I had a bit of trouble getting started in becoming a "netizen." Much like in real life, I couldn't seem to find a place that I liked and fit in. In my first search for an online community, I ended up at a sort of one-stop-shopping type of forum where you could select the type of forum you wished to participate in from a main menu. The forums I participated in were...well...stupid. It didn't seem that participants were really interested in voicing a legitimate opinion of theirs or in a legitimate discussion. I didn't realize this fully though until I had already jumped in on a thread about poverty in America. I put together a couple of what I though were thoughtful, well-written reply posts and waited. The next day, one of the participants responded snootily and asked why I felt it necessary to dig up old threads and said she couldn't believe that she used to think that way. Apparently, I had failed to look to see how recent the discussion thread was, as I was commenting on things written over two years ago. Needless to say, no one else replied. Lesson learned. Apparently some forums run their course and fizzle out.
Frustrated with this forum I decided to look for something else. I have been on craigslist constantly lately, trying to find a new bike and sell my old one, so I decided to check out some of the discussion forums. Foiled again. I checked out several that seemed to fit my interests but couldn't find any discussion going on that had any substance. Once in a while there was something worth reading but for the most part it all just seemed like random babbling. People just seem to throw out anything, whether it is relevant or not, and respond in a similar manner. I gave up on finding a forum for a while.
As I got closer to the point of needing to be involved in a forum, I started the hunt once again. And, once again, ended up at a discussion forum mall. This time it was different though; there was some good stuff in this one. I settled into a set of threads based loosely on the social sciences and actually started having some fun. There are threads like: "Mass Transit in America," "Left vs. Right," and "Philosophy Challenge." One of the first things I noticed was that I felt compelled to comment on what others were writing. Their posts were not the short, stupid little blurts posted in the previous forums. Rather, they were serious and well thought out perspectives on the subject at hand (most of them anyway). Second, participants seem to be fairly active and engaged, so responses came more quickly and it felt more like I was in a discussion than just posting my random thoughts to no one in particular. Having people make legitimate and considerate responses to my thoughts let me know that I was actually a part of the community. Not only that, it made me want to be and remain a part of this community. As stated in Wood and Smith, "in order for a virtual community to exist, there must be a flow of messages among the participants," and "the richness of different virtual communities is enhanced by the variety of people who participate and the contributions they make." (115) Ending up at this particular forum after exploring others allowed me to see the importance of these statements. This forum is also different from the other ones I looked at in that disagreements seem to be handled in a very cordial and almost academic manner. Participants seem to respect the opinions of others and see no point in writing derogatory remarks. Instead, they address points of disagreement with a rational argument.
Even though I probably won't be spending much time in these communities in the future, I am glad that I was able to experience them, good and bad. As I mentioned in my discussion post, I feel that virtual communities can be a sort of complimentary or supplemental place to real communities. Virtual communities allow people to participate at their convenience with anonymity and without the deterrence of physical or face to face judgment. This allows one to have a safe place to discuss and test ideas in a way that they might not be able to in real communities. I certainly felt like I was able to learn more about my thoughts and express myself more freely in my forum than in my real communities. Not only that, I was able to better understand the perspectives of others from different states, nations, and cultures. I think that the more experiences like this that one has, the better citizen they will become in the rest of their communities. Whether people are conscious of this or not, I don't know. I do think that our culture was sort of looking for this alternate and potentially anonymous community and technology has allowed for it. On the other hand though, I have asked several friends and family members if they participate in any online communities and almost all of them said no. Some had in the past but lost interest. I don't know if this means that they were never a big deal, lost popularity, or now facebook and myspace have replaced them as an all-inclusive channel of communication.
I wasn't searching for as deep a discussion topic as you were, but it was still difficult to find a thriving virtual community. A lot of the forums I found weren't ongoing. I found what Wood and Smith suggest about virtual communities to be very true. In the community I joined, there was a constant flow of messages among a variety of participants. Without this constant flow among a faithful group of participants, no relationships would be formed and there would be no virtual community.
ReplyDeleteMy experience mimicked yours in almost all aspects, except I was never able to find a thriving community like you eventually did. It's good to see that there are still forums that people actually visit and post worthwhile discussions on, rather than random blurbs of nothing like I was used to seeing. I came to the same conclusion as well, it seems like social networks are taking the place of other virtual communities because of their ability to combine all aspects into a one stop shop of sorts. I think the thing that these sites offer as well is a sense of anonymity to a degree, but a better sense of community knowing that you know many of these people from one time or another.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Wood and Smith that it takes a constant flow of discussion posts and responses to create an online virtual community. Like you said the second forum you were in had greater responses than the first, therefore you felt more like you were part of the community. If I was not getting responses I would not feel [art of the community either.
ReplyDeleteI like how you described the self-consciousness involved in participating in new virtual communities. There is something to be said about how inviting they are in regards to how easy it is to join as a new member. The more forgiving they are initially to "noobie" mistakes the easier it is to become invested in the virtual community.
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