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High-engagement obsessives are another key to this. In a community where it's nobody's actual job to spread knowledge and values of the community, the highest-v
by zach 10y ago
High-engagement obsessives are another key to this. In a community where it's nobody's actual job to spread knowledge and values of the community, the highest-volume interactors – the most engaged – become standard-bearers of the community. Since they are often more obsessive and dedicated yet visible, this raises the stakes of the community to greater obsessiveness and dedication.
In online scenarios, the result is that many can say, well, I am dedicated to X, but I'm not as extremely dedicated as Y... where Y may be literally one of the most X-dedicated people in the entire world.
When you have this majority illusion, some high-engagement obsessives, and throw in some producers of writings (news, documents, popular literature and orientation literature such as FAQs), you have an engine for converting dedication into social goods such as a sense of belonging, friendship, and most of all, self-identification.
The ability to create and sustain these communities in many forms, for any topic, worldwide, is the miracle of the internet.
- whack 10y agoI've always wondered why social networks like Reddit make no attempt to throttle their loudest members. If you have a small minority who upvote/downvote an extremely high number of posts, they will easily drown out any votes cast by people who are more measured in their voting behavior. It seems like there are so many fundamental ways in which the most popular social networks and discussion forums are flawed. http://www.thecaucus.net/#/content/caucus/community_blog/103 http://www.thecaucus.net/#/content/caucus/community_blog/103
- MagnumOpus 10y agoBecause Reddit was written by young undergrads in their college dorm who haven't had the decade of experience with vote manipulation that Slashdot had by that time, let alone experienced the rise and decline of Usenet. Indeed by 2006 the mature Slashdot moderation system - after a deluge of invasions by trolls and agenda-pushers - already had a lot of the tools that Reddit is still missing or eventually reinvented badly - limited number of upvote points, meta-moderation etc.
- Umn44 10y agoProblem is, slashdot's mod tools don't work. You'll see all sorts of retrograde anti-intellectual stuff being upvoted on slashdot. And the born yesterdays who think steam and drm are wonderful things. If anything no moderation system can protect you against ignorance and anti intellectualism when it pervades a culture.
- afgs032 10y agoProblem is, slashdot's mod tools don't work. You'll see all sorts of retrograde anti-intellectual stuff being upvoted on slashdot. And the born yesterdays who think steam and drm are wonderful things. If anything no moderation system can protect you against ignorance and anti intellectualism when it pervades a culture.