Microbes
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posted on October 26, 2001 05:42:04 PM new
on-line in 1994. I did sign up for some unmoderated news groups. Posters were always very polite, because they were mostly spammers. Spammers are usually civil because they are trying to sell you stuff
Back in the late 80's and early 90's, that was the only way to sell on line. Some forums where specificly for that purpose, and I made use of them. It was a real mess compared to eBay 
I think my first "online" experience was about 1981, but I was just hooking up to the University from home with a Vic-20.
By 1988 I had a BBS setup on an IBM XT, and was carrying about 200 Fido Net forums, and had a user base of about 100 people on my system. I tryed very hard NOT to "moderate" the users of my local message bases, but I had to step in a few times.
But the internet came along, and there went all the demand for local BBS's.
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uaru
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posted on October 26, 2001 06:18:32 PM new
One of the biggest assets AuctionWatch had was it's message board. You could find the AW message board referenced in many news articles. The reason the reference board was reference in news articles was because of the amount of posts it received and the ability of the moderators to keep the flow directed in a positive direction.
AuctionWatch will save money on the non-moderated board and they will lose the most valuable assets they had that took a long time to build.
I'm taking wagers if anyone doubts that. I'll even give you good odds.
Pat, Joice, Michelle, Marty, Sara, and Smitty, will have the last laugh.
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Femme
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posted on October 26, 2001 06:55:51 PM new
That was a great signature line, Antiquary. 
Also, a resounding AMEN!! to your posts in the now-locked thread. Joice got in there before I could post.
Sincerely,
One of your followers. 
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kraftdinner
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posted on October 26, 2001 06:56:12 PM new
So, what would you say would be the worst case scenerio? How could we avoid that?
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jt-2007
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posted on October 26, 2001 06:58:31 PM new
Ok, here's one. I remember the Mississippi Computer Society monthly meetings....you know 10 guys with pocket protectors who used the computer like it was a cb radio? LOL
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dman3
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posted on October 26, 2001 07:19:52 PM new
WOW you guys are New Comers, hehe I remember In high school back in 1974 75 Chat sessions online all paper no monitors at all.
You would have a hot game or topic going and run out of paper and rush to use the flip side of the last 200 sheets so you wouldn't miss anything or get in trouble for waisting computer paper..
Then When The internet just started takeing over and some local BBS groups decided to turn there hobby into to income by turning the BBS into a local ISP the Local BBS chat forms use to be popular as well as usenet and telnet.
http://www.Dman-N-Company.com
Email [email protected]
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corrdogg
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posted on October 26, 2001 07:36:35 PM new
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dman3
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posted on October 26, 2001 07:41:33 PM new
HAHAHA
You know the more I think about it gore may well have invented the internet, His Idea of it though had nothing to do with the Computer.
I remember him from my CB days I think his handle was crazy cooter as I recall he use to babble for hours about some thing to do with intersex or net something or other like that..
http://www.Dman-N-Company.com
Email [email protected]
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corrdogg
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posted on October 26, 2001 07:47:08 PM new
You funny dman3!
Are you sure that was Al and not his running mate?
UBBooBoo
[ edited by corrdogg on Oct 26, 2001 07:48 PM ]
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Antiquary
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posted on October 26, 2001 08:34:57 PM new
Hey Femme,
You're up late again. Yes, your problem has always been that you are so weak-willed. LOL You take after the shy, reserved Charlotte too much.
But about the moderation or lack thereof. I'm sure that AW would have continued it if they could afford it. But I'm glad that they aren't closing the forums which was my initial fear. Since I don't intend to underwrite the moderation, however much I have grown to like the moderators, then I'll just go with the flow and see what happens. If I like it, I'll continue to stay on. If I don't, I'll leave. If AW goes under or sells, then that would have happened regardless of the forums.
AW's impending demise has been echoed from the internet rooftops on numerous occasions and it hasn't happened yet. So I'm not running off anywhere until I see how it all shakes down.
