly.

It took me about 8 months after joining to start posting regularly, even though I'd been lurking on the site long before then. I imagine you'll notice the new members eventually...

18:29 / 14.12.06

Perhaps - is the baptism of fire method or the softly softly method best? There has been talk of late of policing the place - would indicators that people are new to the site be a good or a bad thing? Or is there a general sense that people who are new members have spent some time lurking or reading the site - or at the very least reading the wikipedia?

Mordant - does this make you feel like the place is more or less alive? Is Policy seen as the old establishment hang out do you think?

Would a filter system of, say, new members being opened into conversation +1 other forum for the first month or x amount of posts be effective or hindering to the place?

As mods, do you feel tired of repeat posting of guidlines or reigning in new members, or old members for that matter?

Our Lady Has Left the Building

18:45 / 14.12.06

I haven't had to do much of that at the moment, as I'm busy with other things I've been hanging back, popping in looking for stuff that needs moderation but mainly been off elsewhere doing other things. I just wish a few of the newer members would feel more comfortable with stepping up and talking, even if Tom assures us it isn't it feels quiet and has done for a while...

MattShepherd: I WEDDED KALI!

19:27 / 14.12.06

After seven months I feel "half-new" -- savvy enough to keep my feet at least partially out of my mouth, and that most regulars recognize my name, but without any of the accrued weight that long-term sensible posting conveys.

The people I wonder about are newer members like Good Intentions, who seemed to jump in with both feet and then jump right back out again. I don't keep up with all parts of the 'lith exhaustively, so maybe he got in a donnybrook and decided this wasn't the place for him. But among the 600-member leap in the last month, I've only noticed maybe two or three names that I see regularly now.

Less searchable M0rd4nt

09:17 / 15.12.06

Mordant - does this make you feel like the place is more or less alive? Is Policy seen as the old establishment hang out do you think?

BtB-- You asked: does the influx of new people lead to the same problems rising up - for example, the spoilers thread, does it feel like going over old ground for new posters, which I took to mean that you had read the kerfuffle as being caused a new person or persons unfamiliar with the board. In fact, I would like to see more people in general, old and new, visiting the Policy; however I can see how a newer person might feel ze had less to add.

10:24 / 15.12.06

Yeah - I had trouble wording what I was trying to say - I guess it's a case of if the point is that the old establishment seem to be having the same old fights with new people as the board grows, or if the same old folk are having the same old fights? Does the board grow, or does it just see an influx of new people, new trolls etc as the old "non-establishment" move on?

16:09 / 15.12.06

Yeah - I had trouble wording what I was trying to say - I guess it's a case of if the point is that the old establishment seem to be having the same old fights with new people as the board grows, or if the same old folk are having the same old fights? Does the board grow, or does it just see an influx of new people, new trolls etc as the old "non-establishment" move on?

It's strange... the ruckus in the Spoilers thread and the relevant FSTV thread was pretty tame by past standards. Things have been extremely quiet around here. And that kind of ties into your next question.

The board does move in its own way, sometimes in swift flashes but of late in a kind of mossy progress. As a moderator, I feel like I'm partially to blame, not initiating as many conversations and threads as I should be and not participating more in a party of ideas.

Happy Dave Has Left

10:33 / 19.12.06

For me, as a relative newbie (poster I mean, I've been lurking since 2004), I've had a mixed experience. I've found a few threads that I've been contributing to, but often I'll come across a thread that has really kicked off (in a good way) in days past, but now feels a bit abandoned. Whether that's because one of the main posters in a discussion has dropped off (because of y'know, real life or something) and the others have lost interest, or because simply everyone has walked away, I can't easily tell. Regardless, I sometimes feel slightly wary of contributing.

Where I have found threads I've got into, it's sometimes like trying to get a rally going in table tennis. People bat the ball back and forward for a while then someone misses it or gets bored and the game stops. Threads that differ from this are those with regular external stimuli (the mammoth Big Brother threads) and chatty threads with limited depth or no central debate (Gives me a happy, Urgh Fuck).

