Safe Space

I liked the fact that the IMDb message boards were not well moderated. I liked the fact that anyone could say pretty much anything to anyone and that we all just had to deal with it. I never really trolled, although a few sensitive weenies called me a troll because I disagreed with them or was mean. I like to discuss, I like it when discussions get heated, I like to argue. I know that a few people put me on ignore, because people who rely on the ignore list always love to point out when they've added you to it. Someone once called me a sockpuppet because I agreed with the person that they'd just called a troll. I hoped that those paranoid people would get over their fear and would realise that any conversation can be worth taking part in. Even a conversation with a troll whose aim is to make fun of you. It's OK to be made fun of. It's not the end of the world. You'll be fine. Maybe you'll stop taking yourself so seriously.

I like the fact that comments here cannot be voted on or buried and every comment is given the same weight by the board, and it's up to each of us to decide how much weight a comment carries for us personally. I really loath any message board that becomes a contest to see who can get the top comment of the thread and those boards are inevitably the ones where any fringe opinion or caustic style would be buried at the bottom. The members of imgur would be a prime example of a bunch of people who have no real opinions of their own and who readily cling to a nice group mindset where everyone is sweet and kind and helpful. It makes me sick to my stomach. Everyone seems welcome here on the IMDb, in the sense that no one gets removed and no one here gets squeezed out by the design of the board software. Sometimes people here do not get along, but that's not the same as being unwelcome.

I don't think this system is to everyone's taste. I think that, increasingly, online message boards are facing more and more pressure to censor people and to promote a certain style of posting while eliminating all that doesn't fit in. I understand that straight up trolls are an issue online and that they've been a big issue here, but in later years I've seen the lines blur and more people are being given the label of troll just for disagreeing or going against the grain or for being harsh.

I guess I feel like I've never really wanted or needed moderation. I don't want to be moderated, and I don't need for you to be moderated on my behalf. I can take care of myself. And I don't want someone looking over my shoulder and assessing my posts to see if they conform. And I guess I don't like the idea of a place that encourages us all to tattle on one another to some higher authority instead of just being adults about things and carrying on. I don't expect every message board to work that way but I liked the fact that this one did.

I've posted on the IMDb less in recent years but overall there have been times of high activity and times of low activity and I never really considered that this place would just go away one day. I've been a member here for a long time. I took this place for granted. I'll miss it. Lena Dunham is awful.