It really is up to posters to make the forum better. Many of us try to do that with edgy Top Posting that will draw response. When the response is limited to personal attacks or empty criticism of the source of the post or something else that dead-ends discussion, it takes discussion into a circular nothing-fest.
Posters generally don't think of posting to help the board be one that draws new posters. They post directly to the poster - in some form of attack. Moderation is only present to make sure the board is presentable to the public. Ever-present trolls can be controlled, but can't be eliminated even by the best moderation.
In all forums, new posters have to go through some sort of trial to finally be accepted. It's not easy breaking into a forum. Back on Slate, one of the moderators once said that we would be surprised at how few posters there actually were. Maybe that's true. Maybe over time, that certain few posters are all there are and all there will ever be and those certain few just keep rotating through the boards reinventing themselves.
I wonder.