I think the question is not whether the board veterans are tired of constantly fighting the same battles - I don't see this, especially with the current verification process. I think the issue is how to encourage and sustain participation. In wiki circles, there is the concept of a 'wiki gardener' who is essentially a mod, but does a lot of work to build initial content and encourage participation. As a non-mod on Barbelith, I don't see the modding that goes on beyond the occasional call for mod action (i.e. 'please move this thread'), but I do notice repeated posting from a core of members. Where the other 4900 or so are is a bit of a mystery to me.

Happy Dave Has Left

11:24 / 20.12.06

See? Killed it dead. Maybe it's me.

10:38 / 27.12.06

Good Intentions is around, still. I think the pace may be a little slow for him, and he's also a bit busy with offline things.

Good Intentions

22:23 / 27.12.06

I'm still around!

I just got precoccupied with real life. No fault of my own, I assure you.

Good Intentions

08:05 / 28.12.06

But seeing this place, and hanging around for a while as my application went through the mazes, I seriously misjudged the tempo of the place (I blame the size of the archives). Seeing the membership figures and the technical grounding I thought that this was a much more active forum than it actually is. This is the most sedate one I've been, probably not helped by the fact that I only really check out three or four of the forums.

And I simply do not have the energy to devote to as thoughtful and considered contributions that such a pace demands. My previous note on this thread was typed off as I was rushing out the door to work.

Our Lady Has Left the Building

09:05 / 28.12.06

So this is a new one, with people complaining when the Great Old Ones aren't bitching about one another, making inpenetrable references to old jokes and leading a jihad against a random member of the board for their ill thought out views?

Um, okay, let's see what we can do about that. Oy Quantum! Your goat-sucking technique is clearly inferior and your liking for The Magic Roundabout clearly marks you out as a Norweigan Royalist!

That should hopefully do it...

ONLY NICE THINGS

11:33 / 28.12.06

Sorry about that, GI - you're quite right that, at present, the serious discussions tend to be more like leaving messages in people's pigeon holes rather than talking to them face to face. The member numbers do belie this impression- there's an argument for clearing out some of the old suits, to present a more realistic impression - I'd say there are probably about a hundred people posting, at a wild guess.

It's also notable that, of the applications we're getting, the majority are for people who want to talk about the Invisibles or about magic. Possibly the future of Barbelith is as a comics, cult TV and magic board with side-areas for old stagers and people looking for a bit of discutive slow food... in which case, yes, less likely to have big blow-outs.

Good Intentions

23:57 / 28.12.06

And what about those like myself, who gives the magic forums a respectable distance and have never read the Invisibles? Where do I get to talk about hitting people with long sticks?

01:42 / 29.12.06

We have a forum for hitting people with long sticks?

ONLY NICE THINGS

02:51 / 29.12.06

Armory forum.

06:28 / 29.12.06

Haus, you were supposed to keep that up your sleevery.

16:42 / 30.12.06

Tanks, Haus.

01:55 / 31.12.06

Oy Quantum! Your goat-sucking technique is clearly inferior and your liking for The Magic Roundabout clearly marks you out as a Norweigan Royalist!

Armory forum. Five minutes. Bring yer mates.

(And the King of Norway is a fine example of manliness thankyewverymuch, I'll suck any goat that says otherwise.)

21:29 / 31.12.06

(And the King of Norway is a fine example of manliness thankyewverymuch, I'll suck any goat that says otherwise.)

STRONG TRUTH!

Now, bring out the ass candles, Ganesh's great coat and assorted ninjas and let's all have a sexy party.

I'm sorry I've been so tied up and slapped around by life outside the board that I've been very nearly silent for many moons, I'm afraid. And I can't tell if it's going to get worse or better, for me. It does seem pretty sedate, right now, but I do agree that the board does go through, well, dramatically different levels of activity, periodically, in my ancient experience.

Less searchable M0rd4nt

11:41 / 01.01.07

I think this is partly due to everyone's being Xmased out, aren't they? The board drops off over the weekends too. Wait till people go back to work and need to waste time.