A comment by Artie on my last post reminded me that I’ve yet to write a post about Discussion Forums for our Facilitating Online Communities course. Essentially we are to locate a forum somewhere on the web, cite it in our blogs, and use the example to discuss the concepts of facilitation and communities with regards to forums.
Background
Discussion Forums are centralised spaces where groups or communities can house their conversations. While forums come in many different forms, communication is typically done via multiple, concurrent, threaded conversations. The two main characteristics of forums are centralisation and a group/community focus.
Centralisation: Unlike blog networks, in which a topic can be covered by many bloggers across many different sites; discussion forums provide a single site where all the communication takes place. As such, participants need only go to one location to review the entire history of the discussion rather than scour a web of different blogs.
Group or Community Focused: Unlike blogs, which tend to focus on the needs or thoughts of an individual, discussion forums are set-up to serve the needs of a group or community. Each individual’s contributions are then tied to the space and incorporated into the aggregated pool of knowledge or information.
Personally speaking my preference is for blogs and not discussion forums. Having tried to use forums in the past I’ve come to the realisation that I really don’t like them, instead preferring to explore my own ideas on my blog and holding discussions with other bloggers via comments or trackbacks. For me there is a far greater sense of ownership in a blog than a forum, since I have far greater input into what is discussed and how. I can also use one blog to discuss the topics of several communities; in that sense they become a hub for my contributions to all my networks.
That said, this post is mean to be about discussion forums and not blogs, so I digress…
The Ubuntu Forums
Location: http://ubuntuforums.org/
The one and only forum I’ve ever followed with any regularity is that of the Ubuntu Community. Largely devoted to support matters, most threads begin with a question or problem regarding some aspect of the Linux distribution. Subsequent replies expand on the incident, include screenshots or error messages, work around suggestions or bug fixes. Some threads also begin with a suggestion on use cases, recommendations or implementations.
A clear code of conduct exists for the forums, which is in line with that of the wider Ubuntu project; and any moderation decisions are informed by and based upon that policy. Users have a fairly firm grasp on what conduct and behaviour is expected and I’ve yet to see any instances where things got out of hand.
Strengths and Weaknesses
In my view the key advantages and disadvantages of discussion forums both come down to its centralised nature.
Strengths
(Fairly) Comprehensive view of community consensus – The centralised nature of forums is such that most – if not all – conversations on a specific topic occurs in one place. As such readers and/or contributors are able to get a quick, fairly comprehensive view of the community consensus on something.
That said, with one of the weaknesses of forums being the vulnerability to disproportionate representation of certain viewpoints, and worse still griefers and trolls (see below), the possibility also exists that some people will be more vocal than others and not all views may be represented.
Provides quick access to other community members – In my view this is a very significant benefit of forums. With distributed networks, like blogs, it can be very difficult – neigh impossible – to locate all members of a community. Centralised spaces like discussion forums on the other hand can provide an index of all community members. From the standpoint of developing a Personal Learning Network (or indeed network of any kind), this is a great place to start.
In the case of Siemens and Downes Connectivism and Connective Knowledge course (which I’m presently taking), students were asked to post a thread during week one in which they introduced themselves, discussed their learning objectives, and provided a link to their blog. This provided a great way to identify people you share interests with. In many cases it also led to discussions on individual student’s blogs, which has greatly helped in the learning process.
Fast way to centrally locate and distribute information – Forums are a good way to disseminate information to a large number of people in one place. To a degree blogs will do this as well, but with forums you have the advantage of a designated, recognised central space where everyone goes for updates and information.
Weaknesses
Disproportionate representation of viewpoints – In my experience in forums, a few people will contribute the majority of replies to a thread, fewer still will contribute occasionally, and the majority will contribute rarely – if at all. This can serve to misrepresent a consensus.
To be as comprehensive as possible, I think it’s important to incorporate a mixed distribution of options that includes both centralised discussion forums and distributed blogs. While this may/will serve to fracture the discussion somewhat, it will arguably help ensure that a more holistic representation of viewpoints is maintained than would exist in the presence of a forum alone.
Vulnerability to Griefer’s and Trolls – Following on the last point are the bane of the discussion forums – Griefers and Trolls.
As Wikipedia explains:
“An Internet troll, or simply troll in Internet slang, is someone who posts controversial and irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum or chat room, with the intention of provoking other users into an emotional response[1] or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion”
In the realm of online gaming, the Wikipedia article on Griefers indicates:
“Griefers differ from typical players in that they do not play the game in order to achieve objectives defined by the game world. Instead, they seek to harass other players, causing grief. In particular, they may use tools such as stalking, hurling insults, and exploiting unintended game mechanics.”
Central spaces like forums are particularly vulnerable to these sorts of activities because they are a singlular, large target. In the absence of moderation, Griefers and Trolls can inflict a whole lot of damage to forums that can drag conversation to a halt, flare up flame wars, and even drive users away. Trolls and Griefers are the antithesis of community.
Conclusion:
Discussion forums can be a powerful, valuable way to facilitate conversations amongst members of an online community; however it’s critical to bear in mind their challenges and shortcomings – not the least of which involve differences in user preference and moderation issues. One person may love forums, while another may not. So in terms of facilitating online communities, the ideal solution will be one that considers the gamut of issues and preferences and maximises the opportunities for users, while maintaining the safe and nurturing environment that’s critical for open, healthy discussion.
