The Psychology of Online Forums

Online forums have risen in popularity over the years and have provided the general public with a means of gathering together to discuss everything from recreational hobbies to medical conditions to Hollywood celebrities. Rich and poor, high school dropout to Ph.D., these discussion boards provide an unusual gathering of the minds where everyone has an equal voice. From Usenet in the 80's to the development of modern-day message boards, the Internet effectively lowered the inhibitions of millions of people around the world and changed sociology as we know it.

A few years ago I stumbled into my first online fan forum. Never having stepped foot into this sort of online social scene, I laid low for a while to get the hang of it and to catch up on the posts. I was shocked to see fan-friendly banter packed with power trips, trolls, flame wars and sense of entitlement issues. It was the cyber-equivalent of a lion's den and it introduced me to an unattractive yet intriguing side of human nature.

For better or worse my curiosity was peaked. I felt like I was smack-dab in the middle of some twisted social experiment. I was drawn to the chaos and couldn't help but tune in for the train wreck night after night until I could no longer stand the ridiculousness of it all. For a while I was truly mesmerized and almost felt ashamed to be amused by this classic yet modern example of ethnomethodology.

Ethnomethodology is a sociology theory that describes how people in certain situations, such as online environments, create the false impression of a collective social order when they don't understand, or perhaps don't care to understand each other fully. Inevitably, the different points of view within this forged community can lead to total anarchy if not intensely moderated by an unbiased member.

Within these online communities, notions of hierarchy are quickly established by the more seasoned posters who exhibit a rather skewed sense of importance and authority. Cliques are formed and mimic real life by picking on weaker or less popular individuals within the group.