Does anyone know if a study has ever been made about the psychology of internet forums and a psychiatric overview of the type of people who fall into the broadest categories:
Prolific Thread Starters
Prolific posters
Occasional starters
Occasional posters
Compulsive Hi jackers
Trolls
I wonder if behaviour changes in proportion to the how real the forum persona has to be to the real person? I wonder if there is an age or demographic portrait?
Personally, I find it quite sad that we are evolving into a nation of "virtual" debaters where the normal protocols of courtesy and respect afforded in conventional face to face dialogue are being lost. Do we take these forums (not just this one - but generally) too seriously? There are a couple of active threads on this front page at the moment would probably give a pysychiatrist a field day and both, rather ironically, started by the same person.
I say here exactly what I would say in person, I tend to be economical on the nature of this forum to friends, but I dont tend to hold back in here or real life
Hijack was only available on PS2 I believe.
lp
Hi Jack, um....where is Jack?
What category do I fall into? Nothing of interest to say, just pop a bit of boll*cks in here and there
Go to google scholar and search internet forums there are a few studies to have a look at. Your local university will probably have free on site acccess to journals for local residents,
Two things i try to remember online are that you do get exposed to people you wouldnt meet in your daily life and there are more out than in.
my aired views are the same here as in person although will admit to treading more carefully with my clients as i don't wish to offend them and lose their custom but do try to be honest yet tactfull with them
there must the types who:
don't understand the thread
lose the plot
get distracted and follow red herrings
miss the basic logic and develop a redundant debate
get bored and seek food, sex or anything else
add irrelevent points and the subsequent reasoning
get annoyed angry and aggressiove
use the thread for venting their own problems and feelings
start a thread then sneak away as the argument rages
any more?
What about ones who just talk bollocks?
What dark sinister motive do we have, eh?
Mwah ha ha ha ha ha ha...
Balls will he, I'll catch him hotwiring next doors video and having a sly one off the wrist on the roof... again. I thought the panting was Rudolph trying to catch his breath... How wrong I was. There's an image to take the innocence out of Christmas for you.
Honest, I was so naive, I thought it was snow on the roof... I know he only unloads his sack once a year but still, it was very impressive.
He said to tell you thanks anyway... ;-)
I'm actually far more diplomatic on here...and find it easier to 'just let it lie' than I do in the real world.
