Add Reply is a "sociological study" written in 2003 by ACPaco about the people of ClanBOB and their customs. Though it doesn't really offer insight into BOBdom, it is a good read.
In truth, ACPaco had gotten bored with the forum, and as an immature prank he wrote this entire document in one afternoon, completely pulling everything out of his ass. It was the set-up for his first false exit from ClanBOB, only to have him return a month later with apologies. For the next year he changed his story several times over what this document was really supposed to be and how he went about writing it. It is now a source of personal shame that will never cease to haunt him.
Add Reply
An experiment of human nature
By Alex Capriole
Introduction
In March, 2003, I signed up for an global account with the ezboard Inc. internet message system. At the time, I had no idea I would be writing this report. The board I wanted to post in was called ClanBOB. It was a web site that hosted a web comic I was a fan of and wanted to talk about with other fans of it. As it turned out, the ClanBOB forums were huge, with only one board dedicated to the comic. In addition to that and the general discussion, there were boards on games, art, conventions, books, and movies, with variations of the same boards as well. I was still in school and I didn't take the time to read other posts. I just dove right in.
All of my initial posts were met with cynical, sometimes even hatful replies. It turned out this was because I was what is referred to as a 'newbie'. I could've posted some of the greatest comments and arguments there, I would've been met with put-downs and false encouragement because of my green status. But more on this later. Eventually I got bored with the forums and went back to my usually routine of falling asleep as soon as I got home at night, or playing videogames until I was tired enough.
But the bug was in. Forums are much more stimulating than videogames to someone like me. Here was a portal through which I could not only type all of my opinions and observations, but have almost instant response, both debates and mutual feelings. I could really change some people perspectives, and see it happen, and the same could happen in reverse to me. Eventually school ended, I spent less energy and so I slept less. Then going out with friends, which was never a daily thing anyway, seemed to have longer downtimes in-between. I played through all my games, read through all the books I was interested in, and I was bored. It wasn't even the middle of June yet. I had to find something to do, and I wasn't about to get a job.
I forgot all about my ezboard account. Then one night I noticed the link buried in my browser's favorites file. I went back to the ClanBOB forums and noticed a lot of the same people were still there, only a lot of the people I'd seen were gone and some new people were in. I started posting again, and again I was met with the same response as before. I was about to give up and try to combat my boredom another way, maybe even mind some work at a retail store or something, and then I had a moment a inspiration that changed my whole summer.
I would post on the board in order to study the other members.
I've always been fascinated with sociological experiments, and now I could conduct my very own, and this time it would be with people I didn't even really know. Instantly a plan fell into place. I already had my own ideas on politics, religion, and many other subjects, but they were just a jumbled mass of opinions. Before I got to work, I solidified them so any point that could come up would be able to be argued with the same points over and over, but from slightly different angles so they appeared new every time. At first I thought I could create a data base of key words and sentences that I could repeatedly use, but then I figured people would catch on, and so I decided every post I would write from scratch. I purposely intensified every one of my beliefs so that they would go from small disagreements or agreements to strong counter-culture rhetoric or strong support of current events. I had to in order to guarantee this would all work. In order to get strong responses so I could profile people, I'd have to present strong opinions.
Once I had my character ready to go, I realized I should check to see if someone would even fit. Despite the strong language and feelings I had experienced, I still could've been in a place full of kids who would barely begin to understand my ideas. Thankfully the general discussion board, where I would spend most of my board time, was full of debates on politics and current events along with the regular internet board fluff. One thing I noticed was that really a select few of the members was so strong in their opinions that they could only talk about them seriously. They all participated in the nonsense threads and they all had a good time. I decided that while I was conducting the experiment, I'd have to fit in by also posting in these neutral places, which were usually word games.
I was ready. I had my head-turning statements ready to go, my initial arguments, my counters, and my side-arguments I could embellish on after. I decided that instead of getting right into the heavy stuff I'd save it for when I had been around long enough to not be considered a newbie anymore. For the first couple of weeks I'd have to get over the mopping rituals, then the real tests could begin.
This report is portioned into parts and sections. The parts are numbered and titled, the sections are titles within the part. The first part describes the experiment itself. The second part deals with the infrastructure and common practices of the forums. The third part deals with specific individuals and their behavior patterns. The fourth part is the conclusions of the findings of this experiment.
Part 1: The Add Reply Experiment
This section of the report describes how the experiment was conducted so that the findings and conclusions can be checked and the experiment may be reproduced.
The Initial Preparations
The first requirement of the experiment is that there is a large enough span of time to complete it in. In this instance, I used my summer vacation time, from the week after I left school until the week before I was to return. This was a period of roughly three months. Personally I feel I could've achieved better results and written a much more detailed analysis had I had more time to work with. I recommend that anyone attempting the experiment try to find at least six months to a year to use for the research. The fact I was able to get the results I did in only three months was a stroke of luck and some modest talent with people skills, but mostly luck.
