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Yes very interesting indeed and thus we are getting to the very heart of the subject. It is the Sploggers, Spammers and such that cause most of the rules on the most important Blogs and Forums on the Internet, regardless of the Industry sub-sector. It simply does not make sense for the Internet Forum Operators to allow a hacker in Eastern Europe or a Splogger in metro-China to wreck what they have going there, as the communication process is disrupted.
With regard to a Splogger on a Think Tank forum with 8,000 posts it is nearly impossible to keep them off without the barriers to entry, thus rules are made and this slows the creative process and communication interaction. Talk about “ruining the experience for everyone” yes true, but think about a think tank which is working to solve the problems of the Planet and Human Civilizations.
What if we miss a discovery, what if someone gets shut out and cannot participate. Everyone loses big time in that case. A participant may have held a clue to the puzzle on Malaria, safely removing Landmines, a new Alternative Energy, crossing the digital divide, stopping international terrorism,
preventing auto accidents, protecting a nation or any number of human challenges. Yes, it truly sucks.
Thus Internet Forum Operators make rules to attempt to shore up the flood of malcontents attacking the system, yet in the end we cause a slowing of innovation. I just cannot accept that. So we press on! Forum guidelines are indeed one way to put folks on notice and the code system for posting is good idea too. It’s a start. It is just unfortunate that humans do not understand what a valuable resource the Internet is and how everyone is hurt when folks abuse it. Perhaps this will propel thought in 2007.
