The Pitfalls of Discussion Boards
Feb. 6th, 2004 05:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatLots of rumbling about discussion boards of late.
See at least three live journal rants on them. And Lord knows I've ranted about them myself at different points. So last night, struggling with insomina, I got to thinking about Discussion boards, how they function, what works, what doesn't work concerning them and thought what the heck - I'll attempt to write a livejournal entry on it.
First a little personal history regarding my own background on discussion boards.
I discovered the wonderful world of discussion boards way back in January 2002, with the discovery of the Buffy Cross & Stake (BC&S)Spoiler Board. I found it through Spoilerslayer.com, which, in turn, had been recommended by someone I'd met at a birthday party. After about a month lurking on BC&S, I started to post Buffy related essays. My first essay was on Giles - The Reluctant Father, (and no, you can't find it anywhere, because I didn't save it and BC&S doesn't keep archives). Writing essays on BC&S, brought me to the attention of a poster named Yoda, who wanted to re-post one of my essays on another posting board, the All Things Philosophical Board. I gave permission and requested a link. Yoda gave it to me and I followed hir to that board, which eventually became my favorite discussion board on the net, I've met some close friends on that board. Through atpo and BC&S , I found Angel After Spike, Marsters Mobsters, More Than Spike, The Big Bad Board, Sparklies, Angel's Soul Board, Whedonesque, Herc's Talk Back, Sunnydale U, The Trollop Board, BAPS, Tea at the ford, and finally live journal. The internet gives a whole new meaning to the word - networking. Outside of fanboards, I've checked out job posting boards on layoff.com, linked, vault, monster, workforce. I've also tried chat. Sorry, not a chatter. Can't do it. Moves too fast for me, can't keep up with the conversation. One time I had to do three chats at once - two private, one public and almost went nuts. I'm not comfortable with internet short-hand, and am far too self-conscious a writer to be able to write quick notes without a little re-reading. Chat makes me crazy. I do not understand how people do it. So I've stuck to posting boards and email forums, where I can read the message, think about it, then respond, hopefully in a succinct and somewhat coherent manner. ;-)
The boards I've visited, posted on, lurked on range from voy to newsgroups to registration locked. The newsgroups and registration locked boards have the advantage/disadvantage of restricting poster behavior.
Voy? Just about anything goes.
Actually here's the list, which is limited to my observations, I am not a computer expert nor have I ever moderated a discussion board - so forgive any errors:
1. public listserves = you have to register with YahooNewsgroups or whomever the hosting agent is to get on and you only get the one login. (examples: Spoiler Trollops, BAPS) Adavantage? You can't polypost, it's impossible. You have to post as an email or sign in, then go down the list and post and it's hard sometimes to do it as a response, since there aren't really any threads. Also hard to post essays to them.
2. private listserves= you have to be accepted by the moderators. They set criteria. If you meet the criteria? You get a notice and a password and can log-on. But you do have to register and you do have to apply first. Sunnydale U is an example. Advantage?
Trolls can't post to it - they have to be accepted by moderators. People tend to use real names, so it's more honest and polite. Disadvantage, see number 1.
3. private discussion boards - such as Marsters Mobsters, Big Bad, More Than Spike - these boards while publicly visible, only permit posting by people who have registered and been accepted by the moderators. You get one name, one id with a registration. The system logs in your IPS address and does not permit you to login or register under another name or id. Some of these boards may require you to apply first and show that you are a fan of the character or the series before being permitted to post. Advantage? It's impossible to post under more than one name ever. You only get one registration.
Trolls can't post to it. Disadvantages - you can't abbreviate your name, but it's not an issue since any time you post, once you log-in, your name automatically appears next to the post you wrote. Logging in can at times be a hassel. There's more graphics so depending on modem speed? Can be difficult to access at times. Also discussion tends to be limited to a character or actor.
4. live journal - requires registration, either have to be invited or pay for it. Only one id.
And has all sorts of safe-guards. Advantages: you control your own livejournal. You're the moderator, which means you set the rules. Disadvantage? Don't get nearly as wide a perspective as you might get in a more public forum, since it is limited to people who friend you and you friend.
5. voy discussion boards - chaos reigns. You don't need to register. You can pretty much do anything you want unless told otherwise by a moderator. The computer doesn't really stop you. IT does limit the number of characters you can post at one time though.
