Behave Yourselves

I check the FSM board daily (the General Discussion side) but rarely read more than a post or two. I hope that’s not disappointing anyone.

The board has always had a reputation for toxicity and I am not proud of that. But I’m also a little hard-pressed to explain why.

FSM, the magazine, had a reputation for being opinionated and irreverant, which was my style and prerogative as the editor and founder. And it was generally enjoyed, so I don’t have regrets over that.

When we started a website and discussion board, I was in favor of a board that was fairly open as far as rules, because I figured it was the best way to attract a user base. And because I was the owner, we did what I wanted.

I had experienced other boards where the admins were pretty heavy-handed, and it just seemed like folly to me to try to change people’s behavior. They are who they are. Let them talk.

So here we are over a quarter-century later and there are still some high-volume members who cause trouble. I am not going to name names, but it’s almost always the same kind of personality:

Male

Opinionated

Politically minded

Rules obsessed

Passive-aggressive

High Volume

And there’s usually a lot of “who, me?” involved when I call them out in private. Like it’s everyone else’s fault.

The worst is when somebody tries to be funny but they’re just mean and insulting and then hide behind, “But I was just kidding around.” (A problem we’ve had in the past but not now, thankfully.)

So look—I am not running a daycamp for antisocial soundtrack collectors. The only thing I can do when somebody becomes so intolerable to the community is ban them. I have done that in the past and I’m sure I will do it again.

But I really don’t like to do it.

If you’re reading this, and one of our high-volume board members, you probably want to say something in response to this—and chances are you have something meaningful to add.

The problem is that it only takes one person to needle another or make a ham-fisted “joke” or edge it into a political topic (free speech, censorship) and then people go nuclear...and we’re down in the sewer again.

So I’m writing this today to ask, beg people not to do that. Let it go.

There are thousands of places online to talk about divisive topics. There are only a handful to talk about film music. Please stay on topic.

And be nice. Thank you.