Getting along in community - forums, fences and dogs.

There was a recent thread started on the online business forum I’m a member of regarding the sometimes unhelpful and aggressive replies that some members dish out to newbies. The analogy used was that small dogs when protected by fences are happy to bark at big dogs on the other side but if no fence where there then they would not make a noise at all.

The thread raises a number of issues and questions. I get the impression that the basic theme was to highlight the tone in which some existing members first respond to new members but as the OP later points out himself the wider context is whether the forum has a real and deep perception of being a safe place to join, ask questions and get involved.

As it seems the responses of few can make or break that perception lets look at some of the issues that go to make that perception up.

A) The first is how to conduct ourselves as humans - full stop.

B) Then how we conduct ourselves when poised behind a computer monitor (the fence). Do we conduct ourselves any different when writing to a forum post (or anywhere else on the net for that matter) than we would do if we were face to face to the individual. Taking it one step further it is not only the OP (original poster) that will read the response so if we were responding to an individual and then the room suddenly was full of 1000s of others would we then perhaps change the tone?

C) Then how we perceive where we are presenting ourselves. By this I mean do we care any more or less that we are contributing to a community. Before that we would need to acknowledge that community exists to be able to able to make a judgement or not . In addition does the fact that a community exists take any importance over points A & B?

Going off topic slightly It is a seperate debate as to whether we should acknowledge that community exists purely because someone declares community exists. Leave that for another post but for clarification in this case the forum owners have declared that the forum is a community.

If a person doesn’t share that view then they probably wont care how its members are treated. To deny that community exists will mean you deny the spirit of community and its unwritten rules particularly those concerning welcoming, inclusivity, decorum etc. So, there’s no reason for you to work to them and in turn build and sustain the community.