Disadvantages? Voy is persnickety. It goes down at a moments notice - due to the high level of posting.
Trolls can appear without any problems since Voy is so public and there aren't many safeguards. Flamewars? Erupt all the time, due to the format. Takes a while to read messages due to download time. Advantages? You can pick and choose what you read by clicking on subject lines. You get a much wider perspective due to how much traffic voy boards get.
Each board has it's own personality.
Some work like email, some like an electronic bulletin board that you click on. Some a long series of messages in which you get all at once the moment you hit the top one. They also have their own rules, standards of etiquette and pitfalls both electronic and personal.
Of all the posting boards? Voy is probably the most persnickety and chaotic. It is the demon board. It will go down at a moments notice, driving the moderators crazy. Delete posts without warning. Re-organize things. And archive posts before people have a chance to read them.
The other problem with voy is unlike the other discussion board formats, it doesn't have any safeguards in place to keep the riff-raff in line. Moderators have to stay on their toes.
When BTVS was on, Buffy Cross and Stake was one of the *most* popular posting boards on the net.
Partly because people posted spoilers on it. If you wanted spoilers? BC&S was probably best source - all spoilers went through or were discussed on BC&S. Plus B C & S was non-character centric. What this means is - you could find out about or discuss anything related to the show and were not limited to one character.
The problem? Because B C&S was public and got so much traffic, it was bound to get a few immature posters from time to time. Also, due to the fact that it was non-character centric, you'd have character wars break out. Human beings no matter what the topic are bound to disagree. If they didn't? We wouldn't have wars, law suits, etc.
It's in our nature. Add to that the inevitable personality clashes, over everything from writing style, religious beliefs, cultural heritage. Plus the range in ages, cultures, ethnicities, languages and well it's suprising more flame wars haven't erupted on these boards.
How did BC&S deal with this problem? Simple. The board moderator - decided early on to set some rules in place. She made it clear to the posters that she ruled this board. That it was attached to her site. While she loved having them post on it. They had to follow the rules she posted or they were ousted. No arguments. Being a spoiler board - the moderator had to do this, partly because if she didn't she could get in trouble for the copyrighted material people were illegally posting to her board.
The reason I list BC&S specifically here is of the voy boards I've visited those moderators seem to be the most...not sure of the right word to use here? Anal? They show up every once and a while and blast someone for breaking a rule, such as including a spoiler in a subject heading or posting a full summary of an episode that hasn't aired. They'll also delete an entire thread if someone starts bashing the show, other posters, or characters in an overly offensive way. ie. "Cordelia...blech!" Anyone posting that would be deleted. They do it more than once? Banned from the board after a warning. You can say you dislike a character, you can explore why. But you have to be polite about it. If you use inflamatory language towards others? Goodbye! Since BC&S's average age was 25, and it got a lot of teens posting, this was necessary, particularly when older posters used foul language - resulting in nasty letters being sent by parents to the website owner. If the poster complained about being banned? They were directed to the rules. Now, moderators are human beings, they aren't perfect, they have jobs and lives outside of moderating a posting board which is something they aren't being paid for and are doing for fun. So to expect them to patrol and moderate and delete and discipline every idiot who decides to lash out on a posting board is well a bit much. They do their best. And voy can be a headache, since unlike other boards it doesn't provide some of the safeguards.
One of the biggest problems on voy boards which you won't find on the listserves or boards you have to register to enter is - the poly poster.This is the poster who succumbs to the temption to use more then one posting name. Yes, many of us have succumbed to this bad habit, myself included. Why? Usually out of a fit of pique due to some nit-wit poster whose pushed us beyond the point of no return. We feel the need to give them a dose of their own medicine but not get crucified by the rest of the board in the process. So we adopt a snarky tag line in lieu of our ordinary name. Or...we might just want to play a little game with other board members, they know who we are and we know who they are. When this happens, we are usually just using one pseudonyme at a time. The problem with this ahem little game is the ability to be anyomous tempts one to write things that are out of line and trollish. Now if you take this to it's extreme and use more than one name at the same time, (ie. if I were to post under shadow, shadowkat, demon, sundog on a board at the same time) you would start taking up board space, so that voy begins to archive the other peoples' posts, leaves yours alone, and before long, the whole discussion board is basically you talking to yourself in circles. Might be entertaining to you. Not that entertaining to anyone else.
