A Tale of Two Forums:

Or how online communities can actually rock.
Online communities often get a lot of stick from people who don't know any better, they are either places for sad geeks or perverts or griefers and although this is true in some sense (I'm looking at you 4chan) there are places where this couldn't be further from the truth. So to highlight this fact I'm going to talk about two forums/communities that go against the stereotype. One is the GamesTM forum and the other is Simply Syndicated. To illustrate my point I'm going to write about why these forums are important to me starting with Gamestm.

GamesTM
Growing out of the magazine of the same name, this is a forum based around the issue of games and everything game related. According to my profile I joined way back in 2006, however I wouldn't really class myself as a regular until this year.
A forum whose average user is 15-25 year old males should be your typical forum, full of swearing immature twats and 2/3rds of that is true, swearing and immature but there are hardly any twats. It's like been on a forum full of your mates, if you are into gaming, which for me is a brilliant thing because many of my "real life" friends really aren't into their gaming any more.
They also make up the vast majority of my friends list on XBL so when I used to work the unsociable hours of 5-10 on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings these guys were my social life. Without them I wouldn't have had human contact with anybody but my parents and people at work from roughly October to April apart from the odd day or two. They were my replacement mates, who I blow up bad guys. It was something to look forward to in the days when I couldn't go to the pub with my friends because I was at work when they were out and they were at work while I was asleep.
The people from GamesTM maybe not the people you would choose to turn to in a personal crisis (no offence guys) but they are the people who will entertain you into the wee hours of the night with swearing and immature and abit of light harmless ribbing. They are the type of people you would go on the piss with after a break up to get over it and have a brilliant time with.
Team VAG? for the win.

Simply Syndicated

The people on these forums are you're best mates and respected elders all concentrated in one easy to access place. It really is the best online community that I'm part of, sure the fact that everybody on there is a fan of either films, tv or games helps but it's more than just that. Unlike the guys on GamesTM, these are the people you can turn to in a personal crisis, recent events have proven such for a couple of the members, there is as much support as you need on there.
This is partly due to the fact there is wide range of ages, backgrounds and experience on there so it is more than likely that someone on there has gone through what you are going through. This is the strength of this forum.
Also the debates on there are all carried out in a mature manner and rarely descend into name calling and if they do the mods step in and sort you out. They operate a fair system on banning and you will get plenty of warning if are you stepping out of line and have opportunity to change your ways however carry on down that path and you will be out.
However it isn't all serious stuff, people are will to have a laugh too maybe not in the banter you get on a forum full of young males.
Also it is a good way to find out new films, games or music you might like as the variety of people there means there is going to be someone who has similar tastes as you and will recommend something that you may not have heard of. All in all it is a great forum that feels more like a close group of friends that just happens to be spread around the world. It's places like this that make the internet a great place.