Have you ever been a member of a forum where you didn't fit in?

[Jackal1966]

Most forums,  as long as you are the same 'whatever' ; golf, guitars, cars, cigars, etc. they will welcome you.

 There are some that  are snobs.

If you  haven't  met some of the members in person, and go to their sponsored events, you are an outcast.

 If you have  a different opinion than the forum leader or moderators, you're  done.

You post a topic and the 'big shots' of the site won't  respond.

Also, prizes, giveaways,( trips and tours) you are exempt from.

 

I have been on a couple  like this and think it's  a shame.

One was a gun forum.

[Club Rat]

I am only active on TST while I use other forums for info such as Service / Repairs for help with questions to fix many things.

While I do find TST a good platform for many golf related topics, it also has become a good social platform to experience other topics and make friends.

TST also has many great contributors and one very fine site owner who is top notch at what he does.

Sometimes there are disagreements which step beyond guidelines, but they are typically well handled in timely manners.

For the majority, we are all here to exchange ideas and knowledge of the game of golf.

To agree or disagree is common, just remaining friendly and refrain from going overboard is a key to communications.
 

[shanksalot]

I have frequented at least a dozen golf forums over the last half dozen years. Yes, I agree with your post. Some of them have either the guy who started the forum or long time members who feel entitled to do and say whatever they feel at any time. If you happen to disagree with them you are shunned. The ones I hate are where there have one person who is the exalted master and then many of the posters turn into rabid suck ups. If you disagree they all pile on even if you point is valid. I only go to a few these days and most of them are pretty friendly and supportive of its members. Life is too short to frequent some these forums. 

[Lihu]

2 hours ago, Jackal1966 said:

Most forums,  as long as you are the same 'whatever' ; golf, guitars, cars, cigars, etc. they will welcome you.

 There are some that  are snobs.

If you  haven't  met some of the members in person, and go to their sponsored events, you are an outcast.

 If you have  a different opinion than the forum leader or moderators, you're  done.

You post a topic and the 'big shots' of the site won't  respond.

Also, prizes, giveaways,( trips and tours) you are exempt from.

 

I have been on a couple  like this and think it's  a shame.

One was a gun forum.

Sure, but I haven’t had issues with any of the other forums. They’re generally pretty open to all comers and opinions. Generally, you get all types of people. As long as things remain civil and somewhat relevant, there are no issues.

Everyone has some bias and as a consequence, forums are not really open forums. If the owner has some agenda, then that’s the direction the forum mods will converge. It’s natural.

The main reason you should stick with a forum kind of dictates how you behave on it. I’m pretty happy with this one even though I’m being portrayed as a short hitting bogey golfer. Which is perfectly fine with me for obvious reasons. My motivation here is to improve my game by reading snippets of helpful posts, and that’s all I care about as far as I’m concerned.

Shooting forums are great. I get tons of great advice on them and a few laughs. The more I learn, the more I enjoy those forums.

[nevets88]

Golfwrx is a little too, I dunno how to describe it, extreme? It's like a forum full of creepy jerk uncle types during family get togethers. There are normal smart level headed people, but mot many.

[Lihu]

5 minutes ago, nevets88 said:

Golfwrx is a little too, I dunno how to describe it, extreme? It's like a forum full of creepy jerk uncle types during family get togethers. There are normal smart level headed people, but mot many.

I really think it’s really dependent upon the personality of the poster.

[iacas]

I'm a member of GCA, and since most of the people on there are architects, I feel like an outcast spying on them. Even though you can read the posts there without being a member.

Here, so long as you're not a jerk, you can say what you like. You might have to just stop discussing it at some point, because I'm definitely guilty of loving to discuss things and will probably keep going, but if you care about golf and aren't a jerk, you fit in just fine here.

[Jackal1966]

Sounds like this is the most open forum.

You see people 'banned' on other forums under their username.

While some are justified, I've  seen some because  of a different opinion, or not agreeing with the 'pack'.

I'm  glad others notice that, and it's  not just me.

