Social Experiment Forum
 

http://www.conceptanarchy.com

Here's the idea: Simple internet forum. Random topics. Users give and take reputation based on what they like or don't like. There are no incumbent moderators.

Every few hours, reputation is tallied. The top 3% of the active population are given administrative rights. The top 7% are given moderation rights.

Steal this forum.

Here's what I need from you: If it interests you to see where this goes, please sign up and participate. If you have a blog or another forum, tell your people about this. This will be another no-profit deal, so if money or ads are ever solicited, it will be in the spirit of survival. I really just want to see what happens when we get people.


Status - 01/28 8:30pm EST
- Board is up and running, however the administration algorithm isn't yet active. ETA - 3 hours.

I signed up...but Im not sure I understand what it is you're wanting us to do? Could you possibly explain another way?

If I understand it correctly, you judge the posts of others and they get points on that. The people with the highest rankings in a given period become the mods and admins on the site.

Basically, it sounds like he's letting the inmates run the asylum. :D

1) just post.. you can use it like anything.. the nonsense forum, the sports forum, the news forum, the image forum, the shit piss and moan forum.. whatever it is, you'll have an audience.

2) rate others.. every post has a "reputation" button. Use it to weigh your opinions. The users with the highest reputation during a given period will be given administrative and moderator privileges.

oh..um ok

well the one post thats there isnt even a post...so Im supposed to give it points anyway?

Do what you like.

Can I take pictures of my penis wrapped in duct tape yet? Or is it all about words? Just wondering. Also, I've joined.

well crap the rep system is set up where i cant give rep points to the same person more than once even on a dif post

That may change.. the system is set up very close to default.. lots of customization to go, once I start the rep calculations.

okay, I'm in.

I've made some changes to the reputation system. It still requires more participation to be noticed. Need more participants.

Still a couple hours until the first reputation tally.

It also helps to be giving people rep points. I've been giving them like a mad dog.

It tells me "ratbastid" is already in use, although I don't see it on the members list...

members list only shows those with 1 or more posts

I dont get it. Arent you just driving traffic away from TFP at a time you are trying to build more active discussions here?

It's not a substitute for the TFP by any means... I have a feeling that the "real" discussion will still take place over here, where there are rules. :)

...and I'll be in soon. :)

I'm not trying to dampen the experiment, but I hope your "feeling" is right and people dont divide their finite forum time between the two.

But I'll just go back to hanging out in the political forum.

Carry on and enjoy the anarchy :)

Heh, if I wanted to drive traffic away from TFP, I'd turn the entire forum into a link to this.

No, I'm just curious what will happen.

I'll give it a shot.

I'm under the handle "Paint".

I am too, now.

And I'm strangely excited.

And.. nothing will happen if nobody gets the word out.

I'll go elsewhere, thanks.

Sounds like some kind of popularity contest. I only checked it out once... not convinced enough to stay, though. We'll see.

This should be interesting. We learn by doing.

Having used this system on a different forum I used to be a member of, I can tell you that unless everyone participates on a completely neutral basis, it will only turn out to be a popularity contest.

I joined last night...could be fun.

I'll take a look. Sounds interesting.

I wonder through. Much as people claim that they hate rules, I generally find that when they have none, they are pissed that there's nobody to look out for them when the "big kids on bikes" come and tear up their playground.

We shall see.

I signed up and had typed out a post theorizing how the forum could run most smoothly and effectively. Then I thought about the social cliques that have formed on TFP and other forums, lost interest and closed it.

Why are you telling us this?

Its also funny to observe those who dismiss the idea before seeing it through.

I'll keep watching.

If I read it correctly, someone has allready started a pissing war which has heaped invective on various other users.

Sad that the ultimate open forum encourages people to hide behind their anonymity to flame strangers, rather than use their time to find out about themselves and the rest of the world.

Score one for insularity and navel gazing.

Come on folks, help up the average IQ on the net, and post to this brave new utopia, lest it bocome another toxic dystopia.

Having spent considerable time there over the past 20 hours, I have to say I'm unsure what will become of C:A. It's turning into a bit of a madhouse. Maybe all forums start that way. Maybe TFP did, I don't know. Maybe, CA will evolve into a quality forum like the TFP over time, without the presence of a policing body as quality control. But I don't think it will, at this point, because there's too many inmates running the asylum. Can order come from chaos? It remains to be seen.

