Various internet fora
There was a time, early in my internet use (I was around before the net existed in the public imagination) that I used forums, fora being the pompous Latin pluralization. One thing I learned very quickly was that all forums share a common set of characteristics. I will go over these in detail below, they are:
- 1. No desire on the part of the posters to learn anything
2. A lack of knowledge on the subject matter being discussed (could result in #1)
3. Poor written communication skills on part of the participants.
4. Poor manners and little respect for one’s fellow poster.
5. Poor argumentation skills.
1. The persons on forums are not interested in anyone’s opinion, just in spouting their own. Now this is great if the individual happens to be the world expert on X, Y, or Z but that generally isn’t the case. This is bad because combined with #4 it leads only to what are called “flame wars.” In which nothing useful or interesting gets discussed and persons quite interested in the actual topic get shafted with having to put up with childish behaviour.
2. Now, I will be the first to maintain that everyone has the right to an opinion. But those persons who post their opinion must make it known or else the risk is run of serious miscommunications (which takes place on a regular basis). Secondly, when these persons are confronted with an authority on the subject they must cede. Authorities don’t only come in the form of another participant but in sources as well. So that if there’s a discussion on government legislation, the proposed bill can be brought forth and that can be considered an authority. Rare are the discussions on interpretation in forums, where one piece of evidence is presented and parties discuss possible interpretations of it.
3. Poor language skills. What to say about this other than it is terribly frustrating. Most persons with poor written communication skills refuse to acknowledge their deficiency. I won’t imagine for a second that my writing skills are top notch. In fact, just today I learned what a copulative verb was, but I can get my idea across, often by just breaking it down into simple sentences. Some forum participants though, even after repeated pleas for clarification, just continue on ignorant that their point is lost on their audience. I complain about this because given the written nature of forums this is rather important. I’ve read posts by foreigners that were far and away better than anything a native English speaker wrote because they make a concerted effort to communicate their point effectively via the written medium. Good written communication skills does not = good speaking skills.
4. I suppose this is a result of upbringing and the monkeysphere concept, which I don’t entirely agree with but is perhaps the best simple explanation for now.
5. This is an extension of #3 but with a caveat. Forums are about discussion, more often than not, about a point of contention. Forum threads in which everyone agrees are usually boring and don’t go far. To argue though, requires careful attention to one’s opponent. This does not happen with internet forums. Somewhat tied into #1 as well I suppose is the fact that persons simply don’t read what others write. They just spout their own opinion time and again and are not interested in learning.
So why do I write about this stuff. After my early experiences with chats, bulletin boards, and forums I decided to not bother with them. Recently, I have been yearning for some form of contact with like-minded individuals (history/philosophy) and I sought out a forum. I had found it to be the best one available and for a time was quite satisfied (about a month). Then I learned it too suffered from IFS (internet forum syndrome), only a few of the persons posting had any sort of knowledge or skills and few of those were actually kind individuals that were interested in discussion.
It seems I’m back to where I began.