OG murmurs was more volatile than anything I’ve seen on this forum so far. I ventured into the politics forum as little as possible, the GLR was often full of hurt feelings and name calling. Same with TEP, to a lesser degree. Seems like if someone had an axe to grind on any particular issue, user would head straight for GLR. Love and Relationships was reasonably benevolent though, which is not often the case on message boards. We weren’t judgy about other peoples’ feelings. Of course there were some bumps along the way. We were more cerebral than evilly searching for soft parts to twist the knife in. We’re older now and less trigger happy about shooting other members down. We didn’t do that when it came to the emotions often. Opinions were the dividing line, that was the trigger. Remember the brouhaha about that guy Douglas A Something who wrote a bitter kiss and tell about his relationship with JMS? There was conflict for sure, but we handled that like saints. Anyone who wanted to read it but didn’t want the writer to profit by purchasing the book got it sent via a chain we created by a list of murmursians who would mail it on to the next interested party. Rinse and repeat. My opinion was (and remains) it is a pitifully written tabloid grab for spilling his and Michael’s brief affair. It was 50% sour grapes and 50% greed. Guy couldn’t write. As a community, we were exemplary. Don’t get me started on the guy who loved Cloud Star, hentai hero. Also don’t mention Bill Miller. I miss the old days.
ETA— Cloud Strife! That was the name of the character. I think he was from a video game. Remembering the drawings, nobody would own up to having a crush on that today. Different times, people.
ETA2– Flowers Strewn. A forum for members to post their own work. Mainly poetry. Moderated by Shawna whose last name I’ve forgotten. That was proof of the integrity and goodwill of the board. I cannot remember a single incident of anyone being slated there. It takes a lot of guts to post your own writing and bad reviews and/or unrequested editing could be soul destroying. It didn’t happen. People were either supportive or just kept shtum if they didn’t like another person’s work. That in itself is quite an achievement.