It’s not you. it’s the nature of the beast…message boards and communities. I’ve addressed this in the past. Not a comfortable topic. Because it gets away from what people are interested in…What’s happening out there and focuses on us.
So what is the nature of the beast? I’ve done research on the psychology of message boards. Surprise.
Message boards operate on long-standing observation is the 90-9-1 rule (or close variants): roughly 90% of users primarily lurk (read without posting), ~9% contribute occasionally, and ~1% create most of the content. This holds across many platforms and has been confirmed in studies of online communities.
Here is a quote from one study
sciencedirect.com
In one analysis of association online communities (covering ~238,000 discussion threads from 250+ organizations):
- 61% of threads received zero group replies.
- Among the 39% that did get replies, the average was about 4.4 responses.
- Overall average replies per thread was under 2 (pulled down heavily by the silent majority of posts).
Similar “lone posts” or “no-response threads” are common.
Lurking is the default for many reasons Lurkers’ satisfaction was often lower than posters’, but most were not purely selfish. People who view discussions as toxic, disrespectful, polarized, or unconstructive are more likely to stay silent
Silent means if they like what you say publicly, they will be seen.
Timing is important. People are essentially posting over each other. The missing scientists, people just kept creating new forums every time a new news item came out, basically sending all the old ones to the grave yard. This ensures that their post will be seen rather than posting under another 50 posts.
Then there is clout chasing. Happens regularly. This is not a commentary on Mr. Farrell who I assume we are all fans of his work. It’s human nature. It is what it is. Clout chasing
It describes people who mainly (or only) engage—reply, comment, influencers, celebrities, high-follower accounts, or people with status/prestige, while ignoring ordinary users’ posts. The goal is usually to gain visibility, association, attention, or a status boost by attaching themselves to someone more prominent. In the old days, we call this brown nosers.
Respect and courtesy. yes. Brown nosing. Nobody likes it and it depends on who the recipient. I know when it was done to me in the corporate world where I had some status, I abhorred it. People preferentially interact with high-status figures. In this community, Mr. Farrell is the celebrity.
There is tons of public information on the subject to explore if you desire. It’s a good glimpse of human nature.
I’m sure I’ve mentioned the chronic lack of people answering questions or follow ups and people just disappearing when their thesis is questioned. People want to be heard.
Now, if you can start a good fight. Punch someone in the nose verbally. You will receive more attention. That’s where the human condition to rubberneck gets invoked.
It’s actually a fun subject. You learn not to read what people are saying, but read what’s behind what they are saying. Message boards are great for honing these skills.
Here’s a fun one. A story. You’ll note people usually don’t talk from their own experience and story time in our modern online culture has nearly died.
There is a pretty famous author. Very famous in some circles. He is the undisputed expert in a field and in multiple area’s which a thousand authors couldn’t come up to his level. Most humans walking the earth don’t have it like that. And he published more than a 100 books and we ain’t talking crap either. He didn’t just flood the market with crap. There are multiple masterpieces. I’d go so far to say that in 100 years, he might be considered a legend. Even a mythical human. Yet, he is a shy, quiet guy. Humble and unassuming.
Well once upon a time, there was a message board that was dedicated to his works. Let’s talk about his books, it’s content. Let’s share our own experiences, and thoughts on any number of subjects.
The author was on the message board in disguise. Just another one of the community members. Joe Anonymous. And from time to time he would chime in on a discussion.
At some point, a group of people didn’t like his responses. Thought they were inaccurate and they let him know. They ripped him apart. The very guy they all were dedicated to read, study and actually the level of reference for him might be equal to what a saint gets. He said he got his arse off the forum and lucky to be in one piece.
Maybe not for you, or anybody else, this story stayed with me for many years. The foremost expert in the world, with prolific output, an extremely likeable person and people making rhetorical comments and nasty comments about the person that they admired more than anyone.
I call this the human condition.
Sure, we might one day solve the mystery of the missing scientists. Or get some insight on what’s next stage chaos in the day to day life of the empire, but you and I ain’t gonna solve this problem. And most moderators of their own message boards aren’t going to solve the human condition.
It is what it is. It’s where we are as a culture in terms of communication. The great experiment of community and global connection thru the eithers ain’t what they said it would be.
I’ve actually thought of ways to solve this since I’ve been a moderator on two message boards. Both more active than this community. It’s a tough cookie to crack although there are cookie cutter solutions that some have used. You can’t force people to do anything. They have to be coaxed.
I would have thought that the members would post in the members area since it’s reserved for members. I was wrong. I tried. No go. I looked up that psychology too. Public area is more visible and thus more attention.
Someone, a very astute man once asked a group of people. Why do you post? Nobody could answer it and few will ever take the time to do the self assessment.
Of course, I thought about this for a long time and my answer. Show and tell might be the oldest game known to man. You know sitting around a campfire telling stories. It’s natural to want to outflow and want to be validated for your thoughts. But the story teller is of no use if there aren’t listeners. In real life, you can look at a person and know if they are listening or out for lunch. Online, you can’t tell unless people make a concerted effort. And that’s not likely to happen. Just ask them. They will tell you.
People have a thousand emails. 1500 notifications from youtube and social media. The kids are crying. No milk in the fridge and somebody has to paint the garage thus you can’t respond to everyone.
Thus the only thing I have left to share is you have to decide what you want out of your sharing and why you do it. It’s a good question to contemplate. And if you think you have something really important to share and it’s unique, you should find a way to share it. the 24/7 news cycles is busier than ever and people’s attentions will move one thing to another thing in a nano second and rarely take the time to focus on an area of interest that has nothing to do with what the crowd is talking about.