I have only been using Answerbank a few months - just before chatterbank was discontinued. My main reason for using this site was asking a sensible question and getting a reply. I only looked at chatterbank a couple of times as I am just not interested in chatting but I could not see anything to suggest it was abused. Since it`s demise, I have seen several threads about this abuse - could someone give an instance to warrant the closure?.
PollyPaige. All the threads that caused the trouble were removed quite quickly by the editor. Most of the trouble was caused by people registering with multiple user names that often impersonated quite genuine users. Chatterbank caused the Editor, etc. far too much work to justify it's existence as this is a non moneymaking site. I presume the Editor, technicians etc. also work for other Crystal Guides sites.
there were a lot of posts that broke the rules (a few of them quite offensive) - mostly in the evening or over weekends, when the site is unmoderated. I suspect the editorial staff had to spend quite a lot of time each morning removing them.
Gesso is spot on with the explanation. We appreciated that people enjoyed using the chat category, but it was simply too much hassle for fart jokes, at the end of the day.