[StellarWind]

I want to repeat that I consider stats posts to be on-topic legitimate poker threads and I am not against them.

[ QUOTE ]
THE BENEFITS OF DOING NOTHING
Now if a moderator does nothing, those that like stat posts can enjoy and benefit from them. Those that don't like them can address their criticism directly to the OP or they can refrain from opening and reading them. This is a simple solution that is good for everybody and requires no tinkering.

This allows the forum to self moderate, similar to capitalism in an open market. Supply and demand forces will tend to make the forum conform to the types of posts people want in proportion to the extent that they want them.

[/ QUOTE ]
This sounds very good. HUSH/SSSH really is a nice forum and it got that way without invasive moderation. That's a real credit to you guys who helped make it that way.

It doesn't always work that way. One problem with the capitalism analogy is that some people gain benefits from posting a lot even though few people benefit from reading those posts. For example some people post excessive numbers of hand threads and manage to get a couple of replies on each. This hurts the forum but it's "profitable" enough for the poster that they can get away with it. If you want to talk economics this is the ruin of the commons effect.

Let me share a personal experience concerning another 2+2 forum that I won't name because I don't want to hurt anyone. I know a few of you might be able to guess which forum I'm talking about but I ask you to please refrain from speculating out loud.

I used to read this forum on a pretty regular basis. It was interesting and it helped me with my game. I contributed quite a few significant posts and was a part-time member of their community.

I rarely read the forum anymore and I now post there almost never. The forum became clogged with 1) whining posts and 2) flagrantly off-topic threads. It became impractical for me to find the things I wanted in a reasonable amount of time. The end result is they lost a regular reader who contributed on-topic material. Of course this only makes things worse for those whom I left behind and I'm sorry for that. It's easy for a forum to plunge into a death spiral as bad material forces out good material and eventually the only players left are the junk merchants.

So I don't agree that forums automatically do well if left alone. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't.

Like poker, it depends.