I was one of the people that read Dark Lover by JRW right when it came out. Read: before the BDB got as wildly cult-like popular as it is today. It was before JRW had a message board. It was before she stopped returning her reader’s emails. When she announced that there was going to be a message board at her site, it was great. I’m a spoiler whore for one series and that is the BDB. I quickly learned that she had insulated herself by selecting moderators (God only knows how) that would stay between her and the peons readers. There were rules. Not the average message board rules such as “be considerate” or “no bad words”. No, these were very specific rules. This is how I read them.
- No saying anything bad about JRW’s books or you’ll be banned from the message boards.
- No asking the same questions over and over again or you’ll get a smack down from the mods. (My question: WHEN IS TOHR’S BOOK COMING OUT?)
- Don’t ask a question in the wrong part of the message board or you’ll get a smack down from the mods.
- If you find [insert BDB title] before it’s street date, don’t announce it or you’ll get a smack down from the mods and maybe even banned.
- Kiss my ass.
Long before blogs became popular, Rowena, Holly, and I met on the JGBB. The one that was run by Simon & Schuster. The JGBB was fun place where we talked about the books, the heroes, and the heroines. Everyone there was so laid back that there were never any problems. I have also been a longtime member of the JMBB (first run by S&S now hosted by Random House). The rules were a little more strict there, but they weren’t extreme. Put a warning in if there are spoilers in your post, no personal attacks, and it was silently agreed that politics and religion were no-no’s.
I have also noticed the same thing in some Yahoo Groups. The power just seems to go to the head of these people. A scuffle happened in the Robyn Carr yahoo group where religion was apparently brought up. Hello? FORBIDDEN FALLS IS ABOUT A FREAKING PREACHER. A notice went out that basically said “No religion talk or else”. It’s completely ridiculous.
It seems obvious that the power of being a message board mod has gone to their heads. Or am I wrong? And where are the authors?