Internet Forums: Too many rules spoil the fun

One of the great things about the internet is that it's allowed so many opinions to be voiced. There are many public forums out there, for just about any subject matter one can imagine. I've found that for many forums, people behave themselves, and despite sometimes wildly differing opinions, everybody gets along just fine. Every forum to which I am a member has some general rules of conduct. With the exception of the ocassional spammer or "troll", I've rarely seen anyone get kicked out.

Which brings me to one of the most annoying forums on the internet, "Television Without Pity" (often abbreviated as TwoP). On their website, their motto is "spare the snark, spoil the network". It seems that they are inviting dialog and critical commentary on television shows, but don't be fooled. They are probably THE most pretentious and restrictive forum on the internet. I checked their rules page today (it was last revised July 5, 2007) and it contained 10 "dos" and 16 "don'ts". This means there are, at minimum, 26 different reasons that they can - and will - warn you, and then eventually ban you. (Yes, you can be warned if you don't "do a do" correctly.)

An example of one of the rules: "DON'T post in a thread until you've read at least the last fifteen pages or days of content." So, by the time you finish reading all that content, it's likely that you will forget who said what, or what was even said for that matter. As a result, it's very easy to accidentally repeat an opinion mentioned earlier. I was once warned for a post where I stated my opinion about a specific episode of a TV show, and because one other person 2 pages back made a similar comment, I was given a warning. For a forum who says to "spare the snark, spoil the network", only one person/posting is allowed per snark, I guess.

So now I avoid this forum like the plague. It used to be a great place where one felt an honest opinion about what we see on network TV could be voiced. Now, it's a forum where opinion and commentary is stifled. And with so many other forums out there, I'd rather take my comments, and my eyes on the website ads, to another site (something advertisers hate to hear).

Check out my blog home page for the latest information,
HERE!