Saturday, May 2, 2009

Case Studies

According to official and unofficial community norms, recommended diaries are supposed to reflect the majority view of the community. But what happens when a minority of vociferous diarists (or a single individual) infiltrates the community and presents controversial messages that disrupt the ideology of the site’s founder, Zuniga, and his senior staff?

Specifically, I want to look at how the site has dealt with several unique groups of “infiltrators” through enforcing community norms, filtering, and hierarchy. Looking at 9/11 Conspiracists whose posts proliferated after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and gained a high volume of traffic and comments (leading to administrative sanction and a change in policy); Hillary Clinton supporters who unleashed attacks during the 2008 Presidential Primaries on the site’s majority “juvenile Obamabots” they claimed were discriminating against them and ultimately fragmented the Kos community (community norms/pressure); and most recently trolls like a recent diarist advancing the theory that Obama is really a Muslim (participation).

The majority uses a number of levels of control to prevent against the damage of dissent.
Daily Kos emphasizes “collective action,” but the damage minorities can do by disrupting the accepted discourse far outweighs the benefits of differing opinions and debate. The norms and hierarchy at Daily Kos arose and continue to be shaped by these power struggles among members with divergent perspectives.

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