Digging through non-webmaster type forums

[KLB]

So I've spent the last couple of days googling the Internet looking for environmental science related forums to participate in to help attract new readers to my environmental chemistry site, and I must say forums get really scary outside of the webmaster genre. I haven't found any forums of the environmental/ecology nature that can hold a stick to the quality of forums I've gotten used to participating in because of WPF or dare I say SPF. I've forgotten how quickly poorly run forums can get taken over by a few malcontents who are hell bent on shouting down anyone they don't agree with. Its like the really knowledgeable people have either been driven away from these types of forums or were never brave enough to participate to begin with.

Every now and then I get the idea of starting a forum related to my site and then I look at posts on articles comment sections of sites like CNet and I ask my self if I really want the hassle of having to police trolls. It really is a shame that malcontents can ruin things for everyone.

[Shawn]

I remember reading the comments once for a Yahoo! news story.

Never again.

[Varelse]

That's so common :(
Most of the forums I've checked were dominated by this trend; "if you criticize and flame the article/subject/author/whatever, you must be wiser than it/him".
So forums are filled with either strong-charisma criticize-everything leaders or their followers.
There's no real discussion, arguing in a decent way. Friend or foe - nothing in between, no respect for opposer and no even the slightest thought about him being right or not :sick:

[KLB]

Reading some of the threads on article comments or in the forums is enough to make one wonder if the fabric of civil society has completly fallen apart. If our society was to be judge by those discussions one might think we are a petty anti-social species. Some of this stuff goes well beyond being rude and anti-social.

I'd love to have article comments on my site to allow for a real civil discourse on the topic of my articles, but I realize there isn't a chance in hell of a civil discourse taking place. It is very sad.

[Dan Grossman]

I've come across some forums with decent communities browsing sites for sale at SP. I rarely venture out from the webmaster forums otherwise.

[Erin]

I think my test prep and admissions forum (http://www.urch.com/forums) is pretty civil, especially considering the size and amount of activity. The graduate admissions (http://www.urch.com/forums/graduate-admissions/) section is particularly helpful and active.

Ken, I'm not sure whether my general academic forums could be of any help to you (there are more MBA and Econ PhD people than any other), but if you have any ideas that don't involve spam, :D feel free to PM me.

[Cutter]

There is no doubt that forums are a magnet for losers who like to flame people all day; but I think most of it is a case of bored people not paying much attention to what they are actually saying.

If you make people register with their real names it might go a long way in keeping a tame bored. It certainly can be done, but yes, you will have to weed out problem posters.

[KLB]

Maybe the difference is that webmaster type forums like this the forum is directly releated to our occupation and is almost necessary for career growth. With the environmental/science forums I found it is less clear what the motivation of the people is that participate. Also our web publishing careers tend to allow us more ability to drop in and post in a forum like this on a regular basis. This means that threads get more guidance from professionals. I suspect environmental professionals do not have the time to constantly be droping into a forum thus threads can be taken over by bored people who have nothing better to do with their days than stir up trouble on forums.

[Steelsun]

Same types of thing abound in the photographer communities. You have many crappy forums, many elitist ones, many that are attack prone, and some good ones.

Alas, that is human existance.

[KLB]

I did find a science/environmental forum that seems to do a very good job of moderating forums even on politically/religiously explosive topics like evolution. Their method to doing this is to set some very pragmatic ground rules, address the most basic issues surrounding said topics in a "FAQ" and to delete without mercy any post that violates the ground rules.

The forum is http://www.scienceforums.net

An example thread on how they lay the ground rules for a forum is http://www.scienceforums.net/forums/showthread.php?t=13261

From what I've seen they have been able to strike a balance between allowing and encouraging vigorous debate on explosive topics while keeping threads civil and on target.