Originally posted on 07/29/2013:

Coming out of my 8 months or so hiatus with the start of NCAAF on the horizon.

Firstly, it's important to acknowledge that the SBR forums reside in a very interesting balance of two worlds. For those that have ever gone to a Vegas sportsbook and watched a game, you invariably end up in one discussion or another (or a few) about various games occurring or upcoming. In this setting I've never heard anyone claim "Alabama -20, lock of the century, fukkin' take it!!". SBR exists, of course, on the internet; where ignorance, hate and apathy fester and thrive. This balance is where the issue of a forum's health and viability are threatened. As the thinking/conversing side of this balance, the real threat to ourselves comes from ourselves. With an ignore function (thank you Huckleberry and Vegas39, I never knew that existed) and a good community-base, the threads/posts about "Alabama -20, LoTC!" aren't even the issue, but that individually we fall to attrition and apathy. That is to say, we neglect the support for one-another shown at the beginning of the season, while trolls and typical internet-fodder only becomes emboldened by incorrect plays and assertions.

Returning to the previous Vegas Sportsbook example: I might bounce statistics or theories off someone sitting next to me in person, not because I care how he bets or that I want to make him money, but because I enjoy talking about the game and thinking football. In this case the benefit is being encapsulated in the thoughts and experiences I enjoy at the cost of opening myself for derision or disagreement. In person, this risk is heavily taxed by norms and societal standards with which we are socialized to adhere. On the internet, social norms and societal standards are the exception, not the rule. The thinking community then must come together to bolster one another's skills or we individually fall to trolls and nay-sayers.

Four or five years ago (under a different account) I was enthralled at the MLB forum on SBR. There were terrific theories and cappers sharing information publicly in an attempt to boost one another. Around the same time, Covers.com had terrific discussions being bandied back and forth and had a very healthy equivalent to the "Handicapper Think Tank". Then, the internet happened. I still cap MLB religiously, but I'd never post on SBR's MLB forums. I'd receive no benefit from posting v. not-posting and by posting I open myself for post hoc ignorance ("you jinxed them!") or hindsight air-bettors.

TL;DR Version: An internet forum for people to bolster skills and openly communicate is only as healthy as its core base allows it to be. By assisting eachother's research or bouncing ideas back and forth, the community opens itself for derision by "trolls" and general ignorance. It's health and well-being can only be promoted by the activity and advances of those actively seeking its central philosophy and supporting those with common purpose. The resources garnered from such a forum must then outweigh the potential for negativity from a user's participation, otherwise the forum will fall to only the most-altruistic and the most-insane.