What a lot of people don't understand is you are *not* fooling anyone when you do this. All a savvy board moderator has to do is check the ISP addresses, and as much as I might want to anymously bash an obnoxious poster whose pissed me off - I do love and respect board moderators. They've been overwhelmingly kind and supportive of me. Without their indulgence, I would never have been able to post so many long essays. And I also realize that they can oust me from their board fairly easily.
If you want to piss off a board moderator - play the poly posting name game. These poor people do not have the time to worry about you causing voy to prematurely archive posts. They have enough problems.
How to handle nit-wits who like to post under more than one name at a time? I think B C&S sends them a warning. If they don't listen, they get banned.
What I love about live journal is I can control what I read better, also what I say. Unlike the voy boards - I can actually go back and edit a post. Voy - you can't do that. In live journal - you can also delete posts and threads. Not possible in voy, unless you're the moderator.
Also you can avoid people who make you crazy in live-journal. On discussion boards it's much harder, since they sometimes say nasty things in subject headings.
Being unemployed, I find I have less tolerance for the posting styles described above, so like many others have fled to the lovely universe of livejournal. Yes, I vent. But I can friends lock or privatize that. There are safeguards. I have control. Limited control, but at this point in my life - that's something I'm beginning to value and need.
See at least three live journal rants on them. And Lord knows I've ranted about them myself at different points. So last night, struggling with insomina, I got to thinking about Discussion boards, how they function, what works, what doesn't work concerning them and thought what the heck - I'll attempt to write a livejournal entry on it.
First a little personal history regarding my own background on discussion boards.
I discovered the wonderful world of discussion boards way back in January 2002, with the discovery of the Buffy Cross & Stake (BC&S)Spoiler Board. I found it through Spoilerslayer.com, which, in turn, had been recommended by someone I'd met at a birthday party. After about a month lurking on BC&S, I started to post Buffy related essays. My first essay was on Giles - The Reluctant Father, (and no, you can't find it anywhere, because I didn't save it and BC&S doesn't keep archives). Writing essays on BC&S, brought me to the attention of a poster named Yoda, who wanted to re-post one of my essays on another posting board, the All Things Philosophical Board. I gave permission and requested a link. Yoda gave it to me and I followed hir to that board, which eventually became my favorite discussion board on the net, I've met some close friends on that board. Through atpo and BC&S , I found Angel After Spike, Marsters Mobsters, More Than Spike, The Big Bad Board, Sparklies, Angel's Soul Board, Whedonesque, Herc's Talk Back, Sunnydale U, The Trollop Board, BAPS, Tea at the ford, and finally live journal. The internet gives a whole new meaning to the word - networking. Outside of fanboards, I've checked out job posting boards on layoff.com, linked, vault, monster, workforce. I've also tried chat. Sorry, not a chatter. Can't do it. Moves too fast for me, can't keep up with the conversation. One time I had to do three chats at once - two private, one public and almost went nuts. I'm not comfortable with internet short-hand, and am far too self-conscious a writer to be able to write quick notes without a little re-reading. Chat makes me crazy. I do not understand how people do it. So I've stuck to posting boards and email forums, where I can read the message, think about it, then respond, hopefully in a succinct and somewhat coherent manner. ;-)
The boards I've visited, posted on, lurked on range from voy to newsgroups to registration locked. The newsgroups and registration locked boards have the advantage/disadvantage of restricting poster behavior.
Voy? Just about anything goes.
Actually here's the list, which is limited to my observations, I am not a computer expert nor have I ever moderated a discussion board - so forgive any errors:
1. public listserves = you have to register with YahooNewsgroups or whomever the hosting agent is to get on and you only get the one login. (examples: Spoiler Trollops, BAPS) Adavantage? You can't polypost, it's impossible. You have to post as an email or sign in, then go down the list and post and it's hard sometimes to do it as a response, since there aren't really any threads. Also hard to post essays to them.
2. private listserves= you have to be accepted by the moderators. They set criteria. If you meet the criteria? You get a notice and a password and can log-on. But you do have to register and you do have to apply first. Sunnydale U is an example. Advantage?
Trolls can't post to it - they have to be accepted by moderators. People tend to use real names, so it's more honest and polite. Disadvantage, see number 1.