An obvious element to the experiment is a personal computer with internet access, but I recommend a high-speed connection. Timing is key, and a slow connection can mean delayed arguments in a debate, and 'out-posting' was a common problem in the forums. A high-speed DSL line that remains on as long as the computer is running would be the optimum choice.
Before looking for a forum, it must be decided what the testing will be based on. Politics, religion, and current events are all well and good, but if the researcher has little knowledge in such areas, forums that usually have such debates should be avoided. One thing to note about this experiment is that the subjects of debates themselves do not outcome the results. This is an experiment of sociology, not public opinion. Any forum with a large group of regular members and the presence of healthy debates alongside light conversations will do. ClanBOB happened to be a golden example. Another requirement is that the forum be as diverse as possible. A forum in someone's personal web site that's obviously populated by an exclusive group that all agree with each other on everything will not work.
After the perfect forum is selected, take a week or so to merely observe the members. Take notes on how they react to each other, figure out who holds more respect. Try to figure out what appear to be inside jokes. Definitely try to note what the member will not stand, you don't want to almost become a regular after some time of hard work only to be banished for saying something you shouldn't have. Study all the moderator's rules, they're usually the first thread you'll see. Once you have an idea what the written rules are, check to see if anyone regularly breaks any of them without consequences. Some boards are more lax than other in actual enforcement.
Finally, before the experiment can begin, a character must be created. The ideal character should be as neutral as possible, to begin with, and then after the newbie phase has passed it can be evolved toward whatever direction you think will provoke the most reaction. This is the point of the experiment. If one post in a debate can get five or more intense replies, you're on the right track. But this is all in due time. Now it's been established what's discussed in the forum and the ratios of people's opinions, the characters arguments are made. My own character was relatively easy to work out and possibly explained the quick results I got because my character was, essentially, myself. The only thing I did was wait awhile before I started to bring about my political, religious, and other beliefs. Also, I made sure my arguments were going to be crystal clear, because I came up with a system of standard responses based on these opinions. I tried to have a way of replying to virtually every scenario I could think of, all well before I made my first post to start the experiment. The purpose of these opinions is to get people to post in reply lengthy agreements or arguments. The more they talk about a single subject, the more easily they can be studied.
It's important to note that should a character be created that differs greatly from the researcher, personal opinions may not leak into the course of posting. The researcher has to react the way the character would react, not the way the researcher would react. This jeopardizes the experiment. Members will start to not contradictions. This must not happen. I took great care to never contradict myself in posts. By making a base of all the different possible arguments a character could be involved in ahead of time, such problems should not arise. It is only in the very end of the experiment that his principal is lost, but that is part of the experiment.
One last preliminary step, which is not required but will help, is to practice posting skills in other, isolated forums before joining the ideal selected for the experiment. If this is done, other member names should be selected to ensure that, on the off chance a subject in the ideal form also frequents a forum that was practiced in, no recognition will be made. Once all these procedures have been made, an account can be made in the ideal form and the experiment can commence. Once it has began, I suggest it be carried out the very end. If it's not possible, simply stop posting all together, it would be the easiest thing to do.
The Experiment Guidelines
The actual experiment itself is to be conducted based on the results the researcher is looking for. The tests I used were in order to gauge what would happen in what I was almost sure would be evenly split decisions on strong issues, but that's beside the point. You should already know what you want to see and know the best way to see it prior to even thinking about conducting this experiment. That being said, I'll go over a few basic rules to follow while the experiment is actually underway.
Never let on the fact that this is an experiment to the subjects until its conclusion. Even if you befriend another member and share a level of confidence, the secrecy of the experiment cannot be breached. The subjects must think the researcher is posting in the forum for the sake of posting in the forum, nothing more.
Never get personally involved with the subjects individually. By following this guideline, the previous guideline is easier to follow. Also, getting personally involved with someone only to have them find out later on they were part of a secret experiment will not go over well. This guideline does not apply to the forum itself. In my experience the forum was a very close-knit group that included me, and then felt betrayed at the experiment's conclusion. However, it was easier for this to happen with a whole group of basically anonymous people rather than several emotionally stressing one-on-ones.
Never break any of the forum rules that would get the account suspended or banned. This will disrupt the experiment and raises questions of its integrity. The purpose is to study people, not flat-out offend them.
If at all possible, do not become a member of sub-groups within the forum's community. While it may seem this will open new perspectives on the observation process, it will also close others, particularly the ability to be a general forum member. Being a member of a sub-group could change people's reactions.
Only post a link to a personal web site if that site coincides with the character. If the time and resources are available, a web site specifically made to support any given character could be made.
Keep logs on every point made as the character so contradictions will not occur.
Don't take anything any of the other members say personally, it will affect the outcome of the experiment. Keep in mind they were comments directed towards the character. Act accordingly.
