Comments on: You’ve Ruined Everything

By: Scot Bontrager

Scot Bontrager — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 02:19:10 +0000

Having run a few communities myself (been a PIE) I’ve done breakdowns like this before. You hit the nail right on the head. It was like a checklist of personalities I’ve encountered.

I had “the expert (close to the VCP),” “the attention whore,” “the drama queen” and “the horde” which isn’t one person, but many (at least a dozen) that all act/think alike.

Thanks for the article, I really enjoyed it.

By: cassiel

cassiel — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 15:58:18 +0000

Reminds me of
“The Natural Life-cycle of Mailing Lists”
which has been described in the mid 1990s.

By: Krisjohn

Krisjohn — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 05:20:47 +0000

You forgot “Sock Puppet”/”Astroturfer”.

By: Jeff Milner

Jeff Milner — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 03:57:10 +0000

I guess I’m just a flighty tourist, dive bombing your post with a comment, but it’s a great piece and had me thinking about everything from the good old BBS days (when I was in the 7th grade and had a 2400baud modem) to Plastic.com’s rise and fall, to how things play out on sites like Flickr and MySpace.

I think you nailed it. Thanks.

By: Rob "Flack" O'Hara

Rob "Flack" O'Hara — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 00:47:49 +0000

I suppose “Excited New Guy” must be a subset of “Flighty Tourist.” On our retro videogame forum that has been up for half a decade, they’re the ones that pop in and post, “OH MY GOD DOES ANYONE HERE REMEMBER NINTENDO??” If they stick around for more than a week you’ll also get blessed with a “what were your favorite games for [system x],” and at least one “so what is [x] worth?”

By: BobCat

BobCat — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 23:58:02 +0000

Hey, DC-Stuff is doing just fine! We need a few more of those acronym people, though. http://dc-stuff.org

By: Jason Scott

Jason Scott — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 23:22:44 +0000

This is actually based off observing many dozens of communities across the last 20 or so years, both on BBSes, web forums, and to a lesser extent fan clubs.

Joe, that link is pretty friggin’ awesome. For the purposes of my essay, I lump a BUNCH of the sub-types into my types above, but it’s cool to break the types down even further, especially for humor. And they’re funny because they’re true!

By: Jeremy Sisson

Jeremy Sisson — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 17:34:49 +0000

I believe there is also a ‘Background Noise’ group, too. These are the individuals who post things like ‘First Post!’, or useless comments that just take up vertical space.

By: Stacia

Stacia — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 14:46:29 +0000

Can I be the organ grinder’s monkey?

Also, TelevisionWithoutPity.com has all the Tiresome Contrarians on the Internet. They have cornered the market, if you will. It’s fascinating.

Is your post based on some blogwar going on elsewhere? Just curious.

By: Joe Crawford

Joe Crawford — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 12:01:13 +0000

Your post reminded me of the old flame warriors cartoons. About mailing lists, but apropos.