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Eriu
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posted on October 26, 2001 08:50:00 PM new
In answer to the original question..no I do not think it can be done. It has been tried before and the sites no longer exist.
I wish it could happen.
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stockticker
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posted on October 26, 2001 08:59:13 PM new
Those sites which no longer exist never had to contend with the problem of spammers either. The moderators here delete a lot of that sort of stuff quickly so it's not that annoying and distracting as I can see it might become.
Irene
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kraftdinner
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posted on October 26, 2001 09:18:40 PM new
Hi {{{Antiquary}}}! Many thanks for your support way back when...
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stockticker
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posted on October 26, 2001 09:21:16 PM new
I got a taste of what spamming could do on the AW Yahoo forum last January when Yahoo implemented fees for the first time.
I had only started to post on that forum regularly a couple of months earlier and had learned a lot from the other posters. (Yahoo is different than eBay and requires a different approach.)
Anyway, when the fee structure was announced, posters were upset and almost everyone decided to leave Yahoo and were looking for alternatives. The spammers moved in. My guess the AW powers-that-be (not the moderators) decided to give the spammers some lee-way there because there was such intense interest in obtaining information on alternative auction sites.
Within a very short time the forum became a completely useless.  Very little that was posted about auction experiences could be trusted and it was unpleasant having to wade through all the spam. Finally one day MarkAW posted and cracked down hard on the spammers and the forum became moderated in a normal manner again.
Irene
[ edited by stockticker on Oct 26, 2001 09:22 PM ]
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Antiquary
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posted on October 26, 2001 09:27:06 PM new
Hi KD,
Hope everything is going well.
This was an excellent topic idea, but then you've started a lot of interesting threads on a wide variety of topics.
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jt-2007
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posted on October 26, 2001 09:30:20 PM new
Actually it CAN and does work, however, the one successful unmoderated board that I know of is all female, all live within 200 miles of eachother, all homeschool their kids, all are Christians. Never one problem there. Actually one time someone got their feelings hurt during an ADHD debate, but no moderation was required.
Will not work here.
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Antiquary
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posted on October 26, 2001 09:31:37 PM new
Yes, Irene that could be a potential problem. I think that the CC requirement would cut down on that a bit, and then I think that someone at AW will be keeping an eye on the forums. Especially, if rival concerns are involved.
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stockticker
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posted on October 26, 2001 09:37:51 PM new
Unfortunately, Dan, spammers can have credit cards too. If they have special credit cards with a zero or very, very low spending limit then they nothing to lose and everything to gain by posting dozens or even hundreds of spam messages (how long does that take to do?) before someone at AW notices and decides to suspend the poster.
Irene
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jt-2007
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posted on October 26, 2001 09:42:10 PM new
I predict lots of mysteriously vanishing posts, confusion over such, frustration, feelings of isolation, no more "customer support" (we will get back to you within 2 weeks)...then a quarter here, a quarter there.
Like ebay.
But I could be wrong.
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Antiquary
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posted on October 26, 2001 09:44:10 PM new
Yes, that's possible, Irene. However, I think that that kind of spam is more for harassment than business since it generates no good will whatsoever. I really doubt that legitmate business concerns with real intent to attract customers would do that. The harassers could continue to do that sort of thing, but I don't think that most will bother. They're mainly looking for easy targets and the CC does deter that behavior.
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stockticker
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posted on October 26, 2001 09:52:18 PM new
I think you'd be surprised, Dan. Many of the posters did go to those auction sites and tried them out.
Irene
Edited to add: Most of those who went eventually admitted that they found little or no success.
[ edited by stockticker on Oct 26, 2001 09:54 PM ]
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Antiquary
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posted on October 26, 2001 10:00:44 PM new
Yes, I keep forgetting about those. Today there must be one born about every millisecond. We'll just have to see, I guess.