Keep as much contact with the subjects confined to the forums. Do not join related IRC channels. Instant message with them only when absolutely necessary. Private messaging in the forum's server should also be kept at a minimum. This guideline is for two reasons. First, IRC and instant messaging are fast-moving discussion areas where subjects can change at the drop of a hat. The forum set-up gives time to think and coordinate discussions. Instant messaging and private messaging remove the public factor of the observations.
Keep notes on the behavior of certain members that catch your eye above the rest. Select three or four to observe more closely than the others. Obviously these should be the members that post the most often. When the experiment is over these profiles will be used to compile the final report.
Keep notes on how conversations and debates move. Every forum has it's own unique unwritten laws. Try to figure them out before heading into any major topics.
Carry on the experiment by strategically posting in order to see people's reactions. To do this, first presence must be acquired. Then after observing and making occasional injections, major debating can begin. It is in the debates where most of the study will take place. By following the guideline and keep track of the patterns that are being specifically testing, the experiment should prove a success and off a variety of observations, critical findings, and theories. Remember that such conclusions should only be considered after the actual testing phase is complete.
Part 2: The Forums
The Newbie
One of the first things I noticed about this forum was the screening process of all it's new members. It wasn't so much a screening process as a general test. If someone could come to the boards, get over all the newbie jokes and put-downs, go through one of the strangest rituals I've ever seen, and still continue to post, they pass and are taken seriously. It worked, quite well actually. I witnessed a lot of people not only stop posting after being chewed out a few times, but a several angry notes of leaving.
One of the most memorable times someone failed to pass was a member by the name of Vicious. I thought he was a regular but I didn't notice until he left his small post count. Most of his messages were left in the music forum. One day he posted about punk music, and there were several replies that punk was no-talent hack. I argued for punk with various counter-points and the thread wound on without any input from Vicious aside from his original post. Then a week later he replied with, 'You people know nothing about punk at all.'
That afternoon he posted a very hateful thread in general discussion. He cursed us all and called us retards and bored losers. To a point I wanted to jump in and agree with him, but I was already in and nowhere near completing my work. I'm not sure why I felt like this thinking back upon it now, but I recall at the time I did.
Vicious was a perfect example of someone who wouldn't fit in on the boards. His sense of humor was far removed from the forum regulars. He made hasty arguments without explaining himself. In the end he became so irate he blew up before finally leaving. The newbie system worked in a way that those who wouldn't belong weeded themselves out, no supervision required. The only ones who were banned outright were those that broke forum rules immediately and obviously.
The newbie that decided to leave had one of three options. One was that they just stopped posting altogether. They would not be missed and it was assumed they got fed up and left. Two was that they confined their posts to the forum about the web comic. It was usually the first forum any new member posted in anyway, and was less prone to heated arguments and debates. The third option was what Vicious had done, get so aggravated with the board that just leaving would not suffice. He needed to make his final exit. It was met with sarcasm and cynicism and within a week he was all but forgotten.
The system was far from overbearing and needless. Forum regulars had three key points going for them, they were seemingly immune to insults, they had a sense of humor, and they occasionally made good, intelligent posts. If any one of these points were missing, they weren't thought highly of. The act of taunting newbies made them tough enough to handle the boards. Everyone got insulted and spewed insults, it was a regular thing. If someone took it personally it would mean a long, heated argument usually followed by someone leaving or getting banned.
Put-downs were used in excess with those who made stupid arguments. A newbie with a great post was still a newbie, but they were shown a little more respect than usual. The goal was to weed out the unintelligent. Despite what was said in passing, the forum regulars were all highly intelligent, highly knowledgeable people. There were no idiots, regardless of the insults and fluff threads. It was a community of unrecognized scholars.
Humor was instilled through the mopping system. At first I thought this was a very pointless hazing ritual and I couldn't understand it. A newbie's first post was supposed to be in the welcome thread pinned to the top of the general discussion forum. There they were 'handed a mop'. From there on, any threads that became a convoluted mess due to excessive changing of subject and random posts, something which happened often, the newbie was supposed to mop. This consisted of typing an action sentence that had to do with mopping the thread in-between two asterisks.
Doing this meant that while a new member grew resilient to insults, learned what made a good post, and saw how the other members acted, they also got the beginnings of a sense of humor shared by all the members. Eventually a member stopped mopping and started to make their own comments in substitution, and usually this was down without realization it was being done. If this happened and it was accepted, and that member ceased to bring up their newbie status, they were no longer a newbie.
The lack of enforcement in this self-supporting system had some flaws, though. The biggest was that mopping wasn't as necessary as it appeared. I didn't post in the welcome thread until I began this experiment, some two dozen posts after my first. I made the mistake of saying I wasn't new. Thus, I never got handed a mop myself. In fact I didn't even notice the mopping ritual until after I made a couple hundred posts and was a regular. Another flaw was that if someone was already uncaring about insults they would stay to post fluff comments and nothing else. These people were hated and eventually they did something so stupid they got banned by the administrators.
