I never intended to host a message board when I began this Web site. I just wanted to publish words and photos on local motocross, but when some users at another message board suggested I start one here, I decided to look into it. Looking into it took about three and a half minutes, which it turns out is about the amount of time needed to establish a cookie-cutter, ad-supported message board like the one I have.

Suddenly I wasn’t just a writer/reporter--I was something called a moderator. No worries, I thought. I’m all for the First Amendment, so I’ll just let people say what they want. If things get out of hand, well--who cares if things get out of hand? They’re just words on an electronic screen, after all. Talk to the person who made the post if you’re angry. I am just a writer.

I was naive.

Turns out it didn’t take long for people to get angry. Since I hadn’t threatened to curtail anyone’s speech, people promptly began to speak their minds. And I don’t mean they began to speak their mind in a sincere, thoughtful sort of way--they started to just toss out whatever passed late at night through their Pabst-addled brains. So other people would get mad at them. And then those other people would get mad at me.

People started calling and messaging me in distressed tones. I couldn’t let things go on like this, they said. This is making everything worse, they said. In these cases, I often tried to make a point I still believe in today: it is better to have rumors and criticisms passed on an open forum where the defendant can respond publicly than it is to have rumors and criticisms passed in the shadows where nonsense can thrive unabated.

This point usually did little to ease the people's concerns. No matter how I sliced it, seeing their names defamed in public was not going to make them happy. So I decided to set some ground rules. Some of those rules survive to this day, while others have been discarded or replaced by others. Nowadays I rely heavily on context to determine how the rules should be enforced. It’s about the only sane way I’ve found to proceed.

I still have been called out for some of my decisions, and I will probably continue to be called out. I’ve accepted this as part of the turf. Truth be told, there is a part of me that thrives on controversy and criticism, so I am usually OK when people square off against me. Plus, I probably need some people to speak their minds to me or else I might never be able to accurately define what it is I should and shouldn’t do in my role as a moderator.

I had hoped that having a minimally censored board would bring out the best in everyone. I imagined that having free discussions would allow us to hammer out consensus on important issues. Evidently I was overestimating everyone’s desire for consensus, and underestimating a lot of people’s desire to write crazy things under anonymous tags and watch the fur fly in their wake.

Nonetheless, I still find value on the message board. It is nice to me that, when I have a thought on motocross, I can go to my board, carefully frame my thought in writing, and see what everyone else thinks. Whether the response is positive (“Good point!”) or negative (“That’s the most reprehensible piece of garbage I’ve ever read”,) I always at least get the thought out of my head. And that’s usually enough to satisfy me.

Incidentally, if anyone has any suggestions on how I should handle the board, please feel free to contact me through the links below. I always like to hear what others think of the job I’m doing--especially when I have only the faintest understanding of what it is I am supposed to be doing in the first place.

But please leave the Pabst in the fridge until you're done typing.

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