Is This Diversity?

By Garnet R. Chaney

Unfortunately, though, if you spend much time in any particular forum, you may find that it has attracted a few characters who seem to mainly exist as self-appointed policemen and complainers. Hopefully, if you need help online, you can overlook the uncivil behaviour of these dissatisfied few.

I would not be the first psychologist to note that online forums bring out some strange behaviours that are probably different than in real life. While an online community can bring out wonderful cooperative energies in people, some people are no more helpful online than they are in real life. The combination of the anonymity of the online experience, and the different nature of writing, as opposed to the greater challenge of speaking up in the real world, embolden some to work much harder on forcing their views online than they would in real life. However, there are also many behaviours and points of view exactly the same as real life, that are put in people's faces when they are online, often in rude response to innocent comments. Sadly, those who want to be in our faces in real life are well represented on the internet, and sometimes they do their best to make sure we pay attention to their views by insulting anyone who disagrees with them.

In a discussion group that I participate in, one of the members was frustrated about how little Google was indexing his site. I gave him some hints on what he could expect. In another thread, where the topic of friendly search engine URLs, and google listings were being discussed, he mentioned his experience with how much more focused other search engines were in indexing his site, and how Google had indexed so much less during it's merry and aimless indexing of the net. He mentioned "one of the many ways google can be gay".

One of the members of the board quickly jumped on his on-topic posts with the off-topic comment:

In response to someone who is regularly attacked by this member, I wrote:

Dear Friend, Actually a crotchity old fart would have understood the original "google can be gay" comment for exactly what it meant, in the classic sense of the word. The "Grow up" response showed the responder to be a very young, probably 20 something, thin skinned, shill for a political cause. Jumping in with a typical chip on the shoulder comment against the favored word of that group has even less of a place on this board than the "so-called" spam of people offering $1/mo. services tailored to associates, another favorite anti-choice battle pushed forward by the responder. The "Grow up" comment reminds me of how Xerox used to send hundreds of cease-and-desist orders threatening lawsuit on anyone who used their name in a story to try to prevent their brand name being genericized into a verb or noun replacement for "copy". There is a small minority who now think they can own a generic word of the language, and despite their commitment to "diversity" and "choice" they will not allow their chosen words to be used in any way that they do not approve of. They protest any use of their favored words that are in any real or imagined way not a positive promotion of their cause. Their defensive comments are actually protected, politically acceptable, forms of spam that, unlike many of the things here accused of being spam, really don't do anything at all to advance the discussion at hand, and instead help to create divisions and show their repressed anger at not being able to do more to force their view of the world onto everyone else. It's all quite amusing to those of us old enough to remember a time when these words weren't political, and what their original meanings were. It's comical, like the computer manufacturer in the 80's who tried to trademark the word "The" as their brand name, and block any of their competitors from using that word. A friend of mine filed a patent on uses of that same word just so he could put "patent pending" on all his marketing materials. Anyhow, don't be too hard on the responder. The responder is a talented web designer who admits on her sites to not spending enough time away from the keyboard. Perhaps the responder was only giving advice she wishes she herself could follow..... - Garnet

Some readers, wishing that the flame fest would end without producing another 40+ messages thanked me for my trademark trivia. Another member agreed that his mother hated this kind of co-opting of the language, and how his mother called it "the loss of a 'beautifully descriptive' term".

Unfortunately, this hyper-sensitive member of the forum has badgered many other members to the point where they do not want to ever return to the discussion board. I missed a couple of those people, and needed some information about services they'd mentioned on the board a long time ago. It took me a while to find their contact information, but fortunately I'd already had email conversations with these formerly helpful members of the group. I mentioned that I missed their contributions, and was told that because of the bad energy from posts like "grow up" and other similar insults, that they "stay as far away as they can from that discussion group."

You'll need a certain amount of intestinal fortitude to remain a long time participant in a group that includes members who make off-topic comments like "grow up".

When you need help with a problem, or an error message, you should try a Google search for the message. (Hint: Try putting a few consecutive words from the error message in quotations within the Google search box. Another hint: Choose odd or unique words from the message.) Often, within minutes, you'll find a discussion group where your exact problem is being discussed and solved. (Today as I worked on a client's website, I found helpful information about problems on four different discussion groups.)

Also, if you have relevant experience, it is a great idea for you to post messages in forums that help other people. If you have relevant experience, maybe even that you had the same problem as someone else, but you noticed some extra things about the problem, that can be a very useful message. If the forum is relating to some software program, or piece of hardware, developers and product managers often read these forums, without ever posting a message. They are known as lurkers, and your message could help them improve their product in the future.

Whenever you post a message in a forum, especially on forums that are related to the theme of your website, you can use the "signature" area of such messages to make a one or two line quick advertisement for your own website. If people like the posts that you make, they'll might click on your link and visit your website to see what else you have ot offer. Some of the sites with the most diversified traffic get as much as half of their traffic from links in discussion forums.

Other related articles:

• When Will Google Spider My Site?