Uncovering Online Commenting Culture : Trolls, Fanboys and Lurkers

In today’s digital world our social interactions often take place in the form of written comments. We chat, disagree, worship, vent, confess, and even attack in written form in public digital spaces. Drawing on scholarly literature from media and cultural studies, psychology and sociology, __Uncovering Commenting Culture__ charts this commenting territory and outlines why we behave in these ways online. In this timely book, Renee Barnes provides a participatory model for understanding commenting culture that is based on the premise that our behaviours online–including those that cause us most the concern–are not so much an internet problem as a social problem. By looking at a wide variety of online commenting habitats, from the comment threads following news stories, through to specialist forums and social media platforms, the volume provides a comprehensive understanding of the role of online commenting in society and provides suggestions for how we might mitigate bad behaviours. Preface......Page 6 Acknowledgments......Page 9 Contents......Page 10 List of Tables......Page 11 Chapter 1: Hitch Up the Wagon: Charting the Online Commenting Landscape......Page 12 Mapping the Boundaries......Page 13 Understanding Online Discussion......Page 14 The Outlaws......Page 17 Tracing Online Relationships......Page 20 The Online Community......Page 21 Trading in Social Capital......Page 25 A Role for the Landscape......Page 27 Conclusion: Understanding Commenting Behaviour Is Contingent upon Placing Them in a Community......Page 29 References......Page 30 Chapter 2: You Either Love It or You Hate It! The Emotional and Affective Factors of Commenting......Page 38 Co-opting, Creative Production and Spreadability......Page 40 Belonging and Identity......Page 42 Pleasure and Play......Page 45 Affective Investment......Page 47 The Anti-fan and the Non-fan......Page 50 Conclusion: Finding the Fan in Comments......Page 51 References......Page 53 Chapter 3: The Online/Offline Life......Page 58 The Practice of Commenting......Page 59 Time and Space......Page 60 The Institution and the Individual......Page 63 The Audience Problem......Page 66 High and Low Self-Monitoring Individuals......Page 69 Algorithms as Social Convenors......Page 70 Conclusion: The Online/Offline Nexus......Page 71 References......Page 73 Big Five Personality Traits......Page 77 Personality and Motivations for Online Engagement......Page 80 Personality and Participatory Behaviours......Page 81 Types of Online Comments and Personality......Page 84 Personality and Institutional Factors......Page 88 Conclusion: The Big Picture—Personality and Commenting......Page 94 References......Page 96 Chapter 5: Lessons from #Gamergate......Page 102 #Gamergate......Page 103 Game Publishers’ Institutional Responses to Harassment......Page 104 How Individual Gamers Manage Harassment......Page 110 Collective Action: A Tool for Combating Harassment......Page 112 Conclusion: Lessons from #Gamergate—A Role for the Institution and the Individual......Page 116 References......Page 118 Chapter 6: Conclusion: A Participatory Model for Understanding Commenting Culture......Page 121 Online Communities......Page 123 Emotion and Affect......Page 126 The Offline World......Page 127 Personality......Page 128 Ban the Trolls! Creating Safer and Kinder Online Communities......Page 129 Conclusion: Towards a More Harmonious and Inclusive Commenting Culture......Page 131 References......Page 135 Index......Page 137 ZBarnes leads us on a rich journey of exploration into media sociology, psychology, cybercultural, game and fan studies accounts of why and how we comment on media content. This work will be invaluable to anyone hoping to develop more civil communities online.y -Fiona Martin, The University of Sydney, Australia In today's digital world our social interactions often take place in the form of written comments. We chat, disagree, worship, vent, confess, and even attack in written form in public digital spaces. Drawing on scholarly literature from media and cultural studies, psychology and sociology, Uncovering Commenting Culture charts this commenting territory and outlines why we behave in these ways online. In this timely book, Renee Barnes provides a participatory model for understanding commenting culture that is based on the premise that our behaviours online - including those that cause us most the concern - are not so much an internet problem as a social problem. By looking at a wide variety of online commenting habitats, from the comment threads following news stories, through to specialist forums and social media platforms, the volume provides a comprehensive understanding of the role of online commenting in society and provides suggestions for how we might mitigate bad behaviours "In today's digital world our social interactions often take place in the form of written comments. We chat, disagree, worship, vent, confess, and even attack in written form in public digital spaces. Drawing on scholarly literature from media and cultural studies, psychology and sociology, Uncovering Commenting Culture charts this commenting territory and outlines why we behave in these ways online. In this timely book, Renee Barnes provides a participatory model for understanding commenting culture that is based on the premise that our behaviours online-including those that cause us most the concern-are not so much an internet problem as a social problem. By looking at a wide variety of online commenting habitats, from the comment threads following news stories, through to specialist forums and social media platforms, the volume provides a comprehensive understanding of the role of online commenting in society and provides suggestions for how we might mitigate bad behaviours."--Page 4 of cover In today's digital world our social interactions often take place in the form of written comments. We chat, disagree, worship, vent, confess, and even attack in written form in public digital spaces. Drawing on scholarly literature from media and cultural studies, psychology and sociology, this book charts this commenting territory and outlines why we behave in these ways online. In this timely book, Renee Barnes provides a participatory model for understanding commenting culture that is based on the premise that our behaviours online - including those that cause us most the concern - are not so much an internet problem as a social problem. By looking at a wide variety of online commenting habitats, from the comment threads following news stories, through to specialist forums and social media platforms, the volume provides a comprehensive understanding of the role of online commenting in society and provides suggestions for how we might mitigate bad behaviours