This text was published by Steven X. in 2016. The author himself deleted it but it remains as pertinent as ever:
"I've been following a number of conversation threads on this Group for less than ten days, after a hiatus of more than a year. It is interesting to me (since "coincidences" can't exist in my world!) that one of the first threads I saw was Angela's veiled plea for a change of the paradigm by which the Group currently operates, noting the low percentage of participation in one of the larger group populations on Couchsurfing. She was promptly upbraided by some for raising an issue that several others in the group have said they believe is central to the future viability of the Group.
So, rather than just browsing threads for which the title interested me, I took a rather shotgun-type approach and opened threads quite at random. I was looking for the tone of the conversation, rather than any interesting content. I was perplexed, at first, at the frequency of contributions, often several among the most recent twenty, from the same contributors, thread after thread. The content of these 'contributions' often had little or nothing to do with the subject introduced at the start of the thread and often focused entirely on attacking another member of the Group. I studied further.
Before long I had come across posts from a handful of Group members that, best I could tell, contributed nothing to the general interest of the conversation thread at all. Mostly, these individuals were arguing, even to the point of name calling, among themselves, even across threads. At times their vitriol splashed out onto clueless 'newbies' (I would guess!) and 'lurkers' or other infrequents, or contributors that had something meaningful to say. Wow - what a discouraging situation.
So, I started taking names. These problem children's behavior has long since crossed the line that separates the conversations of decent members of this potentially very valuable Group, and off into some sub-class of denizens that has tried to destroy the huge communication value of the internet since before its inception, through their continued use of abusive language, repeated attacks on certain other individuals or a group of individuals, or just running their mouth so that their 'brilliance' and 'wit' can be shared far and wide. There is nothing new here, just the same of 'flame wars' from the 'alt'-groups of 35 years ago. This behavior is no more pleasant now that it has ever been. One would hope it would just cease, or could be mitigated by resistance from the general population, those that the misfits seem so intent on harassing.
These folks will most certainly attack me and this communication thread as soon as it is published on the Couchsurfing site. I won't feel the slightest bit offended or perturbed, because I won't be back to read the drivel they post. I am hoping, however, that this thread can serve a sort of honey-pot to attract all said misfit conversations, and that their authors will be so consumed with attacking each other, with whom they are already well acquainted, apparently, that their absence will not even be recognized in the remaining, useful, productive, happy, energetic, enthusiastic threads on this Group.
Numerous others have gotten involved in the 'flame wars' from the periphery from time to time, often with the valiant, but ultimately fruitless, effort of controlling the fire or extinguishing it. Perhaps they have validated the rage by their presence, who knows.
As just an observant, until now silent, newcomer, I have a phrase of advice - "Ignore Them." If any of the folks on this list try to hijack a thread, just ignore them, let the thread die at that point (or become another honey-pot for the recalcitrants, and resume the essence of the thread elsewhere.
I mean no ill to anyone in this Group - period - ever. I have never met any of you (that I know of) and even find some comments from the worst offenders, entertaining or of redeeming value. Lucy's post a few days ago ("Silent readers - a poll :-)"), was timely, I believe. This Group is really missing a huge opportunity to be a great resource to the Couchsurfing community at large. There are many great minds here, tons of great experience that could be shared and applied to the issues facing all Couchsurfing host and surfers, especially those of us over 50, but the best this Group can produce is being smothered, nearly extinguished by the divisive, counterproductive and often purely self-serving, abuse from a few. That's a sad situation.
As an aside, I have observed another prevalent behavior in this Group. It happens far more frequently here than in other Groups on Couchsurfing that I follow. That is, not fully reading, and certainly not responding to, either the original poster's point or question, or the general intent of the thread, before posting a response. Conversation threads often wander far from the original premise, leaving nothing to satisfy the original poster's question, posit or proposition. Sometimes, the entire thread ends up revolving around a single word in the title that is functionally irrelevant to the poster's opening thoughts. We're pretty bright folks, here, I believe. I certainly get that impression from reading the contributions, but too many of us are very sloppy in our communications practices. Can you help fix that?
Thank you for your patience. I now cease and desist!"
