A study on chatrooms....

[hntngirl]

This is a news article from today. I know it's about chat rooms, not message boards, but I still thought it was interesting. And there's no way I'd ever compare this place to a "fight club"! Well, not usually anyway!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/new...178589,00.html

Chatrooms separate the men from the boys

Polly Curtis
Friday March 26, 2004

Internet chatroom users can be so aggressive that a sociologist studying them has labelled some online communities "electronic fight clubs".

According to the new research, even the most laid-back people can erupt into furious rants when debating online, and it's all part of an effort to distinguish themselves from the next user. Some even take on multiple personalities in a bid to outsmart their online acquaintances, while others adopt menacing usernames.

Gordon Fletcher, an information systems lecturer at Salford University, revealed his findings to the British Sociological Association meeting this week. His paper, entitled "Fight Club: culture, conflict and everyday life amongst an online community, focussed on a sociological study of an online finance forum", describes conflict as "a unifying social force that shapes individual participant's relationships with one another".

The research's abstract explains: "Conflict is an important social force among online communities, as it assists in the construction of hierarchies and social orders without the need for prior knowledge of individual participants or other forms of verification or trust in relation to the claimed identity of others."

The finance chatrooms that Mr Fletcher studied were made up of stockbrokers and finance buffs, who used pseudonyms such as Moriarty and Xerxes, and repeatedly argued until they established a pattern of social hierarchy.

"The hallmark observation of this forum was the regularity with which conflict occurred among the members," Mr Fletcher told the Times Higher Education Supplement.

"These people are coming together because they have a common interest, but that doesn't necessarily mean they want to be friends with one another," he added.

[Cougar Mag]

Interesting, glad it don't apply to ours. Try it there and the HNI chatroom mods will shine their boots with you.

[1eyedfish]

Some even take on multiple personalities in a bid to outsmart their online acquaintances, while others adopt menacing usernames.

Ieyed fish is guielty of that , he recently made a new name , but not for threat or intimadation

Knightia my sound midevil etc. But he is just a common fossil fish of the green river formation.
Just a long dead common herring.
But intresting artical Hg... therre are some oddies out there on the net. lol
1eye Volinteers to be hooked up to test wires & alpa wave scanners.The muliple perrsons within my head will remain secret.[&:]
M

[Knightia]

Knightia my sound midevil etc. But he is just a common fossil fish of the green river formation.
Just a long dead common herring.

Are you saying my name not mocho/manly enough 1 eye?& who you calling common?

[John Bear]

Multiple personalities. yeah right. This english so hard to spell wrong.

[CODave]

I'm sure am glad there isn't any fighting around here... everyone is so civil.

And the different user name thing... I can't believe anyone would ever do that! How dishonest and misleading!

I guess they have never been to this forum....

Hey we ought to prove these guys are sooooo wrong. We ought to have a big reunion and show everyone we can disagree on issues but still get along...

I can just see it now... a gathering... somewhere in the mountains where the vibes are really strong... we would all be holding hands and singing "We are the world...."

[1eyedfish]

can just see it now... a gathering... somewhere in the mountains where the vibes are really strong... we would all be holding hands and singing "We are the world...."

LOL( like those rainbow ppl?)

We could sing john denver songs, sunshine on my shoulders, rocky mtn high, the one about west ,va, mt mama & calypso

I know a place where a rumored tribe of pygmy ppl lived......im not sure about the vibes tho lol

[1eyedfish]

Multiple personalities. yeah right. This english so hard to spell
wrong.

lol for me the oppsite , i find it easy lol.
That is bad for someones first language they have had awhile.
I could call( type) your darling,& say gutten morgan, mien liblings , pom friz & order fryed potatoes in german? I remeber the spanish of my ut

I once knew a cantonese girl- she just confused me more.

[CODave]

I don't speak any Finnish but "Jag tala mycket litten svensk" I took a year of Swedish in college.

It was a fun language.

[akbound]

ORIGINAL: CODave

.....we would all be holding hands and singing "We are the world...."

Yyyyyuuuuukkkkkk.......wwwwrrrreeetttccchhhhh..... .pppppuuuuukkkkeeee! We are the world?!?!

Not you too CODave?!?! NWO!!!![][][]

Dave

P.S. Wink and a smile!