Summary
In the paper “Antisocial Behavior in Online Discussion Communities”, the author focuses on determining what causes a user to exhibit antisocial behavior, how an online community extinguishes or propagates this behavior, and if it’s possible to accurately identify this antisocial behavior. This is done by first splitting users into two groups, Future-Banned Users(FBUs) and Never-Banned Users(NBUs). These two different groups help divide up users who were liked or tolerated by their online community from those who were disruptive or cruel. Then we can identify differences in their behaviors that may relate to antisocial behavior. One thing we see is that FBUs post more frequently that NBUs and have a less-accepted post. This post likely includes negative thoughts or some degree of profanity. Another thing that appears is that both FBUs and NBUs have lower quality posts later in their posting lifetime, with FBUs having a greater drop in quality than NBUs. Differences such as these help provide a somewhat accurate way to identify users who are likely to exhibit antisocial behavior within as little as 5-10 posts. Along with this the way the user is accepted by his or her community as well as the number of posts in a thread are viable indicators of antisocial behavior.
Reflection
One of the things that was surprising to me from this paper was the general trends people with antisocial behavior follow in online communities. I can think back to reading some “discussions” in YouTube comments and seeing how active the original poster of the comment was. He would post a very controversial comment and wait for other users to reply with resentment to his post. There was a joy for him in seeing either the short temper of other users or seeing a dispute take place. Whatever the case, whenever another user would post he would quickly reply. The behavior this user exhibited closely matched the behavior patterns mentioned in this paper. It was also surprising to me that the quality of posts from both FBUs and NBUs decreased as time progressed. It is possible that once a user felt like they were a part of a certain community or thread that they could be more casual with their posts and less intriguing. Another possibility is that users begin to lose excitement for a group as time progresses. This is only speculation, however, and some research could be done on this topic. One idea that I did not see mentioned in this paper is the user who shows antisocial behavior by trolling other users but is applauded for it. This user may cause embarrassment for a few users but provides humor to a large crowd of users. Depending on the website, this user may be banned or they may be encouraged on.
Questions
What causes some users to find joy in antisocial behavior and others to despise it?
Why do online discussion community members produce lower quality posts as time progresses?
Are some users who exhibit antisocial behavior accepted to be used as a source of comedy or to start conversations?
