I hope it’s alright to discuss this here.
I’ve noticed some long-running queer web communities online follow a similar pattern to other web communities (tech help, gaming, etc…), where attempts by newcomers to use the main forum to ask standard questions or talk directly about the topic itself are treated with apathy or outright hostility by “core” members.
“We’ve had those conversations.”
“Use the search function!”
“This question belongs in one of our dozen or so sub-forums [where it will sit for days, if not weeks, with almost no responses].”
It’s a take-charge, well-meaning, type-A approach that thinks the best practice for a healthy community is pruning the main feed, removing redundancies, and closing tickets as fast as possible.
It’s frustrating enough when you’re trying to fix a weird audio issue with Windows, or figure out why a plug-in doesn’t work, and all you find are locked conversations with links to places that either don’t quite address your problem or no longer exist.
It gets absurd on a forum meant to support people.
“I was here in the early days of this forum and I’m sick of conversations about [topic everyone asks about].”
New people are born every few seconds. New queer people discover themselves every day. And everyone’s experience is their own. One of the most crucial things a queer forum can provide is a place for people now to ask other people now how to deal with questions they’re facing now.
Questions about sex and sexuality, relationship advice, coming out advice, unpacking homophobia and transphobia, finding a community in your area, navigating clubs or bars or dating apps, about things you might be bored of discussing, are still important to people who aren’t you.
Just directing them to old posts isn’t a solution. Life advice isn’t “one size fits all.” The old advice may not work for their specific situation and they may have important follow-up questions they can’t ask in an a thread from years ago.
And when those questions are all diverted to a separate forum, off the main thoroughfare, the quantity, quality, and variety of responses can nosedive.
Not always, but often.
If you had the chance to participate in those conversations when they still felt fresh to you and your specific community, great!
People who arrived after you are no less deserving of that opportunity.
I’m not saying this is a problem here, in this specific community, and I’m actively trying not to call out any spaces by name, but holy hell is “forum ossification” a problem in some queer spaces online (and, frankly, a lot of non-queer ones), and I rarely see efforts to study it or look seriously at how to guard against it. Maybe there’s another term for the phenomenon that I’m just not familiar with?
[p.s. I’m also not talking about certain debate topics that communities ban to stop endless flame wars, although those bans can sometimes veer into this territory if enforced too broadly.]
I think Reddit works better for this kind of community as unless you search hard there is a shorter group memory and groups are less gated.
I love this sub, it's small enough for me to recognise regulars and big enough to be active.
I understand why people who spend a lot of time on support forums won't always have the energy to answer the same questions or engage in similar discussions repeatedly, but people in the vulnerable position of figuring out their identities need to be treated with patience and compassion. Burnout and fatigue are valid, but especially on a platform like Reddit with a "hide" button on every thread, it costs nothing to leave it to someone else if you're feeling that way. Saying nothing is better than saying something that could be discouraging to someone in a turbulent emotional state.
I can appreciate the desire to stay organized and to encourage a culture of search first post second, but I feel like it really comes down to whether you view the space as a place to feed you and entertain you, or a place to educate and help others.
I've seen the type of person you've described, but I've also seen the type of person who has been around a long time, who responds to the post with a basic answer and then provides a link to the FAQ or an old post they remember that goes into the detail that new user might need. I think the second approach is a better one. A lot of people forget that the internet was largely built by paying if forward and through acts of altruism.
I'm really disliking the trend of people deleting posts once they have their answer. It's more frustrating for technical stuff, where I get replies to some of my oldest comments from people who found something helpful I did years ago. Maybe older conversations aren't read as much here, but the sub is set to lock posts after 6 months, but I'm probably seeing more users delete posts after asking a question.
Yeah, it's self centered behavior. Costs you nothing to leave it up. Unless... I don't know, maybe there are a bunch of frauds in technical fields these days who are crowd sourcing support for their careers and taking all the credit in the office and don't want to leave a trail.