Is forum drama a good thing or bad thing?

Discussion in 'Member and Staff Management' started by cpvr, May 2, 2014.

  1. cpvr

    cpvr Regular Member

    Joined:
    Aug 14, 2009
    Messages:
    3,219
    Likes Received:
    823
    I've always been a firm believer that drama is healthy for an online community, but what does everyone else think?
     
  2. jmurrayhead

    jmurrayhead Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jun 7, 2012
    Messages:
    153
    Likes Received:
    113
    Location:
    Alexandria, VA
    First Name:
    Jason
    Depends on the type of community. Obviously, for admin forums, it's a great thing :)
     
  3. GTB

    GTB Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jun 30, 2009
    Messages:
    1,792
    Likes Received:
    270
    Drama can swing both ways. It can cause discussion when a forum is doing nothing, liven it up a bit. But generally think more forum users don't like it - than like it. It can ruin a forum if you have too much of it going on, because you're likely to lose more members - than the ones you'll keep.
     
  4. CM30

    CM30 Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jul 1, 2012
    Messages:
    901
    Likes Received:
    500
    It's a useful thing. Conflict brings people together and strengthens the community, whereas too much peacefulness tends to eventually get rather dull and cause the site to stagnate.

    That's not to say sites should turn into a violent war zone (like say, a lot of 'hacker' forums tend to become), but a bit of drama brings the community together.

    I think this sums it up:

    http://www.feverbee.com/2009/04/importantfights.html

    Put simply, the worst thing a forum can be is boring. Drama, fights and arguments help it avoid becoming a boring place that people stop visiting.
     
    Michelle Kelly and cpvr like this.
  5. GTB

    GTB Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jun 30, 2009
    Messages:
    1,792
    Likes Received:
    270
    I think you're right in what you say, there has to be a bit of both, too boring and people leave as you say. So you do need those odd topics that cause a bonfire going.
     
  6. CM30

    CM30 Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jul 1, 2012
    Messages:
    901
    Likes Received:
    500
    This is probably why most admin forums died. Nice enough little sites, but nothing interesting ever got said there. As a result, the more interesting members slowly lost interest in the community and the incoming spammers/fluff posters obviously didn't help anything by saying nothing of any value.

    No one wanted to be on a forum like that. The odd person just saying stuff like 'which is the best forum script?' and then the answers being just stuff like 'vBulletin because...' or 'IPB because...' or 'XenForo because...' didn't really build much of a community spirit.
     
  7. GTB

    GTB Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jun 30, 2009
    Messages:
    1,792
    Likes Received:
    270
    There's one problem when it comes to drama though on a forum. Not many people like starting it, putting their name on the thread. That can leave you as a site admin pretty much starting most of them, which in turn then reflects badly on you, nobody wants to join your forum and is it any wonder? Like I said before, most member don't like drama compared to those who don't mind it, but even those that don't mind seeing it will rarely ever start it themselves.

    Ends up the same all the time, one or two starting it only, while all others sit back and wait for those few members to keep doing it. And even then for the most part they might comment on maybe 1 out 10 drama threads started. It ain't worth heading down that road anymore... to try and boost forum activity and only look a chump doing it.

    I recently had a person post on my blog before (comment now gone), saying why don't I use the blog to posts drama about things said on other forums. Yeah, seriously, that's so typical of what I mean. They won't do it themselves - but want others to do it for them - just so they can come posting the odd "very rare comment" when it suits.
     
    Last edited: May 2, 2014
  8. VICE

    VICE Regular Member

    Joined:
    Sep 1, 2013
    Messages:
    131
    Likes Received:
    56
    Totally agree, thus why the very presence of the three musketeers is a necessity.
     
    cpvr likes this.
  9. jinxed

    jinxed Lurker

    Joined:
    Nov 4, 2009
    Messages:
    10
    Likes Received:
    1
    Location:
    The Netherlands
    First Name:
    Sophie
    I don't agree with the notion that drama is good for a community. To me it only creates a negative atmosphere for existing members and they get demotivated to take part in the forums. And in most cases they will find someone whom they can blame for the drama or for not handling/moderating the drama well enough. Nah, it's not a strategy I would use on my community.

    Lively discussions are good though!
     
  10. Diana

    Diana Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jul 1, 2016
    Messages:
    11
    Likes Received:
    1
    I agree with jinxed. Our community is pretty new, yet we had to face 2 big dramas already and after these dramas our activity always dropped and some people left.

    I think people prefer calm environment and don't want to stress about virtual dramas.
     
  11. pixelek

    pixelek Regular Member

    Joined:
    Oct 9, 2013
    Messages:
    229
    Likes Received:
    85
    Location:
    Torun, Poland
    Dramas killed off many good BB's
     

Share This Page