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hepburn
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posted on October 26, 2001 10:57:02 PM new
Terri, I dont remember if you said if you were staying here or going. Whats your plans? Pondering it still?
I dont think self moderation will work. I really dont. There is always one stronger group or personality and that is the one that dominates and with a self moderated board, the dominate one(s) tend to lead and the rest follow. Human nature. I have seen boards that had no moderation and none of them worked. I cant see this one being any different.
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jt-2007
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posted on October 26, 2001 11:28:25 PM new
fluff, wisk away by a breath of hot air
[ edited by jt on Oct 27, 2001 10:05 AM ]
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jt-2007
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posted on October 26, 2001 11:31:01 PM new
I just re-read your question.
staying or going. Whats your plans?
*faints* BOOM!
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outoftheblue
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posted on October 26, 2001 11:59:42 PM new
"the dominate one(s) tend to lead and the rest follow. Human nature."
They should add the following warning to all message boards: "Group thinking kills intellect!"
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camachinist
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posted on October 27, 2001 12:34:45 AM new
Can Self Moderation Work?
Emphatically, yes.....but, IME, it takes a strong common bond and interest amongst the community members to work.
I'm a long-time poster on one of the oldest vintage Mustang forums on the Internet and the owner has steadfastedly refused to do two things...
1. Accept advertising of any sort for the forum pages (we all contribute what we want if we want to...I buy T-shirts *G*)
2. Moderate the forums in any manner, even when he's been begged to by the regulars...the only moderation which has ever been done has been by volunteers who move classified ads misplaced into the forum to their appropriate location in the classifieds.
I've posted over 6000 posts over 3 years on two permutations of the forum and have only gotten into a serious arguement with someone one time...and it was with an "expert" from another Mustang forum...I'd say that's par for the course for the community...
Trolls and disruptors are frozen out....literally...there's an unwritten rule (amongst the regulars) to ignore such attempts at disruption and the posts soon scroll off the pages (old threads cannot be bumped...we voted *G*)
The owner does step in if trolls post obscene or vulgar content, not moderating but instead blocking the user's IP address....the posts generally remain on the record and open to comment......the only locked threads are announcements by the owner or those of general interest by members.
IMO, pretty impressive for a forum which has over 5200 registered users and has seen thread and post totals over the last 7 months of over 24,000 and 152,000, respectively...
Oh, and no pruning....every post ever put there is fully searchable and open...one of the most comprehensive auto information resources (for Mustangs anyway) on the Internet.
Shameless plug? Sure...I love the VMF...but, more importantly, it shows that an unmoderated forum can work...
I hope the remaining posters here after Halloween are up to the task...
Pat
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spazmodeus
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posted on October 27, 2001 01:34:08 AM new
My first car was a 1968 Mustang. I bought it in my senior year of high school with $900 I saved up washing dishes in a restaurant a few nights a week. That was in the early 80s.
I wrecked it shortly after graduating from college.
I haven't been the same since.
If you ever owned one, you understand.
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rachelcrisscross
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posted on October 27, 2001 01:38:50 AM new
You know, it can work...
But I don't think it will here because there is so much focus and competition on what-ever gain there may be from being here...
Rather than just the pure enjoyment of being me and being you - nothing more nothing less...
[ edited by rachelcrisscross on Oct 27, 2001 01:39 AM ]
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camachinist
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posted on October 27, 2001 01:54:01 AM new
If you ever owned one, you understand
Yeah, spaz, I sure do...never have owned any other type of car...only vintage Mustangs....earned my first one the same way as you did, except in the mid 1970's....
I still have two...a 64.5 coupe which I drive and a 65 fastback which is a pure race car...
I think you hit on why the VMF can function so well unmoderated....the passion for and reverence with which the community holds the reason for their coming together makes impoliteness almost blasphemous.
We're always sorry to hear of the passing of one of our beloved Pony's, no matter how long ago...I hope it served you well...
Pat
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