One sceming member can bring down a forum. Put up members against eachother, spread distrust and angst. Especially if it is done behind the scenes via pm and email, a lot of damage can be done. Has happened, and the less open a forum is, the easier it can be done.
Seen it done, been there when it's being done. Nasty thing.
How is it done? Can the member go around speading the word saying bad things about the place so no one joins?
WP is such a big place so I doubt she can tell everyone in the world to not join it. All they have to do is look up "asperger forums" and WP pops up and they will join it anyway.
No, it's done internally - an established and respected member can put a sly word here, a cunning post there, a few PMs, and within a week or two of starting to be a cunt, they can get parts of the membership hating either another part, or a specific member. Ever read a post and come away feeling offended, but you've no idea why - there's no specific point, phrase or sentence which is offensive, but the whole thing just makes you want to punch them in the face?
Of course, it's worse when you've got two of these people, working one against the other, as we did at AFF - it's even worse when you're taken along for the ride and you don't realise it.
Over time, the "feel" of the forum becomes.....nasty. New people are chased away, anyone who steps out of line is dogpiled. From that point on, it's just a matter of time before the forum dies, unless some major, major bannings take place - and even then, it might not do much good.
ponds from now on.