One thing they changed a newbie to a regular more than all else was a clear and persistent involvement in a major debate. It would have to be after the initial welcome and basic postings, but if a member showed that they were capable of carrying on a debate with good arguments and counter-arguments, take the few side insults and even return them, and keep a level head and sense of humor, they were accepted to the community. A big debate was the final test of a newbie. I remember mine like I made my last post this morning.
Debates and Respect
One night I logged on and I saw a thread entitled 'Making Fun of George Again'. I read it and it was a long list of problems with George W. Bush, there were a couple of hundred flaws at least. The poster went by the name Boring7, and it turned out he had a reputation as the liberal political debater. There were some replies, mostly telling him it was old and it's been done on the forums before. This was the first political thread I had seen, and so I decided it would be a perfect opportunity to test the board.
My first post was very short and to the point. It was because of politicians like Bush I was moving to Canada. This set off a barrage of angry replies while I slept. For the next two days I argued why I was leaving America, and all the different points besides Bush, and it grew and grew. A small few posted to agree with me and ask me for advice, but they were ignored by my opposition entirely. Then one day, I met what I consider to be the best mind on the board. His name was Phantomgrift, Phant for short. He was an excellent example of how the forum environment worked. He posted a lengthy reply telling me all the flaws with my arguments. It wasn't anything personal, but I was a good example of arguments he disagreed with. He ended with the usual line about whiny angst-ridden teens that knew little of what they were arguing for.
Perhaps he wasn't expecting it, probably no one was, but I wrote back a reply that countered his whole post with new twists on the same arguments. I made it very clear I wasn't the typical spoiled brat he thought he was dealing with. The rest of the week we exchanged posts. Others tried to pipe in but they were mute compared to what was going on between myself and Phant. For such strong disagreements, we kept a mutual respect as if we were old friends. Eventually it got to a point where I realized this thread could continue indefinitely, and there were other subjects I wanted to check. I posted my final reply, in which I congratulated Phant for being such a level headed debater and I had to concede. I thought it was very admirable on my part, and sure enough he responded in turn with the same respectful parting message. I'm not sure if it ended in stalemate or Phant won the debate because I basically gave up, but there was a sense that there no such things as winners and losers in these forums. There were a few disjointed posts more in the thread from other people but after Phant and I stopped debating it soon disappeared, buried under new threads.
I would watch for Phant in the future, and every now and then I'd bring up how impressed I was with him. It turned out he was not well liked on the forums, and I concluded it must've been because he had won debates in the past over the rest of them. I could picture these defeats, they must've been brutal. Being a good debater only won points with other, equally skilled debaters, and it only brought hatred from the less talented.
My second debate came a week or so after. A member by the name of Steltek posted a thread entitled 'Aaron's Rant'. Aaron was one of the runners of the ClanBOB web site, and that morning he posted a lengthy passage about how he had gotten an e-mail from a Christian organization urging him to join their protest over the Supreme Court's decision to overturn the Texas sodomy laws. Aaron was angry that he was even on their mailing list and dissected the e-mail for all it's flaws. These site updates rarely got political and Steltek was wondering why he put his argument there. Pretty soon the thread changed into a debate over the sodomy laws, which quickly became a debate over the separation of Church and State. Now was my chance to get a second major test in.
I started to post about how oppressive and close-minded the church was and how its teachings should effect the laws of the country. Steltek turned out to be just as skilled in debate as Phant. I think we covered religion from all debatable aspects. I'm Wiccan, he was Christian, and that made the debate even more heated. Once again, however, it never got personal. A few other members tried to pipe in, but like my debate with Phant they were all but ignored. I recall there was a newbie that basically started the debate, and he got very angry with me. I think the fact that Steltek was on his side but showing my respect enraged him even more. Eventually he left the boards altogether. After a few days I decided I'd better end it for the same reasons I ended the debate with Phant. It worked. Steltek respected me for not getting personal and conceding nicely, and I showed him the same respect for keeping level-headed.
Over the course of four weeks I discovered the key points of debates in the forums. The first and most important was that a debate stayed in its thread. No one ever took something argued in one thread and brought it to another. I was expecting that to happened but it didn't. An excellent example was my first debate. I thought for sure I would be labeled an anti-American and every time I posted in another thread someone would inject that in reply somehow. Instead, it didn't follow me at all. People I argued with in one thread were friends in another. It showed a surprising level of maturity I was not expecting.
Second, getting angry in a debate would get you nowhere. There were several posts of insults that were meant to provoke an equal or greater negative reaction. If this happened, it could go back and forth and the debate itself would be forgotten, and respect from other members would dwindle. If one could ignore the insults, or address them reasonable if needed, the debate would continue and respect would be gained.
Third, false experts are not appreciated. When someone tried to make what looked like an intelligent argument that turned out to be fabricated, they were thoroughly chewed out. Actual research and knowledge was a necessity it debates. When someone could bring up third-party sources, ended their post in a veritable bibliography, or showed time and effort put into their writing, respect was gained. It also brought the debate closer to its end without dragging it out.
