MiyazakiHatesKojima
Banned
Over the past two years, I've went through several phases as a GAF member, both publicly and privately.
I've been on both sides of the spectrum that is "internet forum", and what I learned over the past two years is how destructive forum cliques are to the community of a forum.
It's one thing to have a community with a shared interest, say SonyGAF/XboxGAF/MusicGAF, but when a small group of members form.a clique and isolate themselves from the community at large, things tend to get messy and confusing for the forum in general.
I'll give you an example: say you're in a thread and the topic at hand is either an inside joke between a group of members (i.e. GAFClique) or the thread is about a general topic but gets derailed/bombarded with inside jokes that only the GAFclique understands.
I was a part of this exact problem and it took me a long time to realize how terrible it was for other members to experience once I became an independent GAF member.
Like it or not, members and humans in general don't like to feel left behind on something, whether it's a joke, a running gag, or even a point of discussion/perspective.
I've experienced both sides and enjoyed both sides to the fullest, but I would say that being an inclusive & independent member of a forum is far more rewarding & satisfying than being part of an intimate yet exclusionary GAFClique.
It's important now more than ever to invest your energy and time to get to know your fellow forum community and members, join in on the topics, and don't be tempted to create a GAFClique and develop a false sense of superiority, like I did before.
Human beings are created to know one another.
I've been on both sides of the spectrum that is "internet forum", and what I learned over the past two years is how destructive forum cliques are to the community of a forum.
It's one thing to have a community with a shared interest, say SonyGAF/XboxGAF/MusicGAF, but when a small group of members form.a clique and isolate themselves from the community at large, things tend to get messy and confusing for the forum in general.
I'll give you an example: say you're in a thread and the topic at hand is either an inside joke between a group of members (i.e. GAFClique) or the thread is about a general topic but gets derailed/bombarded with inside jokes that only the GAFclique understands.
I was a part of this exact problem and it took me a long time to realize how terrible it was for other members to experience once I became an independent GAF member.
Like it or not, members and humans in general don't like to feel left behind on something, whether it's a joke, a running gag, or even a point of discussion/perspective.
I've experienced both sides and enjoyed both sides to the fullest, but I would say that being an inclusive & independent member of a forum is far more rewarding & satisfying than being part of an intimate yet exclusionary GAFClique.
It's important now more than ever to invest your energy and time to get to know your fellow forum community and members, join in on the topics, and don't be tempted to create a GAFClique and develop a false sense of superiority, like I did before.
Human beings are created to know one another.
