Post #49316 by AquaZombie on Tue, Aug 26, 2003 12:29 PM

From my own personal experience:

On another Anything Goes forum for a web site I actually contributed to, some anonymous wacko mysteriously started a really vicious, vitriolic Hate Thread directed at yours truly that was pretty disturbing, especially when other total strangers who knew nothing about me jumped on his bitter bandwagon, making all kinds of personal assumptions and even insulting my wife in the process, whom they never even met! That made it "go time" for me. I made the supremely regrettable mistake of jumping into the fray after someone alerted me to this nonsense. What a monumental waste of time and energy. It's best not to even acknowledge that mob mentality, especially when they're making potshots from behind the protection of their far-flung keyboards. You only wind up feeding their little frenzy.

The sad reality is,the internet attracts and even provides a haven for a number of insecure malcontents who have nothing better to do than fling sour grapes at total strangers, safe and secure in their untouchable electronic identity. It's akin to flipping people off while speeding down the highway. Maybe it makes you feel powerful in some petty way, but it's pretty annoying to the rest of us.

I'm all for debate and dissent, and even though I initially posted a thread on this site that was quickly locked due to escalating hostilities (despite my carefully crafted intro, or so I thought), I now agree with others that in a faceless forum, controversial topics are best left to in-person conversation. I think sites like this are most productive as resources of networking. But I learned this the hard way. Just my two cents.

On the upside: thanks to that aforementioned hate thread (which was never fully explained, since the instigator never contacted me directly, but quickly locked by the moderator), I was introduced to the whole concept of chat rooms and message boards, and have made many cool connections since then. That's just the nature of this brave new computer world, full or unexpected risks and rewards.

I won't actually vote thumbs down on an Anything Goes forum here - I was just sharing my own unfortunate and uncomfortable experience with one. This isn't my site, and not my call. Hanford comes across as very mature and fair-minded and doesn't seem to need my input. I just won't visit such a forum should one develop. Even if someone baits me with a "Why I Hate AquaZombie" thread.