3. private discussion boards - such as Marsters Mobsters, Big Bad, More Than Spike - these boards while publicly visible, only permit posting by people who have registered and been accepted by the moderators. You get one name, one id with a registration. The system logs in your IPS address and does not permit you to login or register under another name or id. Some of these boards may require you to apply first and show that you are a fan of the character or the series before being permitted to post. Advantage? It's impossible to post under more than one name ever. You only get one registration.
Trolls can't post to it. Disadvantages - you can't abbreviate your name, but it's not an issue since any time you post, once you log-in, your name automatically appears next to the post you wrote. Logging in can at times be a hassel. There's more graphics so depending on modem speed? Can be difficult to access at times. Also discussion tends to be limited to a character or actor.
4. live journal - requires registration, either have to be invited or pay for it. Only one id.
And has all sorts of safe-guards. Advantages: you control your own livejournal. You're the moderator, which means you set the rules. Disadvantage? Don't get nearly as wide a perspective as you might get in a more public forum, since it is limited to people who friend you and you friend.
5. voy discussion boards - chaos reigns. You don't need to register. You can pretty much do anything you want unless told otherwise by a moderator. The computer doesn't really stop you. IT does limit the number of characters you can post at one time though.
Disadvantages? Voy is persnickety. It goes down at a moments notice - due to the high level of posting.
Trolls can appear without any problems since Voy is so public and there aren't many safeguards. Flamewars? Erupt all the time, due to the format. Takes a while to read messages due to download time. Advantages? You can pick and choose what you read by clicking on subject lines. You get a much wider perspective due to how much traffic voy boards get.
Each board has it's own personality.
Some work like email, some like an electronic bulletin board that you click on. Some a long series of messages in which you get all at once the moment you hit the top one. They also have their own rules, standards of etiquette and pitfalls both electronic and personal.
Of all the posting boards? Voy is probably the most persnickety and chaotic. It is the demon board. It will go down at a moments notice, driving the moderators crazy. Delete posts without warning. Re-organize things. And archive posts before people have a chance to read them.
The other problem with voy is unlike the other discussion board formats, it doesn't have any safeguards in place to keep the riff-raff in line. Moderators have to stay on their toes.
When BTVS was on, Buffy Cross and Stake was one of the *most* popular posting boards on the net.
Partly because people posted spoilers on it. If you wanted spoilers? BC&S was probably best source - all spoilers went through or were discussed on BC&S. Plus B C & S was non-character centric. What this means is - you could find out about or discuss anything related to the show and were not limited to one character.
The problem? Because B C&S was public and got so much traffic, it was bound to get a few immature posters from time to time. Also, due to the fact that it was non-character centric, you'd have character wars break out. Human beings no matter what the topic are bound to disagree. If they didn't? We wouldn't have wars, law suits, etc.
It's in our nature. Add to that the inevitable personality clashes, over everything from writing style, religious beliefs, cultural heritage. Plus the range in ages, cultures, ethnicities, languages and well it's suprising more flame wars haven't erupted on these boards.
How did BC&S deal with this problem? Simple. The board moderator - decided early on to set some rules in place. She made it clear to the posters that she ruled this board. That it was attached to her site. While she loved having them post on it. They had to follow the rules she posted or they were ousted. No arguments. Being a spoiler board - the moderator had to do this, partly because if she didn't she could get in trouble for the copyrighted material people were illegally posting to her board.
The reason I list BC&S specifically here is of the voy boards I've visited those moderators seem to be the most...not sure of the right word to use here? Anal? They show up every once and a while and blast someone for breaking a rule, such as including a spoiler in a subject heading or posting a full summary of an episode that hasn't aired. They'll also delete an entire thread if someone starts bashing the show, other posters, or characters in an overly offensive way. ie. "Cordelia...blech!" Anyone posting that would be deleted. They do it more than once? Banned from the board after a warning. You can say you dislike a character, you can explore why. But you have to be polite about it. If you use inflamatory language towards others? Goodbye! Since BC&S's average age was 25, and it got a lot of teens posting, this was necessary, particularly when older posters used foul language - resulting in nasty letters being sent by parents to the website owner. If the poster complained about being banned? They were directed to the rules. Now, moderators are human beings, they aren't perfect, they have jobs and lives outside of moderating a posting board which is something they aren't being paid for and are doing for fun. So to expect them to patrol and moderate and delete and discipline every idiot who decides to lash out on a posting board is well a bit much. They do their best. And voy can be a headache, since unlike other boards it doesn't provide some of the safeguards.
