This speaks volumes about the quality of the hosting blog and of the community built up around it. If you don’t believe this, just lurk on slashdot for a while 
This speaks volumes about the quality of the hosting blog and of the community built up around it. If you don’t believe this, just lurk on slashdot for a while
That was, in fact, more laid back than I would have ever expected!
I think there’s a few factors here.
The blog owner, Raymond, has quite a sense of humour but it’s often subtle and an acquired taste.
The blog is mostly technical, but it deals with a very narrow range of technical issues.
Raymond himself moderates posts and has a clear set of ground rules for commenting.
Raymond works for Microsoft.
The blog is very old, in blogging terms.
Because the blog is somewhat of a niche blog, even though it is popular, it is not *generally* popular. It is popular in the eyes of a somewhat homogeneous audience. Working for Microsoft is greatly polarizing – Raymond’s friends show up, and the zealots stay away.
The fact that it has been running for six years has given its community a chance to stabilize – since the blog content does not radically diverge from its well established lines, the community is not likely to radically grow.
Finally, Raymond is harsh on trolls. The community backs him up in this because it is well established and well filtered.
Compare with the general interest, unfiltered and unmoderated CBC message boards.
Very interesting… People on CBC say exactly what they feel like saying – I’m sure not at all what they would say to a friend or a stranger – which they might consider ‘being real’ but the social structure of a blog that is moderated from the outside and self monitored by members is much closer to a face-to-face real world community.
The expectancy of continuity plays a role.
If you meet someone in the flesh, there is generally a basis for believing that you will see them again sometime. Whatever dynamics brought you together the first time probably still exist, and so it’s worthwhile to not burn *all* your bridges.
Online, there can be such extreme discontinuity that we no longer only question, “Will I ever see them again?” but we even question, “Will I hang around long enough to hear their response?”
On CBC this is always, “No.” By the time they respond, fifty other posters will have posted and their response will be impossible to find. The medium just doesn’t support a conversation.
CBC *forces* people into post ‘n run – there’s simply no other viable option.
The equivalent real life situation is where you deliver your most devastatingly cutting remark before turning on your heel and dramatically exiting, giving the person no chance to air a comeback.
It doesn’t make for good conversation