Is there such a thing as “social dominance” in chat rooms, i.e. DU?

[The Lone Liberal]

Is it possible to identify the “Alpha” personalities? How are the "Alphas" identified? Are there people to whom deference is given? Do pecking order exist in an on-line social setting?

Anyone care to take a try at this question?

[patdem]

1. Of course there is...people with wit and a good writing ability are

on the top of the pecking order. Does not mean we underlings have no meaning...if you are funny you get responses, if you are dire, depending on the direness you get tanked...it is only human for things like that to occur.

I am sure you post more and respond to funny witty posts than oppressive ones????

[Robb]

3. Sure

Especially in an online environment, where the responses -- and they must come quickly, or else sink, especially in GD -- are the natural gauge of a post's "worth".

Now, whether it's a good gauge is another question... but as far as pecking order, I think it's more a matter of recognizing posters who have tickled your funny bone (or made you don your thinking cap, to run away with the metaphors) in the past, clicking on their post, and responding.

Is that precisely hierarchy? :shrug:

[short bus president]

2. yes, of course

I DOMINATE YOU ALL!!! KNEEL BEFORE ME!!!

[Cha]

7. Yes, almighty shortbus! AKA/whatabildeburger!

[patdem]

8. I KNELT AND GOT RUN OVER BY SOME SHORT BUS????

I will never forget it....I was knelling...and kowering,...and some yellow short bus just ran over me...I am thinking of suing...but no one saw the bus...or the short bus president driving the short bus...so I am just going to have to go through life looking over my shoulder for short busses...DAMN that short bus president!!!

[greatauntoftriplets]

4. Chat rooms tend to be clique-ish.

On edit: I also was talking about real-time chat, whether voice or text.

The people who know each other pretty well size up newcomers and decide what to do about them. Of course, wit and knowledge of the subject help.

[LadeJarl]

5. Yes it exists!

Look at peoples post counts here and you'll understand.

I have very few posts as I tend to have other things to do than hang out here and post and I have gotten some rather nasty comments on my postings because I have a low post count! I doesn't matter what you say, just the post count, go figure!

[prolesunited]

10. Hmm...

I tend to judge people by their posts, NOT their post count. Could it possibly be what you post that has elicited "nasty comments"? :shrug:

[SoCalDem]

18. Do not look at posts counts..

Measure by what they say...not "who" they are.. I have seen some of the "longest time" posters say the stupidest things (I have done it myself :)..) and have also seen some of the most insightful things said in post #1 from a newbie..

The thing to remember, is that DU has spilled over into real life and lots of these people really DO know each other..

and

some of us have been here kvetching since 2001, and we really DO "know it all"..:evilgrin:

BTW.. wlocoome to DU :hi:

[patdem]

19. Post count means NOTHING...I have LOTS of POSTS..and my comments

drop like rocks...not because I am un popular...or because I go against the grain... I am not a witty person who puts words down in a fashion that gets attention...That is a fact I DO NOT like to admit...but it is true!

[Bunny]

20. LadeJarl, I did a quick search of your posts.

And the Astrology threads are not for the weak of heart. Those folks give as good as they get! :evilgrin:

I'm not calling you out, I'm just sayin'...

[LadeJarl]

27. lololol

Yeah, I tend to be a bit ... ummmm how do I say this ... critical of astrology :)

[DrWeird]

6. DID I SAY YOU COULD SPEAK OUT OF TURN?!

DID I?!

[Padraig18]

17. LOL!

*ssssssssssssss-MACK!* Get back in your CAGE! :P

[Iverson]

26. I'm sorry ...

... did you say something? Here's a bathroom pass.

[Cat Atomic]

9. I think so. If you have "cat" in your name, you're judged as superior.

YOU ARE- DON'T ARGUE OR I WILL BELITTLE YOUR SPELLING.

[patdem]

21. Babe....Kat....do you not have your latest primer....the new phonetisee???

it is a combinitation of phonetics and see so now kat is spelled kat...get over it!! LOL :bounce:

[catpower2000]

11. First of all, DU is not a chatroom, it's a message board...

Big difference. Responding in real time versus responding to a post at your leisure brings up an entirely different dynamic.

Old-timers get some precedence here on DU--but there are some who are hated no matter how long they've been here. I used to be hated more than I am now. :) I've mellowed...DU has been very important for me to learn how to get along in a group.

Smarter and funnier people get precedence too, so that's a good thing. Women who are "sexy" in their posts get a LOT of attention. :)

Cat

[The Lone Liberal]

14. Very true, I defer to your nuance.

I say chat room, you say message board
tomato, to mato
let's call the whole thing off.

[JanMichael]

12. I'm still wondering when I'll get the invite to the grownup table...

Bastards.

[Bunny]

23. Hah! They won't even let me come in off the porch!

:silly:

[leftofthedial]

13. I'm too shy to answer

please don't flame me.

Unless you are a superstitious person who believes in fables and fairy tales.

[Kamika]

15. ABSOLUTELY *big answer*

I used to be a chatoholic in my late teens (im 21 now and calmed down).

Anyway i could write a book about social studies in chat rooms but what it boils down to is this.

After awhile the OLDEST members will form a core group. It's next to impossible for a new member to become part of this core group because he will quite frankly not get a chance.

The Alpha personalities will most likely be this core group they will take care of eachother, and not be afraid of shunning, or just flat out badmouth new members. They can do this because they have the core group behind them.

