The current forum culture can still be shaped but no forum can survive the inevitable "
Eternal September" that makes every forum worthless.
The quiet, sane comments get shouted down and these users inevitably leave.
I remember when that happened... it was like someone flipped a light switch and all of a sudden, all hell was breaking loose...
The new people didn't have a clue and didn't want one. The kind of people that came through the floodgates ruining our culture made me so glad I had NEVER got involved with AOL...
We tried our best, but it became quickly clear, that this was going to be a losing battle... a great many of us moved to private invitation-only places on the net where we could still associate with each other in peace.
It was a great shame we had to do that, but what can ya do?
It changed the internet culture too, where now the internet is treated as if it is just one big playground no consequences and you can be as much of a loser as you want to be without getting punched in the face.
Only those of us who were around before The September That Never Ended, will have any kind of real appreciation over what was lost when AOL ruined the net...
-- Smoov