Another strategy employed by good debaters was bringing up several points in one post. Not thrown together, but usually in separate paragraphs. This would also stop the debate from dragging out and brought on more detailed replies. Posting one argument at a time meant small posts, and sometimes points would be forgotten and left behind. It also brought the possibility for the subject to change from the original debate. By arguing multiple points, other subjects could be tied into the debate, not veer it off course.
A member that posted by following these unwritten guidelines usually gained admiration from the others, while those who failed to do so were put down as idiots. However, if a member became so adept at debates that they could win quite easily, as well as confining their posts to debates only, they would also gain a hatred by other members, a kind of forced respect. This is what I feel happened to Phant. It didn't happen to Steltek because in addition to his debating skills he also posted casually in neutral threads, so he blended in with the other members. Phant, whether it was purposely or not, was above the others. He never posted in nonsense threads. Though he had a good sense of humor, he used it in his debates, not at random. So the final rule with debates would be that they weren't the only thing to be posted in on the forums. Being a good debater was one thing, but to completely fit in to the community, one had to move beyond the debates and join in the light conversations and word games.
There was another factor that was added to these boards in particular in regards to respect. The ClanBOB forum moderators, when so inclined, would bestow a 'bob name' to members who did something to gain a moderator's notice. This name would appear under the member name in posts, replacing the word 'member'. It usually had something to do with what the member was noted for, but they were also cryptic. Phantomgrift was given the name ShadowBOB, for reasons I never discovered. Steltek had the name RileyTimeBOB because of a web comic he produced based off the ClanBOB forum entitled Riley Time. There was even a member, Monk Gently, that was named BowieBOB because of his incessant homage to David Bowie. A bob name ensured a member was not only a regular, but was accepted by the community on a whole from up on high. You were not only a member of the forums but a member of the clan. It was the highest badge of approval. For some reason I was sure I was going to receive one before the experiment was over, but I was only a member until the end. I was given a few suggestions, and a member, Strafe Malone, even made it into my custom signature by offering the quote, 'You should be DementedDoughboyBOB.' This was because my signature image had a few shots of the Pillsbury Doughboy, a character I use to express anger. I wonder what would've happened if I was bestowed a bob name and continued on with the experiment as planned'
Communities, Spam, and Other Threads
There were eight kinds of threads I noted in the ClanBOB forums. There were announcements made by the administrators, announcements made by the members, light subjects that would become general conversation, heavy subjects that would become debates, community building threads, forum games, random nonsense threads, and spam.
Spam usually consisted of a computer, hired spammer, or desperate web site owner making an ezboard account and making a solitary post advertising for the site or service. Sometimes there would be one of these postings made in each forum. The spammers never replied, probably never read the thread once they posted it, and were hated by everyone. The moderators either deleted the threads outright, or deleted the original message so the thread of complaints could live on. The spammer's account, sometimes their IP addresses as well, were banned from the forum.
One of the most persistent spam postings was a pyramid scheme. The gist of it was to send $5 each to the addresses given. Then you would take off the name on the bottom of the list, move everyone down one, and put your name on the top. Then you would post the message in as many other news groups and internet forums as possible, making you a gigantic profit. Every time we got the spam there was a new list of names and addresses attached. I came up with the idea of copying down these names and addresses into an ever growing list, and every time we got the spam the list was posted and added to. The addresses were all over America, as well as some in Britain. A member named 2D (much more on him later) claimed to have sent moldy bread to the addresses on the list, and gotten angry letters in reply.
One type of thread that fascinated me were the communities. There were several of them, and often when they were buried a few pages in under a hundred or so posts, someone would revive them back to the front page. They were themed as cities, houses, rooms, etc. The Common House, The Fuzzy Thread, The Resurrection of Slashtopia, these were the most popular. The Fuzzy Thread was so named because it was supposed to be a room flooded in malleable, fun, soft fuzz that could be used to sit in, lie in, throw, sculpt, and generally act like children in. One of my tests was to see if I could induce a war in such a benevolent thread. I posted that I had brought in an arsenal of Nerf guns modified to use the fuzz as ammunition. A pitiful battle with one other member lasted a night and pretty soon the thread sunk under the first page, then the second. When it was revived the Nerf guns were forgotten. The Common House was a suburban house party. Slashtopia was a huge city that, before I joined, had actually gone through a war. The thread was called the 'Resurrection' of Slashtopia because the ClanBOB forums had been moved a few time in the past to different servers due to broadband crashes. Those that had been members since the original forums were known as elders.
One thread that looked like a community but was really a nonsense thread was entitled 'Stiny, who spilled coffee all over my plans for the death ray'' This thread was created and run like by 2D. He bestowed the extra name of 'Stiny' to all his followers there. It was by far the most ridiculous thread I saw. It used to be called, 'Stiny, get me a Danish!' when it was started, but there was a server move in-between. Stiny, and the two thread titles, were taken from a cartoon at the web site Homestar Runner. Before I left, plans were made and followed through to make an independent web site run by the Stiny. Last I checked it was a collection of angry, disgruntled articles by 2D along with some by other authors. Eventually it will have comics, reviews, and more, if it continues. There were other nonsense threads started, usually some random sentence, but none of them lasted more than a few days.
