What should the function of a forum? How should the members
behave on it? And how to keep a forum thriving? These are the
kind of questions I would like all of us to think about and try to
answer. Let me fire the first shot. But first let me
tell the story of how a forum died.
It's the forum on Asianweekly.com. I was attracted to it after
the owner, who is the first Chinese American ever to buy a major
newpaper in America, the Examiner,
declared that it's time for Chinese to help rewrite history.
I was surprised to find that there was an intense China bashing going
on on it, mainly due to the fact that the
anti-Chinese group were much better at expressing themselves in
English. And the pro-Chinese group would typically be
so pissed off
that their only option is to cuss, mostly with hit-and-run one
liners. Unabashed with my bad English and unrestrained opinions,
I found this
forum a fertile ground for some serious
brainwashing.
After a few weeks of counter bashing, the other group started to
cuss instead. They simply could not take any more of finding out
how
ugly and hateful Americans are viewed around the world. Then came
911. While all Americans were asking:"Why they hate us wonderful
Americans so much?", our bunch already knew the answer. For a
week hell broke loose. Terror threats flew all over with our
side couldn't control the justice-finally feeling. When all the
other websites were overflowing with
anti-terrorism discussions, ours got enough hate mails and threats to
scare the moderator into giving us another week then clean out.
My experience in this last week gave me some insight to the forum
phenomenon. We were the oasis in a country gone mad for
vengeance. This was because here
we have already spewed out our guts. Although some among us were
also
vengeful, they are not ignorantly so. In short I truly felt that
there was a crack opening up for the two sides to come together however
long and
rough it may take -- had not the forum crumbled under pressure
first.
The function of a forum, therefore, should be a place where minds
however remotely apart can meet. It should serve as a battle
ground where we shoot words at
each other so we can save the bullets. We must allow time and
patience to run their course. If there ever going to be a unified
voice for humanity, the forum could be it.
The forum is a place that is sheltered from the information barrage
by the big
brothers. Here we hear the pains and hopes of the real
people. This is where we can compare notes on our different
backgrounds. Our words may never stop crashing, but
our minds can only go down one road, that is to meet.
A member of a forum should go into a forum like a tiger on the hunt, but come out a quinea pig just undergone mind alteration. Whatever you do, be frank. Bluntness saves time, just as patronizing waste time. And each needs to go back to lick his own wound. At the end, each's own conscience will be his guide. As long as the guide is not to leave the forum, our paths will converge.
And finally, how to keep a forum thriving? I suggest
three
things: 1. dont block any post, 2. dont kick off anybody and 3. dont
close down. Let me end this post with a story on how I have just
gotten
kicked off the sonshi.com forum.
After a sabbatical leave of 5 years from forums, I decided to come
back to put in my 2-penny-worth of thought on the topic of China
Threat. I thought maybe
I need to first stake out my turf before finally dropping the bomb,
fearing
I
may get kicked off or the forum may fold prematurely. So we
started by discussing about America's military status. When
someone
posted that in America, people volunteer for
the army and I replied that it's a measure of barbarism. Then
I'm out.