I don't disagree that one user can kill a community, because it's definitely possible. I just think you discount a lot of the other factors. Communities often build on shared experiences. Whether that's going to school, learning, playing video games, politics, etc... Yet over time, people grow and change themselves which impacts any community.

I've been a part of a lot of niche communities on the internet and all of them change. I could look back and try to pin the blame on one user if I wanted but that would be disingenuous. Sure, the one mod started over moderating, the one user started spamming whatever he cared about, what used to be civil discourse changed to memes, whatever. There's always disruption and sometimes communities just die out on their own because what used to unify people no longer mattered.

I mean, take this community for example. I wasn't here from the beginning but if I understand it, it's about video games that then became political after gamergate. That right off the bat lets me know a few things. The original demographics are going to be teenagers, likely single, in school. The demographics then shift to young adult, serious relationships, marriage, career. The demographics right now lead to an enviable collapse of the community because most quality people are going to dip out of discussing video games and gender wars before they hit 30yo to focus on more important things. If they come on from time-to-time they aren't going to want to see whining and complaining and blackpills since their life is going good, they'll want to see more positivity. Over time the community will simply emcumbus mostly those who are bitter and upset about their current situation in life and even then posting becomes a bore. You can only discuss the same things over and over again before you've discussed them to death. I mean take gaming on its own, skip the politics. The whole gambling style of gaming has mostly killed gaming. Big name gaming companies are making mobile games to sell skins for $20 to some rich Asians. Gameplay is something that hasn't been innovated since the 2000s. What's there left to discuss except how shit most games are these days.

Anyway, I'm rambling. The point I'm trying to make is all good things come to an end, including internet communities. It's not usually 1 guy that killed it. He may have been the catalyst but it was already dying by then, otherwise it would have likely been robust enough to survive one subverter. You can draw the same parralel to western society if you'd like as well.

I don't disagree that one user can kill a community, because it's definitely possible. I just think you discount a lot of the other factors. Communities often build on shared experiences. Whether that's going to school, learning, playing video games, politics, etc... Yet over time, people grow and change themselves which impacts any community.

I've been a part of a lot of niche communities on the internet and all of them change. I could look back and try to pin the blame on one user if I wanted but that would be disingenuous. Sure, the one mod started over moderating, the one user started spamming whatever he cared about, what used to be civil discourse changed to memes, whatever. There's always disruption and sometimes communities just die out on their own because what used to unify people no longer mattered.

I mean, take this community for example. I wasn't here from the beginning but if I understand it, it's about video games that then became political after gamergate. That right off the bat lets me know a few things. The original demographics are going to be teenagers, likely single, in school. The demographics then shift to young adult, serious relationships, marriage, career. The demographics right now lead to an enviable collapse of the community because most quality people are going to dip out of discussing video games and gender wars before they hit 30yo to focus on more important things. If they come on from time-to-time they aren't going to want to see whining and complaining and blackpills since their life is going good, they'll want to see more positivity. Over time the community will simply emcumbus mostly those who are bitter and upset about their current situation in life and even then posting becomes a bore. You can only discuss the same things over and over again before you've discussed them to death. I mean take gaming on its own, skip the politics. The whole gambling style of gaming has mostly killed gaming. Big name gaming companies are making mobile games to sell skins for $20 to some rich Asians. Gameplay is something that hasn't been innovated since the 2000s. What's there left to discuss except how shit most games are these days.

Anyway, I'm rambling. The point I'm trying to make is all good things come to an end, including internet communities. It's not usually 1 guy that killed it. He may have been the catalyst but it was already dying by then, otherwise it would have been robust enough to survive one subverter. You can draw the same parralel to western society if you'd like as well.

I don't disagree that one user can kill a community, because it's definitely possible. I just think you discount a lot of the other factors. Communities often build on shared experiences. Whether that's going to school, learning, playing video games, politics, etc... Yet over time, people grow and change themselves which impacts any community.

I've been a part of a lot of niche communities on the internet and all of them change. I could look back and try to pin the blame on one user if I wanted but that would be disingenuous. Sure, the one mod started over moderating, the one user started spamming whatever he cared about, what used to be civil discourse changed to memes, whatever. There's always disruption and sometimes communities just die out on their own because what used to unify people no longer mattered.

I mean, take this community for example. I wasn't here from the beginning but if I understand it, it's about video games that then became political after gamergate. That right off the bat lets me know a few things. The original demographics are going to be teenagers, likely single, in school. The demographics then shift to young adult, serious relationships, marriage, career. The demographics right now lead to an enviable collapse of the community because most quality people are going to dip out of discussing video games and gender wars before they hit 30yo to focus on more important things. If they come on from time-to-time they aren't going to want to see whining and complaining and blackpills since their life is going good, they'll want to see more positivity. Over time the community will simply emcumbus mostly those who are bitter and upset about their current situation in life and even then posting because a bore. You can only discuss the same things over and over again before you've discussed them to death. I mean take gaming on its own, skip the politics. The whole gambling style of gaming has mostly killed gaming. Big name gaming companies are making mobile games to sell skins for $20 to some rich Asians. Gameplay is something that hasn't been innovated since the 2000s. What's there left to discuss except how shit most games are these days.

Anyway, I'm rambling. The point I'm trying to make is all good things come to an end, including internet communities. It's not usually 1 guy that killed it. He may have been the catalyst but it was already dying by then, otherwise it would have been robust enough to survive one subverter. You can draw the same parralel to western society if you'd like as well.