Why the “upgraded” TJ forums will be a flop

For about 5 years, I was frequenting the TJ forums. It was a forum board managed by the Temasek Junior College IT club, and was open to students, alumni, as well as members of the public. There's quite a lot of interesting discussions, debates and sharing on the forum, and I've sharpened my analytical and writing skills by defending my views and attacking other people's arguments. I've also benefited from others relating their experience on life and work. Overall it has been an enriching experience, though at times things can get quite heated or boring.

First sign of upgrading - forum unplugged

Over the last few days, I had problems connecting to the forums. I guessed it was some server or network problem, so imagine my surprise when I received an email about the school admin deciding to take the forum down. Soon after, this message appeared when I tried to access the site.



That sounds OK right? Well, I was referred to a temporary forum where I learned more of what was going on. Especially revealing was enemychaser's post somewhere here.

Hey people, sorry about not informing you guys on time. Actually I wasn't even informed of the shutdown until well, it actually went down. Didn't even get to post any messages.

Anyway, from what I heard from the tech guys (my teacher in charge didn't tell me anything at all), the forums are closed down to "protect" the reputation of TJC, whatever that means. Sounds like a pretty half assed answer to me, to be honest, not to mention that we didn't even get to protest, as makoto had said. So folks, please accept my apologies. =(

What's up with this reputation thing?

I can guess a few things. A few TJCians themselves going around the forums making silly and disrespectful comments like calling teachers their servants. But there are only a few of such people around, so I don't think it warrants measures spelled out here.

To start off, the TJC forums is not being shut down, just that a couple of changes will be implemented. To the best of my knowledge, a key reason why the forums will undergo these changes is accountability.

A key difference is that the TJ forums will be almost (I'll come to that later) exclusively TJCians
only. From what I understand, posters will have their names displayed on the forums, though the exact nature of that (appearing next to each post? or only in profiles, etc) is still unknown.

That does not mean that ex- and non- TJCians will be unable to participate in the forums, however. This group of people will be able to apply for an account, though approval will have to be granted (again, details are blurry) before these accounts may be used for posting.

MadMax, as always, hits the nail on the head.

Perhaps she has removed the forum out of fear of disapproval by the MOE, when students discuss such 'controversial' topics as religion, terrorism and politics. History has shown us that quelling discussion of controversial topics benefits noone. It is by suppression that we breed ignorance, and by ignorance that we breed racism, fear and intolerance. It is only by open discussion that we learn to understand and tolerate. And perhaps this is the time to say that the TJC forum will survive with or without her authority. The only difference is that there will be no moderation, there will be noone to prevent posts on the oppressive dynasty of LKY, or the illegal sharing of files via forum links. However, the TJC name will still stand above this forum. Whether it is "The alternative TJC forum", or "TJC forums revived", the school name will still be present and used as an identity. If it is the reputation of TJC that the principal is looking to protect, she has taken the wrong path. Abolishment leads to Dissent leads to Underground Movement.

In the war of reputations: Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer, and keep your students where you can moderate them.

Why the "upgraded" TJ forums will be a flop

Whatever the reason for the changes, if the stated changes do go through, it can only lead to blandness and monotony.

First, anonymity encourages people to speak up more, on more varied subjects. It gives people a (false?) sense of security and freedom from the pressure to conform. Taking anonymity from them is going to make a lot of them freeze up and worry about the social consequences of what they post. Will they be gossiped about, will they be ostracized?

Second, there is an additional barrier for alumni and the public. I'll say that most of the prominent and active forum participants are the people from these groups. Subjecting these contributors to some sort of arbitrary screening process is going to breed some ill-will.They might not even register at all. Some might feel indignant, especially those who've spent some time and built up a fine reputation in the community. For new registrants, this just means another hurdle to cross. The additional screening process is not going to make it easier to join in. I'm just wondering what kind of criteria we're looking at and how many will drop at the first hurdle.

Third, the presence of better alternatives will make the "upgraded" TJ forums even less attractive. It's like you know how bad a product is, but if you place a clearly superior alternative beside it, the original product seems a lot worse. Same case here. If a new forum is really created, I can imagine the kind of embarrassment the "upgraded" forum will suffer from. I'll say, let them compete head to head. See which forum will have more users, more posts, more varied and interesting content at the end of one year. If someone suggests this to the new prinicpal, I wonder what he/she has to say.