- Joined
- Jan 16, 2017
If you want to understand the process Ghostse described, go to the Goldmine (it's never paywalled), and view a thread from the glory days of SA. Notice how damn many "banned" avatars you will see. The further back you go the higher the percentage, if you go back to the contemporary 9/11 threads at least half the posters in them have since been banned. And those are the ones who were banned, not those who got sick of the place and just wandered off.
Ultimately it's down to the business model. SA only "worked" when the forums were good enough that if you got banned you were willing to put down another $10 to come back. And for a long time, they actually were, so the ban-happy moderation style was a valuable source of income. But as the place contracts into a hugbox, all it does is drive off the good posters, leaving the mess we have seen here.
Ultimately it's down to the business model. SA only "worked" when the forums were good enough that if you got banned you were willing to put down another $10 to come back. And for a long time, they actually were, so the ban-happy moderation style was a valuable source of income. But as the place contracts into a hugbox, all it does is drive off the good posters, leaving the mess we have seen here.