For some time now, I’ve been a bemused spectator of the Nairaland forum and while I believe it is one of the best Nigerian forums on the internet, I feel it has some short-comings.

It’s so pathetic that people get banned for voicing their opinions on the board. I feel the administrator seems to take some delight in being supreme and attacks any threat, real or perceived.

I wil not pretend that moderating a forum is easy work. I will also not pretend that keeping hackers at bay and ensuring you have a good name is easily achieved. Banning seems to be a sadistic delight indulged in for both flimsy as well as concrete reasons.

The administrator needs to see that the forum is not him — a forum is very different from a blog and disagreements are bound to occur. Disagreements with an administrator are unfortunately taken as ‘attacks’ in this case and I strongly suspect some antagonistic tendencies.

Obviously, it is caused by an imbalance of power — I’ve discovered that I tend to be harsher when I make decisions on my own concerning anything and I think that’s what’s going on this case.

I’ve been watching an accelerating trickling out of the intellectual body of Nairaland and the mass incoming of bored teenagers who jump around postng irrelevant replies instead of staying within the boards designed for such — Chatterbox and Forum Games. I think they even ought to restrict themselves to the Recycle Bin.

A lot of people share my sentiments about the running of the forum. A forum does not belong to the ‘owner’ — he only oversees it. Creating a community and expecting everyone to think the way you do is a study in paradox. Attacking people on the boards and banning people who criticize you is a definite no-no.

People are bound to disagree with one’s views — they are not necessarily attacking. Obviously, my only reason for posting here is because someone once got banned for musing about leaving.

Nairaland is great, but it’s becoming something else. Unfortunately, alternatives do not yet exist :roll:.