The Stiny thread had a problem that I couldn't figure out how to overcome. Only an established Stiny was welcome to post regularly there. When I started to post more than occasionally, even after I had become a forum regular and had built up some standing, I received a severe backlash from 2D. He broke the first rule of debates by ghosting me in most of the other threads I posted in with insults and taunts, and it was only a week or so later I discovered he was doing specifically because of my presence in the Stiny thread. After this incident I stopped posting there, besides there was so much else to do.
There were several game threads, for instance. My favorite was called the Describe the One Above Thread. Someone posted describing the person that posted before them. The thread used the directional arrows instead of personal pronouns. ^ meant the one above, < meant yourself, v meant whoever posted after you, and > meant everybody. ^ could be doubled or tripled to talk about someone two or three posts above. It was a lot of fun and it was instrumental in becoming a forum regular. One thing about this thread in particular was that even though it wasn't pinned up by a moderator, it never left the first page of general discussion. Another, more obvious game was word association, but this one often slipped by a few days before it got a new reply. Once a thread was created in which each new post was a new sentence in a story, but after a week it died.
Something I noticed was that the moderators actually did very little. The most they did was delete spam, but enforcement of the forum rules with members was seldom. Everyone basically posted whatever they wanted. There were only a few exceptions to this. The week after the political debate with Phantomgrift, he made a post spoiling the latest Harry Potter book. One of the administrators, a co-runner of the ClanBOB site, had specifically requested no one do this, and so Phant was banned for a week. Another time a member called The Franger posted a pornographic picture in response to a newbie that was obsessed with one of the comic's female characters. He was also banned for a week. The first week of August a series of threads were created pleading that members report rule breakers to them via private messaging, and not just wait for them to discover and fix problems themselves.
Something I also noticed was that unlike other internet forums I've observed, this was highly diverse. It was a relatively 50-50 mix of conservatives, liberals, and in-betweens. The problem this created was that every thread created had the probability of growing into an argument. Simple posts that were only meant to spur small talk could become massive debates overnight. Also, posting personal interests was made risky, because it too could cause heated arguments. One good example of this was a thread I created entitled 'Guns Kick Ass'. The post itself had nothing to do with gun control or actual guns in fact. I was merely showing off a set of replica guns I had purchased for a film project I was working on. The next morning I had discovered that along with people putting down the replicas as being cheap and unrealistic, there was a growing debate over guns, gun control, and the second amendment. Another good example of personal interest posting being a bad thing had nothing to do with me at all, rather a well-established member by the name of Valen Faerlwynd, but I'll discuss him later in the report.
Part 3: The Members
This is my observations of the various members of ClanBOB. I'll begin with particular individuals who stuck out from the rest, followed by groups of members that were mostly similar.
2D: The Dictator
2D was by far one of the most bitter people on the boards. I'm not sure what happened, because when I started the experiment he was quite docile and had won my respect early on. In a thread in which people were posting screenshots of their desktops, I even hosted his image on my web site's servers. I already explained how I irritated him by overstepping my boundaries in the Stiny thread, which he controlled. Personally I think my presence there made him feel threatened, and the explanation he gave me when he was finished only boosted this belief.
His name was taken from a character from the animated band Gorillaz. He used the character in his personal icon, avatar, and signature image. In my time there I discovered he had changed his name to 2D from DeathScythe. I'm pretty sure he changed his name during the progress of a thread he had in the music forum discussing Gorillaz. During the last month he changed his icon on almost a daily basis between small, animated worms. He was also a fan of the Homestar Runner web site, evident not only from his creation of the Stiny cult, but also a week during which he was obsessed with a pair of large sunglasses used during one of the cartoons. He had another member, Agent 1, who was skilled at image work, place the pair on his images of the Gorillaz character.
During the period he specifically targeted me because of his insecurities over the Stiny thread, he got very personal in his attacks. He often called me a liar among other things, usually unprovoked. Sometimes he simply posted that I shut up, without any reason or embellishment. At one point one of the older members, MechZilla, tried to intervene between his whiny, aggressive posts and my calm, collected counter-attacks. Later that night I spoke with MechZilla via instant messenger and it turned out 2D was a lot worse off than I thought. He had slowly become one of the whiniest members on the boards, long before I began the experiment. I just hadn't noticed.
Once he got bored with me and finally came out and explained he was angry over his precious Stiny thread, he went on to spread his hatred to threads across the boards. I noticed he had the reputation of providing cynicism to everything. He didn't share the same sense of humor the other members had. He didn't like the jokes they shared, he didn't care about their personal stories, and he often made hollow arguments with going into examples or explaining himself. If pushed on that, he would retaliate with more meatless argument.
