Summary
“Identity and Deception in the Virtual Community”:
This article modeled online/virtual identity with the same model used one plants and animals. It focused on Usenet as an example of a virtual community. It focused on handicap signals, assessment signals and conventional signals as a means of determining the validity of online identities. It distinguished between person and persona and emphasized the weight of voice and style in determining and establishing virtual identity.
“4Chan and /b/”
This article examined the concept of identity and voice on another platform. Examining /b/, the random chat board of 4Chan, it discerned the influence of mass, chaotic, anonymous communication on a platform where threads get squeezed out as soon as there is not enough interest in them. Essentially asking the questions “What makes a subject last?” and “How does anonymity effect content?”
Reflections
One interesting note from the first article was that it is “only a matter of time until exclusive on-line addresses become symbols of status.” The phrase “bad and boujee” would then evolve to “tagged as boujee.”
The concept of voice and style being more powerful than a name or a face when establishing identity is much older than the internet. But it is not older than virtual communities, depending on what you consider “virtual”.
4Chan/b/ is a headache, but it serves as an interesting display of what holds people’s attention and what they are willing to share under anonymous circumstances. As menacingly chaotic as it is, there are valuable insights to common questions of humanity (within the scope of humans who use the cite).
Questions
In the 4Chan study, did they isolate EST users or just like at the peaks in EST?
How many unique personas can a single person have before they go completely insane?
How old is the concept of a virtual reality? What is the oldest implementation?