Edited January 7, 2018 by Jackal1966

[Piz]

Yeah. I like yacht racing and appreciate Origami; but I never felt the two really went together.  Add all the macrobiotic stuff and I just didn't feel like it was the forum for me...although I do enjoy Charles Dickens.  It all boils down to something you could wish that it hadn't.  19th century poverty is all well and good, as an example of something else, but it doesn't explain how playing cards, on a sailing ship, could be more popular than circumstances would dictate.  There are those who would advocate otherwise....Duh.   that doesn't mean it makes sense.

[billchao]

This is the only forum I'm a member of where I actually participate, so the answer is no. More specifically, I wouldn't know.

[dennyjones]

I was a member of XDA, which is an android developer's forum.   When cell phones started becoming popular, they were the only game in town.   It didn't take long to become an elitist group where most questions were not allowed to  be posted without somebody critiquing your IQ.    If you were a developer, you were welcome, a regular joe, not so much.  

[Patch]

No, I can adapt to any forum if I want to. Of course I have left some forums voluntarily for various reasons. Mostly because the info available became old, and/or stale.

[Ernest Jones]

18 hours ago, Lihu said:

I’m pretty happy with this one even though I’m being portrayed as a short hitting bogey golfer.

Huh? That's kind of a bizarre comment. Who is "portraying" you other than yourself? Are you a long hitting, scratch golfer who has somehow been miscast? 

[nevets88]

I subscribe to the movies subreddit even though I'm hardly near its demographic, to see what the young uns' are saying. I disagree with many of its posts, but don't post much, nor up/down vote.

Same with the golf subreddit, it trends young, so a lot of newbies, but if I see something that's just really wrong, especially instruction-wise, will post. 

[boogielicious]

18 hours ago, nevets88 said:

Golfwrx is a little too, I dunno how to describe it, extreme? It's like a forum full of creepy jerk uncle types during family get togethers. There are normal smart level headed people, but mot many.

The only other forum I was active in was a music recording for for Sonar. That was a while back when I was recording songs. I found those members to be really helpful and polite. I have been back there in a long time though.

[nevets88]

I am a member of a movie Slack group, it's not strictly a forum, but very addictive, a good bunch and got a lot of differing (and international) viewpoints on movies I never would have read. There is disagreement, but it's art, and the conversation is civil. The disadvantage is NY gets so many more movies, much earlier, so everyone else is catching up.

[JonMA1]

1 hour ago, boogielicious said:

The only other forum I was active in was a music recording for for Sonar. That was a while back when I was recording songs. I found those members to be really helpful and polite. I have been back there in a long time though.

More on topic.... as far as "not fitting in", that pretty much spans every type of interaction I have with people and would not be limited to internet forums. If anything, my social retardation may be limited due to the ability to not hit the "Submit Reply" button. Of course, even that fails at times.

I don't participate in any other golf forum. I've thought about it at times but can't see an advantage. People are, for the most part, respectful of one another here. And when there are blowups, I haven't seen much in the way of holding grudges.

Edited January 7, 2018 by iacas
just send him a PM or something

[Lihu]

2 hours ago, Ernest Jones said:

Huh? That's kind of a bizarre comment. Who is "portraying" you other than yourself? Are you a long hitting, scratch golfer who has somehow been miscast? 

Others have changed my profile to what it is, and golf skill levels aren’t binary. It’s not just scratch or high bogey, there’s plenty of room in between.

1 hour ago, JonMA1 said:

More on topic.... as far as "not fitting in", that pretty much spans every type of interaction I have with people and would not be limited to internet forums. If anything, my social retardation may be limited due to the ability to not hit the "Submit Reply" button. Of course, even that fails at times.

I don't participate in any other golf forum. I've thought about it at times but can't see an advantage. People are, for the most part, respectful of one another here. And when there are blowups, I haven't seen much in the way of holding grudges.

I think this one shields more people from abusive behavior than others. It’s more of an academic environment of golf forums than say Golfwrx where you’re on your own. It definitely is a good place to learn things.