The online social space which I would like to discuss pertains to online computer help forums. With the advent of the internet, forums of both newbie’s and experts have arisen to provide an outlet for people to post questions and get various answers/suggestions in return. Not being a computer wiz, I frequently turn to such online forums which provide a question and answer type of set up for my computer issues. Though there is no one site in particular, I access these websites by googling my computer related problem. Over the years, my many computer problems have enabled me to observe quite a bit about these forums and the social norms which go hand in hand within them. These social norms are enforced by a certain leviathan, a set of codes and an unwritten government empowered by the masses of people who use the codes each day. When I first visited these sites it was merely as a spectator, however, as my computer issues got more detailed, it was time for me to make a post - I needed to hunt the leviathan in order to not be ridiculed within the seemingly tight-nit community of posters. Hunting the leviathan is something we as humans do by nature. It is our way of making sure we have a shot at being selected as the in-group and not banished from whatever online space your working within.
One norm found within these forums is the way in which it is mandated that people act. There is absolutely no socialization within these websites, no names are mentioned, no chit chat, no discussions about peoples days, and most importantly absolutely no repetition of questions. For whatever reason, people flip out when a question is asked twice. When someone does not conform to these rules, a flame war could potentially break out. This is the worst case scenario and could potentially result in people not answering your question for being so stupid to ask a persons name or not search through the archives, for example. What is more likely to occur however, is one of the “regulars” will explain the rules. As new members come about, the rules are shared again and again. If someone really struggles and attempts to not conform, a virtual arched brow is placed on the newbie (Wallace, 1999). When this arched brow is placed, the regulars simply wont answer your question and thus apply pressure on the newbie. In a sense they, without words, say if you don’t follow the rules, you will not be welcome here. Another factor which keeps people inline is the fact that people strive to become a “regular.” Some people’s voices and responses to a question are heard much louder than others. This is definitely a motivating factor to abide by the leviathan and provide new users with the best answers. This has to do with group polarization (Wallace, 1999). The in group has a common goal in mind and would prefer if no more regulars are admitted, whereas those not deemed regulars are more individual, and thus less respected. This can result in two seperate factions within the forum.
It is this leviathan which allows these internet forums to continue to work. When I first started using these forums, I was skeptical. Why would someone do research for me on a problem they weren’t having? It was all about the leviathan, I just didn’t know it ‘till now.
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4 comments:
Scott,
First of all I found the topic of your discussion very interesting. I was unaware of such forums out there! Secondly, your application of "hunting for the leviathan" was done extremely well. It was great how you commented on the fact that you had to do this in order to avoid doing something wrong. We can connect this with the idea of in-group and out-group acceptance. Once you were in this forum you did your best to abide by the norms so that you would not be looked at negatively.
One suggestion would be to break up your discussion in to paragraphs....It would be easier to read this way! Otherwise great job!
Hi Scott,
I'm kind of a computer geek and I've fixed many problems with different types of computers over the years, so I'm in the same boat as you - the repeated questions rule is something I know about well.
I completely agree with everything you said. Looking at things from the forum users' point of view helps clear everything up. If you are frequently browsing this forum you tend to see most of the questions that are posted. So, when a newbie who has never read through the forum before posts something that is repeated, it's very easy to say Hey newbie you could have just searched.
On the other hand looking at it from the newbie's perspective, it's not necessarily obvious that this leviathan exists. After all, it's a forum where you can post questions about computers...so what's wrong with posting a question about your computer even if it is repeated?
So I agree with what you said about group polarization - group dynamics play a very large role in this rule.
Hello Scott, it's a great post. I have seen such forums before, but since I never used them, I did not know there were these kinds of norm existing in such forums. I also liked that you used the term that people on the forum use for labeling them. Although I was able to understand what they were later, at first, I did not know what you meant by 'regulars.' This can be a factor that fosters group identity. It was also interesting to know that repetition of a question would cause such a terrible outcome. I think it will be interesting to explore more about whether the type or function of community influences in setting its norm.
the links to my posts are as follows:
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2015420513633824972&postID=500790114953597489
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2015420513633824972&postID=1768266732560944129
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