In the online space, aside from blogs and social networking sites, one of the key ways in which people stay connected and converse with each other is via discussion forums.
They`ve been around forever. Well, for probably as long as the Internet has anyway. And I must say that while I have never before signed myself up as a member of one of them, they can be a useful, interesting and often quite objective form of information-gathering.
In our industry, one of the most popular discussion forms is the MyADSL site. Various threads can be found on a range of technical issues, with people sharing their experiences of service providers and technologies, and also sharing information and news they have found elsewhere.
Sometimes it`s just a place to rant and rave, but most discussion forums that I have seen try to engender some kind of rational debate, some sort of intelligent thinking.
The aim
Discussion forums should, I feel, give people who have completely misguided reasons for thinking the way they do about a topic the opportunity to listen to what someone else has to say. And on issues of great, or widespread, importance, helping to change such people`s minds should be a key priority.
One of the typical posts, warning people to be careful of a person trying to steal cars, reads: "This scum should have been shot on the spot, pity I did not have my firearm on hand."
Dave Glazier
One example getting great attention at the moment is the crimexpo Web site. Designed to raise awareness about the high levels of violent crime in the country, the site actively and proudly has a main goal of decimating the local tourism trade, thinking this will help reduce crime levels.
Local TV and radio personality John Robbie has, it seems, been relatively active in trying to get the crimexpo movement squashed. In a pretty neat analogy he has been reported as saying: "Sad, to protest against crime levels by trying to harm the most important thing that can help - tourism. It`s like protesting about a lack of lifeboats on the Titanic by trying to crash it into an iceberg - totally stupid!"
After being alerted to some aggressive discussion posts by some crimexpo forum members who seemed to not entirely agree with a column I wrote some months ago, I had a quick look around the site. To be frank, there is absolutely no positive reason for the forum`s existence. One of the typical posts, warning people to be careful of a person trying to steal cars in a Johannesburg suburb, reads: "This scum should have been shot on the spot, pity I did not have my firearm on hand."
Isn`t this exactly the kind of violent attitude the site is aiming to prevent in other people?
Getting blocked
So I decided to waste a couple of minutes of time, and sign up to become a crimexpo member. I even wrote a post. It wasn`t a tactful one, I admit, but there wasn`t any swearing, racism or xenophobia, for instance.
After a while I realised the moderators were not accepting my, rather different, point of view. So I told the site`s founder, Neil Watson, to allow my comments through - after being publicly insulted and all, I thought I should be given the opportunity.
He replied quite quickly with polite notification that I had been banned from the site. This made me feel a little unwelcome, and since it was clear I wasn`t pulling the party line, I have little hope any other comment I write will be accepted.
I`m sure John Robbie and I aren`t the only two people who see serious logical errors in the crimexpo community`s philosophies. I wonder how many more people log onto the Web site with the aim of educating the people already there about how important tourism is for our country`s development.
But, I would have to assume, anything that contradicts the violent, gung-ho attitude of the forum`s existing members wouldn`t be accepted either. Which leads me to feel the quality and usefulness of any discussion lies in the moderators` ability to filter correctly. If not, the fuel keeps feeding the fire; the blind keep leading the blind.
Share