BORED OF THE BOARDS

Over the past years some and yes many of us have spent time on the internet, reading and posting to the increasing number of "bulletin boards" dedicated to pipes and tobaccos. Some are wide open, which is to say one may post anything thing they wish. Some are monitored which suggests that supervisors or moderators read each and every post and at some point along the way choose to allow, edit, moderate, correct, or reject a post.

Whether it is an "open" or "moderated" venue, the idea is for thoughts, experiences and information to be exchanged between interested parties. Many of these venues have grown to have "personalities" of their own.

Open boards can be quite interesting IF one is willing to drudge through the chitchat, in search of the useful information. Mind you, these boards are not for the faint-hearted : regularly flame wars between individuals or groups will break out. These little blow outs can be triggered by overly passionate polemics, by dissatisfied customers, by personal dislikes, even by agents provocateurs or by minions whose idol has been taken a shot at. These verbal duels can be quite vicious with very personal attacks being voiced in a very open venue for all to read.

Moderated boards try to avoid all these outbursts of testosterone. In principle, supervisors act with great restraint : they will allow many opinions to be voiced without regard, as long as the posts do not become fierce personal attacks. They might also intervene when a post or thread of posts is leading into areas that have lost interest or are clearly off topic.

Now as of late I have noticed a deplorable trend : boards are used more and more for personal agendas. Open boards are being trolled by the rabid anti smokers or just by someone that enjoys watching others going crazy over abusive posts aimed towards their hobby or personal life style choice. Others misuse the public forums to try to settle a score. As for the moderated boards, I note a tendency towards netiquette rules based on mere political correctness to the point in which moderators will admonish posters because a post or reply was too sarcastic or not friendly enough, while they remain silent when a member spreads "information" that is indisputably false. Formality is becoming more important than content. I’m even aware of a supervisor who urges the members to shut up if they don’t have anything "nice" to say. Then if a poster informs the supervisor that in that case he’ll renounce the membership, ALL his previous posts become deleted by the moderator. Censorship? Abuse of power ? Or just a lack of sound and reasonable leadership ?

The more time I spend looking at the various boards, the less I find them to be worth while. I thought it might be interesting to take all links to the various boards off my pc and not visit a single board for 30 days. After a month I’d go back and see if a break might be all that was needed. Sadly I had not missed a single thing! The players were still the same. The same topics rehashed over and over. The same annoying amount of OT posts clouded the rare interesting or fresh topics. The same is true for both open and moderated boards.

In discussions with others it has been suggested that what is needed, is more posts about pipes and tobaccos, as this will create interest, stunt the "noise", get more people involved, and offer good information to be shared. While I would like to think this would be the case, we have seen it is not. Ask a sincere question and sooner than later someone will hijack the thread with some foolish or lame joke response. Hell I find myself doing it. Quite often threads of which the one and only purpose is to exchange civilities, to bond and to cultivate a club spirit, are longer than those containing pipe related info. Could it be that at the end of the day, boards are more about group dynamics and socializing than about pipes and tobaccos ?

Further to this, group dynamics create an unspoken hierarchy, which sometimes seems to hamper an open, candid discussion. Indeed, there are those members that some look upon as untouchable or sacred cows. I know, I know, their existence is fiercely denied, but these untouchables do exist nevertheless. There are some people that, not by their own wish, have become looked upon as "special". Their knowledgeable, intelligent, well written posts have earned them this reputation. Kudos to them. Yet there are also some that have worked very hard to be looked upon as gurus that shine their light on each and every possible issue. On the other hand, we also have the favorite "whipping boys / girls", those that appear to always stir a "reaction", and a few "punching bags" that get kicked, whatever they say.

Many times I sit back wondering how usually normally rational people can bring themselves to post like they do. Almost like Dr Jekyle and Mr. Hyde. In person these are extremely thoughtful, intelligent, soft spoken humans. Behind a keyboard they become maniacal boors, at times, that will go far out of their way to insult another person, which seems to give them an ego-boost. After all this isn’t surprising, since boards are as much about scoring and ego-tripping as they are about socializing.

Not so long ago I was "dubbed" a Canadian Mediator. At first I though it insulting, but the more and more I thought about it, the more I had to look in the mirror and ask myself if that is how I appear every time my fingers hit the send key when I post to a board. Scary part is the fellow may have been closer to the truth than I wanted to believe.

Let me tell you looking in my mirror is not a pretty reflection. It did however make me stand up and take notice. Time to assess. Time for a reality check! Time to look at how we spend our days and evenings. Where is the joy? Where is the wasted time? What makes the brain juices flow? The further I looked at priorities, the more the boards came into the wasted time column.

Really look at the boards. In many ways they are similar to the National Enquirer. Instead of two headed babies born under water during a typhoon, we have dead root briar. In other words the NI and the boards are great to read while waiting in the check out line at the grocer, but beyond that getting more and more useless.

How many posts have you seen that read like a well placed marketing add? Granted boards are excellent venues for retailers or artisans to make potential clients aware of inventory or sales. Some however are beginning to use them as their sole marketing avenue. But that’s not all. You may even find individuals or small groups that post about a specific maker they collect with their whole motive aimed at keeping the market value of their collections from falling. Creating hypes is not the monopoly of stock related boards.

How many posts have you read in which the information was just so wrong it raised the hair on the back of your neck? Dead Root briar! Torch lighters on a pipe! The dogmatic belief in the pipe cleaner test! And how many posts have you read that automatically lead to endless and senseless controversies ? Vulcanite or Lucite, which is the superior material! Coated or uncoated bowls ? V-shaped or U-shaped tobacco chambers ? Who is the best maker!!! I could go on for ages.

Is this starting to sound like a rant? Maybe it is, but it is long over due and needs to be said. The hobby is getting less and less friendly. More and more dollar oriented. More and more about ego and about babbling. Is it in need of some changes? Damn right it is!

Michael J. Glukler