One of the biggest problems on voy boards which you won't find on the listserves or boards you have to register to enter is - the poly poster.This is the poster who succumbs to the temption to use more then one posting name. Yes, many of us have succumbed to this bad habit, myself included. Why? Usually out of a fit of pique due to some nit-wit poster whose pushed us beyond the point of no return. We feel the need to give them a dose of their own medicine but not get crucified by the rest of the board in the process. So we adopt a snarky tag line in lieu of our ordinary name. Or...we might just want to play a little game with other board members, they know who we are and we know who they are. When this happens, we are usually just using one pseudonyme at a time. The problem with this ahem little game is the ability to be anyomous tempts one to write things that are out of line and trollish. Now if you take this to it's extreme and use more than one name at the same time, (ie. if I were to post under shadow, shadowkat, demon, sundog on a board at the same time) you would start taking up board space, so that voy begins to archive the other peoples' posts, leaves yours alone, and before long, the whole discussion board is basically you talking to yourself in circles. Might be entertaining to you. Not that entertaining to anyone else.
What a lot of people don't understand is you are *not* fooling anyone when you do this. All a savvy board moderator has to do is check the ISP addresses, and as much as I might want to anymously bash an obnoxious poster whose pissed me off - I do love and respect board moderators. They've been overwhelmingly kind and supportive of me. Without their indulgence, I would never have been able to post so many long essays. And I also realize that they can oust me from their board fairly easily.
If you want to piss off a board moderator - play the poly posting name game. These poor people do not have the time to worry about you causing voy to prematurely archive posts. They have enough problems.
How to handle nit-wits who like to post under more than one name at a time? I think B C&S sends them a warning. If they don't listen, they get banned.
What I love about live journal is I can control what I read better, also what I say. Unlike the voy boards - I can actually go back and edit a post. Voy - you can't do that. In live journal - you can also delete posts and threads. Not possible in voy, unless you're the moderator.
Also you can avoid people who make you crazy in live-journal. On discussion boards it's much harder, since they sometimes say nasty things in subject headings.
Being unemployed, I find I have less tolerance for the posting styles described above, so like many others have fled to the lovely universe of livejournal. Yes, I vent. But I can friends lock or privatize that. There are safeguards. I have control. Limited control, but at this point in my life - that's something I'm beginning to value and need.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
I noticed...
Date: 2004-02-06 04:01 pm (UTC)This has had its ups and downs. People have gotten a bit less civil in the last year. Other people have complained that "the board isn't the same". Well, as the person who has been at the board the longest, I can testify that the board is never the same. Posters come and go, personalities set the tone, and the tone changes every three months or so with the coming and going of posters and changes with changes in the tone of the show(s). I am sad to see some of the great posters go; I am glad there are new ones to take their place.
I suspect if I wasn't the moderator and comitted to the board and the friends I have made there (or is that in need of being committed??) I would have left a while back myself.
I'm not sure what will become of it when there are no more Buffyverse shows on the air. I'd like to think we have enough OT topics and show rehashing to do to keep it alive for a while afterwards.
Re: I noticed...
Date: 2004-02-06 04:18 pm (UTC)Atpo doesn't have these problems. But because it is a voy board, it does have problems. Nature of the beast, I suspect. I think your approach may be the best one for this board - which is to ask the other posters to police it themselves. But if someone becomes a problem, like Boke or aquaman did? Maybe ousting isn't a bad idea? Don't know.
I haven't left the board. I still read it. Just don't find as much to respond to at the moment. Has zip to do with you and everything to do with who chooses to post on it.
Re: I noticed...
Date: 2004-02-06 04:38 pm (UTC)In retrospect, a forum platform other than voy might have made the ATPo board a little less problematic. I've always been partial to threaded boards like voy and the way they lead to interesting sub-topics and more varied discussions.
I think voy gives you the option of having moderated posting (which, hello, I have a life! again comes to mind), and logins, which is so hard to control because you don't know a person will be a troll until they start posting, and then it's back to the "to ban or not to ban" issue.
Ultimately, a free and open board with little policing suited my moderator style and political inclinations.
