2024-04-25 08:46:42
It is well known from media online forums how quickly an exchange can drift into a derogatory or insulting direction. In a study involving Marius Lüdicke from the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU), a British online community that brought together fans of electronic dance music was searched for the mechanisms behind the verbal firing of volleys. To do this, the 18-year communication history of “hard house” music fans was studied.
“We were interested in why online communities that had formed to peacefully exchange ideas regarding their hobbies suddenly began to systematically and brutally verbally attack each other,” said Lüdicke, head of the WU Institute for International Marketing Management, in a press release quoted. It became apparent how important forum moderation is.
The platform examined was founded in 2001 by a semi-professional DJ from London, the researchers write in the “Journal of Consumer Research”. Lovers of “Hard House” were able to exchange ideas there until 2018, when the community ended. The forum included 20,000 members and the researchers’ data set contained seven million postings, which revolved around events, DJs, music, clubbing photos exchanged, but also private matters. The scientists also documented community events they attended and conducted interviews.
Hard house clubbing has its roots in the rave youth counterculture, which is known for seeking extended experiences of escapism and promoting the right to break out of societal norms, the study says. But even at such a music forum, “which stands above all for shared fun and escapism,” the atmosphere was very conflict-laden, people were surprised.
The “libertarian ethos” of the scene leads “to a higher tolerance for verbal violence” in the forum examined as well as “to a glorification of the idea of independence and self-reliance,” Lüdicke added to the APA: “Whoever is not quick-witted and funny in such a context is quickly subjected to verbal violence and the gloating of the forum. Less freedom-loving forums are likely to initially tolerate less verbal violence, but are still vulnerable to brutalization.”
The researchers identified “three specific constellations of direct, structural and cultural violence” that can fuel brutalization: sadistic entertainment, clan warfare and vigilante justice, according to the study. The existence of these forms of brutalization contrasts with the prevailing opinion that these types of “consumer communities” only represent situationally violent, but overall “prosocial, value-creating social units.”
Sadistic entertainment, often started by an established member of the community and designed as a provocative insult to another person, is often perceived as harmless and is not stopped. Disputes between two subgroups of the community, on the other hand, usually arise from a dispute between two individuals, but then lead to clan wars that often last for months or even years and are often waged using excessive verbal violence, including death threats.
The third constellation is vigilantism. Here the members see themselves as having the right and duty to enforce the community guidelines themselves using “verbal lynching”. The aim here is for the person concerned to leave the online community.
According to Lüdicke, the third constellation in particular showed how important the moderation of the forums is. The moderators must convey to members “that verbal violence in online forums can be hurtful and is by no means harmless to all members.” Verbal violence can have a “short-term energizing effect” and is therefore often tolerated by moderators. In the long term, however, it is harmful to communities.
In the case examined, the toxic behavior in the forum examined did not extend to meetings in the real world, but was limited to online interactions. Nevertheless, verbal online violence should not be trivialized, said the researcher. As is well known, it can lead to depression, anxiety, feelings of shame and post-traumatic stress disorders, among other things.
“The idea of verbal violence as a ‘harmless game’ must be debunked to combat sadistic entertainment, and structures that promote violence must be replaced,” said Lüdicke. In addition, established members in particular need to be motivated to be more open in order to prevent the decline of their community in the long term and prevent clan wars. And moderators “must not let the reins slip,” says Lüdicke, otherwise brutal vigilante justice can flourish.
(S E R V I C E – Studie in “Journal of Consumer Research”: https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucae022)
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#exchanges #online #forums #brutal
