Community, the anti-tribalism & the CompuServe Comics Forum

In the early 90's I was on the CompuServe Comics & Animation Forum. It was an online bulletin board system community that encompassed all kinds of different people. DC Fans, Marvel Fans, Indie Fans, Writers, Artists, Editors, and Publishers all assembled and talked about comics. It was a community no less strong than the Comic Geek Speak community of today. Regional meetups of Forum members were a frequent occurance.

In that forum discussions were categorized into different “Rooms”. DC comics, Marvel comics, Animation, indie comics, and there was a room for off-topic discussions that often featured political discussions. Many of the regulars participated in these discussions.

I was new to the Libertarian Party at the time and made great use of these forums to develop my ability to communicate my ideas and philosophy. It also help me better understand my own ideas as well as others. I had to defend my ideas, not just take them on faith.

The discussion was at times passionate, but never mean spirited. Ideas were picked apart, not personalities (the trolls of the forum stuck to the comics related “rooms”). I fondly recall the intellectual sparring with Sadie McFarlane, a Neil Giaman fan from San Francisco, who I considered “my favorite liberal”. (Sadie also published a fanzine about Giaman, Magian Line)

I think things were kept civil because we all knew each other to some degree, through our common interest in comics. We were not anonymous voices in the void. We had already established ourselves as individuals who were, if not friends, at least people we enjoyed talking with in the context of comics. We didn't wish to ruin that with angry rhetoric.

But that didn't keep us from controversial topics. It just kept us from going over the line into shouting matches.

That is rougher in the modern World Wide Web. Anonymity and obscurity make it easier for people to be harsher, or even be trolls. The delicate balance of healthy online communities can be shattered if trolls can run roughshod over conversations.

Politics is too important to treat as a taboo subject. I hope that in the corners of the internet that I use, that I can encourage people to be involved in the “passion and action” of our times.