The Pros and Cons of Online Forums

JCSteel

JCSteel

Orthodox Inquirer
Heritage
I've been thinking about the benefits and pitfalls of online forums like this one. On the one hand, sharing thoughts and debating ideas can be spiritually edifying and intellectually stimulating, and so can sharing personal experiences and laughing with people who share the same world view and tastes. On the other hand, forums encourage people to talk for talking's sake when that may not be the most fruitful experience for them or the people they are interacting with. Not everyone online needs to know every personal detail about your life, or every thought in your brain, yet the temptation to participate as much as you can is there. Forums can become echo chambers and that encourages people to subconsciously begin to tailor their messages to reflect views that will garner more likes. Furthermore, whether an online community is an echo chamber or not, it can become a toxic haven for whining, bad taste, and all kinds of negativity. Like anything online forums are used well by the wise and for ill by the fool.

Thoughts? How would others define the good and bad of Online Forums?
 
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I think forums are good because of their structure. With reddit and twitter and other social media platforms information gets lost or buried (or closed). This is a true meeting place where people can get together and exchange information and ideas and views. It is unfortunate if some people spend too much time online in general but that is the norm for our day and age. Each of us must regulate and moderate our own behavior and activity, but I don't see that being so much of a problem on a forum as on some other site with endless scrolling.
 
I'm all for Christian echo chambers.

Forums are much better for substance and quality of discussion than the current social media alternatives. It encourages deeper examination, debates actually have consequence, and aren't just meme responses that are tailored to people with 5 second attention spans.

Perhaps I'm biased because I remember growing up with a pre-smartphone internet as a teen, but I never liked the post iPhone social media revolution, it never jived with me. It cheapened the internet, imo. Forums are the last holdouts of the old internet.
 
When I post the "I am in Hell" clip from Hellraiser, I'm not joking - I'm surrounded at work by every woke, LGBetc, left wing, you name it faction going and outside, I'm constantly having diversity rammed in my face, in all manner of ways. This forum reminds me that I am not alone.
 
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