For a girl to be a "alpha" personality she will almost always be required to talk about sex or something like that, because the founders of the core group is most often guys.


I myself never managed to become a alpha personality even though i got ALOT of friends and were in several chat rooms for a long time. I blame this on certain things.

1. I refused to go around writing *giggle* or talk about what kind of panties i was wearing. When the other girls would do that i would just sigh.

2. I talk ALOT and i can be quite annoying ;)

3. I am really honest and I on more then one occasion would point out how ppl would systematicly rack down on certain ppl or genrally make the chat room unpleaseant for newcomers.


Anyway this alpha society will ultimately bring the chatroom/forum to its death, because sooner or later the core group will be so strong that NO new people will be allowed in and then they will stop visiting the chatroom/forum. While ppl will always drop out from the core group maybe because hes going to College or something.


I even saw a example of this on DU where some old members talked about making a "old" forum where only old members would get access.


Now the death scenario is something ive seen happen to more then 5 separate chatrooms and forums.


EDIT: I noticed that even I get suspicious nowadays when someone witha low post count posts something because if its in any way controversial i think hes a freeper

EDIT 2: to summon it up an alpha user in here would be someone with a high postcount early registration and someone that everyone knows who it is. He/She also has the power to shun someone out of the community. A typical "alpha" here is williampitt(no offence

[patdem]

24. I agree with your scenario...I only hope the people who run this website

understand the psychology of 'clicks' and not allow the dominate to out speak the predominate. I think they are doing a good job. Not in the lounge where personalities exist, but in GD and LBN and all the other forums where personality is not the venue of the forum!

This is why I think DU will prevail!!!

[WilliamPitt]

16. They make a lot of noise

:)

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

22. I don't think so

First of all, in oreder to identify an alpha personality, you would have to do so on what they say they do and what they post. Since little to none of it is subject to verification outside the cyber commnity, an alpha personality defined on the basis of their participation on DU could be nothing more than an unmotivated couch potato who doesn't accomplish much morethan posting on DU.

Based on the replies in Ask the Admin, deference is given to everyone basically but for obvious disruptors, so I think the only people to whom deference is not given are those who clearly show up to disrupt.

I think the only place a "pecking order" exists is in the subjective interpretation of people who mostly run around online and offline with a persecution complex.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

25. Of course...

But it isn't only those with the most interesting writing style. Those who spend the most time posting here will undoubtedly be noticed more than those who post with less frequency.

DUers who aren't concerned about ticking people off will receive a fair amount of notoriety by those who don't choose to ignore them when they post controversial subject lines.

And for initial attention-grabbers, a user name like "BushBitesBaboonBoobies" would probably be noticed more readily than "4627"

[kmla]

29. "BushBitesBaboonBoobies" ?

Damn. Wish I'd have thought of that one. KMLA now seems so boring....

[xJlM]

28. I give more credit...

Those who know the difference between their, they're and there, and use them correctly get higher marks in my book. But then, I'm nobody important and probably pretty low on the pecking order myself.

[Pocho]

30. AN INVITE TO ONE WHERE YOU MIGHT DO SOME GOOD

For some time several of us including others from DU have kept up a Chat Room on Yahoo Instant Messenger. It is listed there under the user created rooms in Government and Politics and is titled FURTHER LEFT. Its welcome line is " Move one step left from where you stand ".

Instant chat rooms in general can get pretty gross with people showing off to themselves by tossing out whatever profanity or meaningless cutsiness tickles them. We try, sometimes with success, to minimize that by example of sentences and even brief paragraphs of reason. The idea of setting up such a room sprang from thoughts of going where the people are. The are not all at DU, but the effort has been successful at least in that DU has acquired quite a few new users because of it.

Persons entering for the first time often ask "What is this room about?". The stock answer is "The words “FURTHER LEFT” do not refer to position. Rather, they imply moving one step left from any current political stance. Information and expressions aiding that are welcomed. The room enjoys visitation from many nations and thus offers views and concerns extending beyond limitations of local provinciality. The key to useful participation is to listen, sincerely question and add, and then listen some more. Exhibition of other purpose or manner will probably and hopefully be ignored.

One result was the unexpected influx of international users who tended to move discussion from "who ya for in 2004" to what they perceived as larger and more pertinent world problems. Of the world’s 191 nations and 62 colonies. 46 have appeared in the room; Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bosnia, Brazil, Canada, Cuba, Cyprus, Egypt, England, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Iceland, India, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, México, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, Slovakia, Sweden, Syria, Turkey, United States, Wales, Yemen. We have had several examples of obtaining news from around the world before it makes the press, correcting what might, or does enlightening what does not.

Yahoo does permit voice its chat rooms, but we opted not to enable that function. The room had become one of diverse leftist thought with an international flavor. We tried voice, and it turned to one of US democrats and bigots labeling each other with profane names. Those who preferred more than bumper sticker reasoning in the style and provincial focus of the US disapproved. Voice was then disabled to enhance returning to what the room had been; one where more enlightened ideas could propagate to further encourage leftward movement and organization.

You are welcome there whether a current Yahoo user or not. If not, it can be downloaded and automatically installed for free at http://messenger.yahoo.com/ .

[Kamika]

31. lol what a reminder of my irc days

Some guy asked me what DU was.. i said i link it in my profile. Then this guy says..

you mean www.democraticFASCISTunderground.com !!!

because "what else can you call terrorist supporters"

well i wanted to stay and fight because im such a sucker for trolls but im too tired now