Chapter 9e
Managing 'Traffic' on General Discussion Forums


Anyone who has participated in online discussion forums knows that the volume of ‘traffic’, the sheer volume of messages posted, can become a serious problem, especially in larger forums. Also, some individuals have more time than others to compose and send messages, and their resulting ‘domination’ of the forum’s attention is sometimes not well received by others. To ensure that continued participation in the Local Groups’ discussion forums does not become an undue burden, it will likely become necessary to provide measures that limit message traffic to manageable levels.

Dividing General Discussion Forums into discussion threads by topic is one possible approach. This has the advantage that people can limit their attention to topics that interest them. But this has disadvantages as well. It divides and fragments the channel of communication, and thereby effectively shrinks each member’s ability to communicate with other members. It also would likely tend to inhibit the growth of a sense of shared identity, a sense of community, within the group as a whole.

A good way to accomplish necessary limitations to ‘traffic’ without unduly stifling the free flow of discussion, might be to have the software through which the discussion forum functions keep track of each members ‘post per day’ (ppd) average, with the Group democratically establishing the maximum ppd average allowable. Restricting average rate of posting offers important advantages over setting a hard limit on the number of posts per day that are allowed.

Using a ‘ppd’ average to limit traffic would allow people to post more comments in a shorter period of time concerning issues of special interest or import to them, as long as over time their allowable average is not exceeded. For example, if the group established a maximum allowable posting average of one post per day, (or 1.25 posts per day, or 2 ppd, or .5, or .75, or any ratio that the group democratically establishes for itself), and a person did not post anything for several days, or a week, (or more), she or he could post several messages on a single day, in the course of a ‘back and forth’ discussion, concerning a subject of great interest or concern to her or him, without exceeding the allowable average ratio of posts per day. This would allow a more naturally free flowing discussion, without allowing overall traffic to reach unmanageable levels.

The software that distributes messages can be programmed to not only automatically calculate post per day averages for each citizen-member, but also to automatically inhibit a citizen-member’s posting, based on this completely objective and non-discriminatory criterion, whenever her or his post per day average exceeds whatever limits the Group has established. If participation by Supporting Members, (in addition to Governing Members), is encouraged in General Discussion Forums, the ‘ppd’ average established for them could, at the Group’s discretion, be adjusted accordingly, perhaps at a lower average ppd rate, if burdensome traffic is a problem.


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