One essential factor for message board dynamics is the plain number of posts and new threads that keeps flowing into it. A forum within a message board is like a resonation chamber with a limited capacity, determined by things like the size of the 'active area' (mostly the front page) and the general posting habits of the members (sticking into existing threads etc.). As long as the inflow of new posts and especially new threads does not reach this capacity the chamber can sustain a good number of very different vibrations which don't disturb each other but rather enrich the total vibrational state of the forum, keeping the board vibrant, versatile and interesting.
But when the popularity of the forum keeps increasing, the adverse effects of overloading start inevitably to show. The threads get blown too quickly out of the active area, leaving too little time for the ideas to form natural vibrations and resonances between the brains of the community. Instead of inspired collective vibrations there will be more and more forced bumping; instead of peaceful listening and reflecting on the ideas and themes presented there will be more and more shouting and shallow babbling etc. In short, the signal to noise ratio starts deteriorating. The rather personal nature of our average Underground posts adds to the problem: when N people say daily 'hi, how are you doing' to each other, it generates NxN chit-chat posts of no wider interest, making the active resonating area that more a narrow place for posts of some objective substance.
This development was clearly noticeable on the Nappy boards while their popularity kept continuously rising. The split to Speak Out and Software forums was inevitable simply because the channel capacity for a single forum was reached and exceeded. The fatal blow to the functionality of their boards was of course the horrible Slashdot implementation that prevented the use of thread 'hotness' as a cohesive force on the communication. That force taken away there was nothing to prevent the overloaded forums becoming black-hole-like singularities that suck all the energy fed into them without creating any sustained resonances whatsoever.
My feeling is that up till last few weeks The Underground has been handling the volume of our posting quite well. Lately, however, the signs of overcrowding have started to show, and instead of being a mutually enriching factor the very different energies of personal chit-chat and topic-oriented discussion have started to compete for the limited communication space and interfere with each other in a less fruitful way. After seeing and living through all the mistakes that Nappy did on their boards we can be wiser and experiment smoothly to find good ways to channel the increasing popularity of this board in a way that keeps everybody happy and prevents unnecessary frustration for different kinds of board members.
The broad idea of having The Underground as a chatroom-like forum and Software Forum as an on-topic discussion forum feels like a good approach to me at this stage. As a chatroom The Underground can handle a still good deal of more posting - many of the members probably even prefer to have it 'hot'...
And as a relatively still place this Software Forum is all open for intelligent in-depth communication which - if it is to happen - will probably attract more intelligence into the forum in the course of time. We are here to experiment... so let's give it a go!
- tg
