Essay on Internet Subculture
Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2003 12:29 amFor various reasons, I am writing an essay on the psychology of the internet subculture. It's due in two months. Thus, I want to see if I'm doing any good at it.
Here's what I have so far.
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'Message Boards' are electronic bulletin boards where users can leave messages to each other, and ask questions. This becomes a specific subsect of the internet subculture when 'regulars', or frequent users, develop. Once these 'regulars' develop, the forum becomes a society unto itself. This society consists of the Administration, whom run the forum and protect it from negative outside influences, the Regulars, whom are those who return to the forum on a regular basis, the Newbies, whom are the newcomers to the forum, and the Outcasts, the variety of 'deviant' forum personalities that develop.
    The Administration consists, taking a 'Universal Bulletin Board' (A specific type of pre-coded message board) to be the average message board, of one person, the 'admin' at the top of the hierarchal pyramid, and the Moderators. The admin is equitable with the president of a country, in that their purposes are to ensure the continued prosperity of the country or forum they are responsible for. Underneath the administration directly are the 'moderators', the message board equivalent of police. The Moderator's purpose is to edit, delete, or otherwise affect the contributions and posts of the users as to ensure that the peace is not disturbed. Often, each Moderator has a specific sub-forum, or to return to the previous real-world metaphor, 'district', to take care of. This, generally, has the effect of ensuring that a 'mod', for short, does not attempt to claim the same power as the administration. Of course, certain message boards have subfora which are obviously less popular than others. Occasionally, this can lead to difficulties, as one's status as a moderator is proportional to the size of the forum that moderator controls.
    In offline society, one finds a natural scale of importance. Those whom are doctors or lawyers are generally regarded higher on the societal scale than the plumber and electrician. However, whereas income is what most professions are ranked by, information is the currency of choice for the internet. However, information in and of itself on the internet is worthless. One can have all the information in the world, but it is only worthwhile in terms of internet status if the information is shared freely. And so we find the third level of message board tribe members, the Regulars. Since they have no actual power, the ranking of Regulars is decided by
whom is most entertaining or informative. Generally, members whom can type quickly and accurately rise to the top of forum hierarchies quickly. Regulars, therefore, are ranked by whom can share the best information the fastest.
    Below the regulars, one finds the newcomers, or Newbies. This group consists of those whom have either recently joined the forum, and have yet to take their place with the regulars, or whom have found themselves out of favor, and referred to, in a more negative sense, as a 'n00b'. While a newbie is regarded as welcome in most forums, a failure to adapt to the specific climate of the message board creates an immediate backlash, as the natural order is being disrupted. Therefore, the 'n00b' is delegated to the bottom of the forum scrap heap, with little or no chance of rank recovery.
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Essentially, I'm going to go into forums, online games, and AIM chats. Comment. Be harsh.
Edited by: [url=http://pub30.ezboard.com/brpgww60462.showUserPublicProfile?gid=banjooie>Banjooie</A] 
at: 10/21/03 12:35 am
Here's what I have so far.
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'Message Boards' are electronic bulletin boards where users can leave messages to each other, and ask questions. This becomes a specific subsect of the internet subculture when 'regulars', or frequent users, develop. Once these 'regulars' develop, the forum becomes a society unto itself. This society consists of the Administration, whom run the forum and protect it from negative outside influences, the Regulars, whom are those who return to the forum on a regular basis, the Newbies, whom are the newcomers to the forum, and the Outcasts, the variety of 'deviant' forum personalities that develop.
    The Administration consists, taking a 'Universal Bulletin Board' (A specific type of pre-coded message board) to be the average message board, of one person, the 'admin' at the top of the hierarchal pyramid, and the Moderators. The admin is equitable with the president of a country, in that their purposes are to ensure the continued prosperity of the country or forum they are responsible for. Underneath the administration directly are the 'moderators', the message board equivalent of police. The Moderator's purpose is to edit, delete, or otherwise affect the contributions and posts of the users as to ensure that the peace is not disturbed. Often, each Moderator has a specific sub-forum, or to return to the previous real-world metaphor, 'district', to take care of. This, generally, has the effect of ensuring that a 'mod', for short, does not attempt to claim the same power as the administration. Of course, certain message boards have subfora which are obviously less popular than others. Occasionally, this can lead to difficulties, as one's status as a moderator is proportional to the size of the forum that moderator controls.
    In offline society, one finds a natural scale of importance. Those whom are doctors or lawyers are generally regarded higher on the societal scale than the plumber and electrician. However, whereas income is what most professions are ranked by, information is the currency of choice for the internet. However, information in and of itself on the internet is worthless. One can have all the information in the world, but it is only worthwhile in terms of internet status if the information is shared freely. And so we find the third level of message board tribe members, the Regulars. Since they have no actual power, the ranking of Regulars is decided by
whom is most entertaining or informative. Generally, members whom can type quickly and accurately rise to the top of forum hierarchies quickly. Regulars, therefore, are ranked by whom can share the best information the fastest.
    Below the regulars, one finds the newcomers, or Newbies. This group consists of those whom have either recently joined the forum, and have yet to take their place with the regulars, or whom have found themselves out of favor, and referred to, in a more negative sense, as a 'n00b'. While a newbie is regarded as welcome in most forums, a failure to adapt to the specific climate of the message board creates an immediate backlash, as the natural order is being disrupted. Therefore, the 'n00b' is delegated to the bottom of the forum scrap heap, with little or no chance of rank recovery.
--------------------------
Essentially, I'm going to go into forums, online games, and AIM chats. Comment. Be harsh.
Edited by: [url=http://pub30.ezboard.com/brpgww60462.showUserPublicProfile?gid=banjooie>Banjooie</A]
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at: 10/21/03 7:47 pm