A quote from AtS: "There is no right or wrong, only choices". We either accept the consequences of our choices, or we don't. Sometimes, in the middle of the night, I don't.
Re: I noticed...
Date: 2004-02-06 04:54 pm (UTC)I think it takes up about 50% of her time? Not sure. They've run into some interesting problems.
Once she told me they had to debate deleting a post that said something a little crude about Tom Cruise. The comment was - "bacon ring". They weren't sure if it was crude or not and had to look it up. When they discovered it - they deleted.
Now the poster who made the comment, was a good person, very clean-cut, rarely uses this type of language in her offline life. When she's online? She cuts loose. Uses the internet as a way to let off steam. The difficulty they faced was how to moderate that.
I'm not sure I could do it. To be honest? I admire how you've run atpo, particularly when it explodes.
Because the longer I'm online, the more aware I am of the ways people use the internet. Some people use it to vent. Some to discuss. Some to release tension. Some to just connect. And some to do all of the above. I've also learned to not read posters who push my buttons at the moment. I can't handle it. I could two years ago, for some reason. But right now? No. Or at least not without lashing out myself.
As for the changing nature of the board? I think that has more to do with the nature of the shows.
My web designer stopped watching Whedon shows after BTVS ended, she also stopped frequenting posting boards. Lots of people have just lost interest in posting. I was surprised to see Age again. So many of the people I'd known through the boards and email had left. Has zip to do with how atpo is managed or moderated or who posts on it, and a lot to do with what people are interested in.
Re: I noticed...
Date: 2004-02-06 05:09 pm (UTC)I find the board takes up a lot of my time, and I can't imagine how that would baloon even with co-moderators, if it was a moderated board. Moderating would involve me and some others (carefully selected mods, who come and go, finding archivists is hard enough!) reading all the posts that come in and making executive decisions about their post-worthiness. I don't think I could deal with the stress of deciding, "Is this a flame? Why or why not?" or a lot of the other questions that determine post-worthiness.
I guess it's the lazy mod's solution to say, "Write what you want, behave yourselves, if you don't like someone don't read them."
But it's been surprisingly successful over the long term.
Re: I noticed...
Date: 2004-02-06 08:16 pm (UTC)And once they finish formatting it's done. You have to deal with a lot more tech stuff than I think they have to. Though I could be wrong on that. I think they spend most of their time playing moderator and posts still pass by them.
I'm not sure how AngelX and B C&S manage that board. It's a nightmare. She has maybe five or six people moderating. I do know that they do *not* maintain archives and that board moves fast. You're lucky if a post stays up for longer than a day. So there may be less formatting and archiving work involved.
I guess it's the lazy mod's solution to say, "Write what you want, behave yourselves, if you don't like someone don't read them."
I'm not so sure it's lazy, so much as just trying to treat people like adults. Which is a wise thing to do, because all in all, people do act the way you treat them. Unfortunately, we all tend to act like children at times. Whining and carrying on when we don't get our way or when someone pushes our buttons. After my rest over Xmas, I made the decision just not to read certain posts and to not take things too personally. Basically, try to focus on other things.
Regarding the current issue on poly posts? I tend to agree with your approach. The posts aren't bugging me. But then I really haven't read any of them. Become very...picky about the posts I read lately - mostly because it's taking longer and longer for my computer to view them. Stupid modem. That's the other reason I'm on livejournal more - for some reason it takes less time for my computer to view livejournal entries than it does voy entries. Weird, I know. So I only read the people I'm familar with and respond if I have something meaningful to add or someone else hasn't said.
Has more to do with computer speed than board climate.
The current poly poster certainly isn't disrupting the board like Boke or aguaman did, or for that matter the way the Jonathan Brandis posters did on BC&S this summer - now that I've never seen on atpo. So who knows...maybe your approach is working? No approach is perfect, they all have pluses and minuses. And honestly even livejournal gets snarky at times - I've seen all sorts of flare-ups. People can be such asses sometimes, can't they? ;-)
Re: I noticed...
Date: 2004-02-06 10:04 pm (UTC)Exactly my experience. I think I read maybe 10% of the posts on the board total, a bit more if there's an interesting thread. I just don't have the time to keep up on everything, and as a result, it makes me a bit out of touch with what's going on. People are always telling me about this or that thing that happened on the board and I don't know anything about it. I have to go find out after I'm told second-hand.