I call 2D 'The Dictator' because of his over protectiveness of his Stiny thread. He had become so angry with me it was as if I had done something very personal to him. Another factor that showed me how ruthless 2D is was an article in the Stiny web site that was created. In this article in particular he complained about Americans obsessed with Japan. He recommended that these people be sent to Japan with no money and no contacts. It wasn't this that bothered me, in fact I agreed with a lot of his argument, but there was one line in particular that caught me eye.
He was explaining how there was an assumption that everyone in Japan worked in the videogame industry or were anime artists. He said that should one of the people sent were to somehow achieve this farfetched dream of living in Japan, speaking only English and making money off art/programming skills, they would be recaptured, taken back to America, and shot. This exposed a lot of 2D's insecurity. He saw someone proving him wrong as heinous. This explained his anger over my presence in the Stiny thread. I was making some well-accepted suggestions other Stiny members were taking to and he felt the need to put a stop to it before I could threaten his position as the Stiny leader, something I wasn't even planning to do.
After the experiment was over, I had a conversation with 2D through instant messaging. He tried to probe my mind, to see what I was being serious about and what I made up. What I think he was trying to do was give himself one last jab at me. He failed, in my opinion.
The Franger
Franger is a young man that lives in Australia. I thought he was in college but he also talked about working in an office, though perhaps he was an intern. When I first began the experiment I noted Franger never made serious posts. He made sarcastic, cynical remarks every chance he could. It wasn't until after about a month of posting I realized his humor. Up to that point I had decided he was, for all intensive purposes, an asshole. But soon I realized it was all good-natured fun, just extremely crass. People liked Franger and his remarks, even when they were against them. He would make what appeared a mean spirited comment against you and later he'd be doing the same thing to those that initially agreed with him. The only member I noted this didn't apply to was Valen Faerlwynd, but that's for reasons I'll get into later.
When Franger made an insult, there were really only two courses of action. The first was to ignore him. I noticed that ignoring him usually stopped his comments, at least until something else was said that he could take and use against you. The other thing to do was insult him back. This would go back and forth, but it wasn't mean-spirited. It would be like two good friends that insult each other but in a playful way. He rarely ever meant to hurt anybody. He was just rambunctious in nature. The Franger was also a womanizer, but again this was more so he could get a rise out of people. He made sexual references often. He also lashed out at men saving their virginity or weren't sexually active, plus he made a lot of homophobic remarks. He probably wasn't serious about any of it, though he'd assure people he was when asked.
You couldn't seriously argue with Franger, trying to was asking for trouble. You'd be met with nothing but insults, and they'd get personal. Getting angry with him didn't help either, he fed off that. All you had to do with Franger was not ever take him seriously. Thinking of him in that light, he was a great guy, bringing more fun to the boards than any other single member. Unfortunately not everyone saw him this way. A lot of newbies failed the initial screening process because, I think in part, they didn't know how to deal with this established member, with a bob name no less (it was Total WangerBOB), constantly making fun of them and abusing them.
Valen Faerlwynd and The Faerlwynd Theory
This had to be one of the most annoying of the ClanBOB members. Valen Faerlwynd seemed to have absolutely no outlet for his feelings aside from the boards. It seemed every waking though he had he related to us, usually meaning yet another new thread. He posted about two or three new threads a day on average. Well, that's an exaggeration, but sometimes it did seem that way. He posted about being lonely, depressed, a hopeless romantic, wanting to be able to drink his way to oblivion, and meaningless life observations. If he thought of something he thought was funny he posted it. Sometimes his posts were so random that the rest of the members had no idea how to reply.
Every Valen-started thread erupted into a massive pile of the same complaints from the same other members without fail. Before the end of the experiment I joined in with them and understood why they did it. Valen was like a newbie that should've been screened out, but he never was. He stayed, like a cancer. Despite being told countless times, and in very serious tones, that nobody cared about every whimsical idea he had, he continued to post. When he did ask for advice and people tried to help him, it would shut him up for a night and the next day he'd be back as if he never heard the said advice the night before.
He often talked about women as if he'd had several girlfriends, but he also discussed his loneliness as if he hadn't even talked with a girl in years. Thinking about it in hindsight, he contradicted himself quite often. He loved talking about his dreams of getting drunk, but I'd be surprised if he's even had a sip of wine in his life. If he mentioned smoking he end it with, 'not that I would.' He was the model 'attention whore', someone who posted specifically for the purpose of getting a strong response, even if it was negative. I was doing the same thing, but I was concealing it by keeping it subtle up until the final few days of the experiment. Plus I had a tangible reason for doing it, this report. Valen had no reason except to satisfy his own attention-depraved life.
Nobody, even the nicest and most understanding of the members, cared about Valen. Those that tried to help him got fed up with him soon enough, and most joined the ranks of his anti-fans. After I finished the experiment, I had to see what he was all about. I had worked out a theory I call 'The Faerlwynd Theory', and I needed to test it.