Here's an X-Files type theory I have about Concept:Anarchy. It's a cleverly devised plan conjured up from the mods of the TFP. Hear me out. Perhaps the Mods got together, had a bit of a pow-wow. They come to the conclusion that they aren't feeling the love from the TFP members. They get an idea; create a forum without rules, without leadership, and watch what happens. Initially there is a sense of freedom. The peons write whatever they're thinking. They swear, they insult, they post pictures of men with sheep in compromising positions. The posters initially enjoy this newfound freedom. Then, slowly, all hell begins to break loose. No order, no rules, no justice. No banning of idiots. The forum suffers. The posts dwindle, or turn into trivial fodder. Slowly but surely, all the members of the new forum (who originally came from TFP looking for all the things they thought they wanted from the TFP but couldn't get) return to their first love, the TFP. They come back to the structure, the rules, the order. Where ignorant or unintelligent posts are quickly shut down. Where ignoramuses are quickly banned. And with a sigh, and a momentary twinge of guilt, they come back into the TFP. Only this time, as they return, they realize something maybe they didn't know before. It's good to have structure. They don't mind the rules because they mean structure. In the end, most sensible forum lovers will take structure and intelligent content over chaos and meaningless banter any day.

That's what the mods or Halx was thinking, wasn't it???? I'm on to you. Just call me Fox Mulder.

TFP isn't my first online love.

It's not even my tenth.

It's a forum.

I like it, but I've been playing this game for so long now that I've seen boards come and go and realised that life goes on.

It's a nice board, and I enjoy reading it and posting to it, but I don't think that anyone needs to draw up conspiracy theories.

That said, I'm probably only saying that because I'm trying to get into the management clique, to deal with the shamefull underrepresentation of overweight Englishmen...

Ok I'll bite. :)

I'm not dismissing it, Halx. I'm watching without registering at this point, because I don't see a point in getting involved in the discussions just yet other than to simply make noise and accumulate points. I'm not a multi-forum person... I like the TFP (yes, it's my first online love), and I am sticking with it for the time being. But I will watch.

I'm also curious why people use TFP names in the new forum. Why not take on something entirely new, to create a new personality? Or is there a desire to "carryover" your TFP personality as well? Interesting patterns.

Isn't this a chance for you to exercise the anonymity you crave?

Yeah, I thought about it, Carno. Maybe later, when things shape up a bit in the other forum, and when people have forgotten all about the threads I've started here.

But in some ways, I started those threads here, under my TFP name, because I am committed to this community. If we aren't having the discussions I want, then I'm going to start them. Running away to be anonymous in some TFP-shadow forum is pretty chicken-shit, if it's done for those reasons. I would feel like a total fake, and a poser as well. I like this place the way it is, for the most part... and any changes to it have to come from within the community, as I see it. Doesn't matter if we are mods here or not.

Anyway, maybe more answer than you wanted. I'm just not sold on joining up C:A yet... even reading the threads there (at least, the ones in existence) is not really worth anyone's time, yet.

my biggest concern is that too many of the TFP members will want to force the TFP paradigm on that board, making it the Son of TFP. I honestly don't think that was the intent at all.

Sure, a lot of the people registered there came from here and it seems somewhat natural to attempt to force it into some extension of this place, but we already have TFP.

I enjoy TFP for the moderation that exists here, likewise, I'm able to appreciate Anarchy for what it is. Anarchy is more than a squiggly A on a t-shirt bought at Hot Topic. I could be entirely wrong, but I think if it was meant to be structured, it'd be called Concept: Structure. If everyone behaved the exact same way that they did on TFP, then it wouldn't be much of an experiment.

I thought it was interesting that you posted the above, and also this:

Perhaps it is a testament to the fact that perhaps people's TFP personas are who they really are, so it didn't occur to them to create new ones? It's a bit like if you go to a really wild nightclub, and you're made up differently and you behave differently than you would in the office, but you're not attempting to disguise yourself as such.

It didn't even cross my mind to be honest, which is possibility interesting.

I hear your point, JJ, but at the same time... I'm not particularly interested in acting any other way than who I am on TFP, on the new forum or otherwise. It's a waste of time for me to invent a new personality or set of behaviors. This is who I am, now and in real life, at least as much as I can manage. It's tempting to be anonymous, but it's also pretty disingenuous when I already know most of the community... which is why my commitment remains here.

Well, the first quote was a personal reflection. For me to run away and be anonymous would be chicken-shit move, as judged by me. The second quote is because I am intrigued, as an outsider, that more people are not creating new personas over there... because humans love to reinvent themselves and "start anew." I am just saying that, given human behavior, I am surprised that the new place looks so much like the old. That's all.