Research about online communities, What do you think about interference?

[powerhour24]

So I'm writing a paper about online communities, and for it we're supposed to observe individual communities and talk about what makes them unique, how they developed, what kind of things are specific to them, how are different users treated within them, what kind of role do the most frequent posters play, etc.

It would be really helpful if any of you guys could just take a moment to note any observations/thoughts you have about our community you think might be relevant. While its not editorial in nature, I'll definitely be saying positive things about all of you haha, I'm not big into a lot of online discussions but I love it around here (most of the time )

Thanks guys.

 

[Kieran McConville]

Hmm ok, well I've posted here since 2001 so I guess I'd be an ok source.

What makes this place unique: nothing. It's not unique, it's a message board, there are many of these.

How it developed: I'm not entirely sure but I gather it was established sometime in the mid 90s and then grew due to online interest.

What kinds of things are specific to it: it's about U2, so I guess that it tends to circle, snipe-like, around the topic of U2 and U2-related things.

How are different users treated: speaking personally, not that great! Haha, just a little in-joke there for people and stuff.

WHat kind of role do the frequent posters play: comedy, mainly, but also tragedy, pathos, bathos, anger, rage and literal jumping for joy. I like to think that I'm above all that now, since I ascended to the next dimension.

 

[Angela Harlem]

It is the worst blue on the entire internet?

 

[JanuaryStar]

Nice to see that there's other people out there doing research about online communities I couldn't choose Interference 'cause I was already an active user, I had to pick a new community to 'infiltrate' there

Good luck with your research paper though, be sure to use theories about social structures (Jenkins, Wellman, Selwyn, Williams, Ebare), as they can be extremely helpful! But I'm sure you've already chosen to use some theories, so I'll shut up now

 

[powerhour24]

We were allowed to use ones we were already familiar with, or to choose new ones, I figured it'd be much better to use this one.