Looking for articles on processes in community blogs

November 23, 2006 3:22 AM

i'm looking for articles/opinions summarising (self-)regulatory processes of community weblogs such as MeFi, as orientation for the latest bouts of antville soul-searching.
posted by progosk to Etiquette/Policy at 3:22 AM (14 comments total)

There have been a couple of masters' degree theses written about Metafilter and online community. One was by Quartermass, as I recall. I'm too lazy to find them, but you should be able to track them down by searching the Metatalk archives.

In fact, Metatalk has not always been the villainous hive of scum and villainy chuckleheadery and petty bitching it is today, or at least not as much so. Reading back through the archives will tell you everything you could ever want to know about the subject. There have been some very interesting discussions about this stuff.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 4:23 AM on November 23, 2006

wretched hive, goddamnit. *sigh*
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 4:25 AM on November 23, 2006

wretched hive of scum and wretchery?
posted by quonsar at 5:26 AM on November 23, 2006

As Stav mentioned: my thesis
I have not read it in a long time, but there is a section on Self-policing. Enjoy!
posted by Quartermass at 6:26 AM on November 23, 2006

Well, not just about weblogs but I think Dibbell's "A Rape in Cyberspace" is a must-read article on this issue. And (blatant self-promotion) here is a paper I helped to write on trolling feminist webboards. That bibliography might have some good papers to read.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 10:08 AM on November 23, 2006

That's an interesting correction, stav. Why'd¹ you feel it was necessary, and why'd you sigh? I'm not so sure that villainous is any less accurate than wretched, and certainly not less flattering.

1. By the way, apropos of Firefox's marking why'd as a misspelling, and that you're Canadian, I'll mention that it was my ex-wife's influence² that got me to start contracting pairs of words that I previously hadn't. Particularly of the form I'd not seen... instead of I hadn't seen.... You think this is common among Canadians?
2. More meandering: I'm not promiscuous in picking up traits like verbal idiosyncrasies, but I certainly have from all my SOs and very closest friends. And parents, of course. Which brings to mind a sort of archaeologically-layered personal history of intimacies revealed in one's speech. There's something pleasing to me about that.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 10:47 AM on November 23, 2006

I'm not sure whether to (a) assume EB has seen Star Wars and run with the joke in punnish fashion, (b) assume EB has not seen Star Wars and mock his lack of (itself utterly mundane and mockable) pop culture acumen, (c) assume EB has seen Star Wars and make with the ironic grandstanding shaming, or (d) to eat pie.

But the pie is winning.
posted by cortex at 11:45 AM on November 23, 2006

Pie always wins, cortex.
posted by cgc373 at 1:51 PM on November 23, 2006

Yes, it was a Star Wars thing. Now, I will bite the head off a chicken for your amusement.

The contractions in seemingly unusual places, EB, I've always attributed to British English (and its influence on Canadian speech) when students have asked me, but that's just pulling an answer out of my butt.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 4:04 PM on November 23, 2006

Unlike many of you, all of the times I watched Star Wars was as a pre-adolescent. Well, I probably saw it again later sometime. Anyway, my 11 year old self is very disappointed in me for missing the reference. I was a fanboy before the movie came out, eagerly devouring production news from, um, Starlog magazine, IIRC. For people around my age, Star Wars is an important cultural experience, but not nearly so important as it seems to be for people about six or more years younger. Getting the trilogy entirely in one's childhood is probably why.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 9:34 PM on November 23, 2006

I think I may be older than you, EB. Also, I remember Starlog. Good god, that takes me back.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 10:14 PM on November 23, 2006

Well, a few exceptions have never stopped me from making a generalization. :) But it's probably faulty because I just don't know many people my age. I'm 42 as of a couple weeks ago. The only ones I know are the ones I was friends with in high school, and none of them were as sci-fi geeky as I was. And I really wasn't at that age. I think there's one of my high school friends that I wouldn't be surprised to hear a Star Wars reference from.

On the other hand, none of my college friends from St. John's, nor my ex-wife, all of whom are about six years younger than me, are sci-fi fanboys yet all of them will make a Star Wars reference now and then. And then I've worked with people 10 or more years younger than me that were computer nerds that of course lived and breathed Star Wars. So I get the impression of it being more special for the people somewhat younger than me, even though it was pretty special for me and people around my age, like you.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 10:26 PM on November 23, 2006

In this case, regardless, it is not so much devotion to Star Wars as constant, grinding exposure to pop culture references to that line in Star Wars.

Google the phrase and see how many of those are actually discussing the film.
posted by cortex at 10:54 PM on November 23, 2006

I'm 42 as of a couple weeks ago.

I was wrong, then. You've got about 10 months on me.

According to Wikipedia, Starlog is still being published a quarter century after I stopped buying it. I'm not sure if that's comforting or not.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 10:57 PM on November 23, 2006