Posted By:
Al C.risafulliI've been the moderator of several message boards and have participated in many more, and I've found that message boards, in general, behave cyclically. They're living and breathing things, with personalities that constantly change. New members discover the board, which injects new personalities into the discussions. Established members become disillusioned as the personality of the board changes with the new members. Subject matter discussions fall into occasional lulls which frustrates established members looking for stimulating discussion. People get pissed about off-topic threads. Established members get frustrated with two or three posters who seem to irritate the entire community.
None of these things are specific to this board. They happen all over the internet.
The key to restoring the sort of community that attracted a person to a board in the first place doesn't involve complaining about it, quitting, or calling for the moderator's head; the key is to dive back in and take some ownership over the problem by starting worthwhile threads, participating in others, and understanding that today's newbie is tomorrow's long-timer. Rather than get irritated with the direction of a board and give up, it's more effective to keep contributing - everything you like about a board will eventually come back, if the people who seem to care so much about it continue to move the board in the right direction.
-Al