Everything I’ve been reading about the DoJ reminds me of how I moderate online forums (most recently, though it was last year, the hlcomic forums). I don’t like banning people, because in my opinion, you can’t solve forum (social) problems with technological solutions. If you kick someone out, they’re just gonna find another way in. So I maintain civility with the force of my personality and writing ability.

However, I knew the end would come, because 1) hlcomic necessarily caters to a primarily younger (and less mature) crowd, and 2) my patience is limited. I can handle small amounts of idiotic influx, but too much at once and the control requirements are more than I’m willing to expend. And as hlcomic got more and more popular, that inevitably happened.

This interview with a former DoJ employee–”I Left Due To ‘Institutional Sabotage’”–makes me think of that. One or two lousy managers, you can work around. Too many at once, there’s too much of a culture change to deal with, and the people who actually care about it start leaving.