The basic principle of the Faerlwynd Theory is that Valen made up his character, and only posted what he did to entertain himself reading the responses. One of the possibilities of the Faerlwynd Theory was that Valen was not a single member, but a group of people that would come up with pointless things to post to get a reaction. It's not that farfetched, a bunch of bored roommates having some fun with an internet forum. Yet another possibility was that Valen was conducting the same kind of research I was, only he was spanning it over a much longer time span. Perhaps he had funding or a grant. In any event, I found it hard to believe Valen was a real person and was serious in his postings. That's why I came up with the Faerlwynd Theory to begin with.
To test it, I did the only thing I could thing of, I asked him. The experiment was over and the members knew what I had done. I knew he knew as well. I had copied down as many of the member's instant messenger screen names as I could find, so it was just a matter of waiting for him. When he did come online, I was very blunt and to the point. I asked him if he was serious about his posts, not his jokes but the depressing stories the other members gave him a hard time about. He said he was. I thanked him for 'clearing that up' and left him alone. Not much of a test but it was an attempt. In my opinion, the Faerlwynd Theory still stands as plausible.
The Other Subjects
Politics was a major subject to come up in the general discussion forum. Some of the members were more adept at these conversations than other. Boring7 was a hardcore liberal. He loved to criticize Bush and conservatism on a whole. Steltek usually debated conservatively with a Christian agenda, though he only brought up his religion in religious debates. Phantomgrift sat back and inject his arguments when so inclined. Phant was neither liberal or conservative, he disagreed with both Boring7 and Steltek, in fact the way he was going to go in an argument was always a toss-up until he actually said something. The only thing that was concrete was his patriotism for America, but unlike so many he was not a blind nationalist. Sometimes he agreed with criticisms of the country, sometimes he discerned it as anti-American rhetoric.
Another member that posted in the political debates only posted once in a great while. I think I saw his active posting only three times over the summer. He was an elder, and arguing with him was pointless. That was because he wouldn't answer arguments, he'd post and leave. He went by the name of Rip, and of course he was a friend of Phant. I believe they knew each other off the boards, but I'm not sure. He was once describe as 'a true Satanist.' This meant that he didn't worship devils or practice black magick, but that he only believed in himself to get through life. To Rip, nothing was sacred. He said what he had to say, and sometimes it meant a debate ground to a halt, at least for a few hours.
There was a member named Despanan who was often angry in the political debates. In fact I was soon conditioned to the know that seeing his avatar meant there was a post in strong contradiction to the current thread. There was another member, Feannag, who took glee in newbies posted their angry notices of leaving, as well as when regulars posted their final farewells. However, I noted him more for his passionate arguments against music piracy. He acted as though he worked for the Records Industry, which wouldn't surprise me. In fact at one time I posted a reply in which I said he was getting personal about it, as if piracy was directly affecting him. His reply generally said it did because of rising media prices, but I suspect he was further involved in the industry than he let on.
Inferno, I assumed, was not only a regular, but probably an elder. When I began the experiment his signature was 'Not Dan', and he had an inverted-color avatar of Dan, a character from the comic. It turned out he had come only a few months before I did, but had quickly become a regular and was even given a bob name. CockBOB. Apparently, before I started observations he had been noted for employing the word 'cock' as much as possible. Sometime in July he dropped the 'Not Dan' bit and created a new line, 'There's a little Inferno in everyone.' To go with this was a new, animated avatar, the name Inferno being cross-worded with other member's names and other words. At the end of the experiment he was disappointed to learn I had not created an in-depth profile of him. However, I should note that he was one of the few members not to get angry over the discovery. 'I think this whole thing is really cool,' he posted. He was also one of the few members that began posting in my own web site's forum.
Two other members that came to my own forums after the experiment were Synkr0nized and Beyond Strange. This was a coincidence because I had always associated the two over the course of the experiment. When I first began, I was under the impression they were female. When I noticed their posts that were related to girl-chasing, I deduced they were lesbians. It was only after a month or so that I found out they were male, and only because they came right out and said it. Another reason I associated the two of them together was that their posts often followed one another, and their avatars and signature images were similar. Synkr0nized was, up until the last few weeks, exclusively using images of Asuka of the Evangelion anime series in his images. Beyond Strange used other anime girls, but it was the same format. There were only a few members I knew for sure were women, only because it was stated in their account profiles or because all the other members referred to them as female. Aside from that, telling sexes apart on the forums was a crapshoot. Obviously, judging by their avatars and signatures was not a good method. The only way to tell for certain was to pay close attention to everything that was posted and hope it would be dropped. After the experiment was over there were still several members I had to consider gender neutral.
There was one member, Strafe Malone, that surprised me a few times in finding out facts about his life off the forums. For one thing, I thought that he was not only a newbie, but one that had joined after I began the experiment. He acted like one, had a low post count, and no one acted as though he were a regular for awhile after. It turned out he had been a member for two years. Another surprise was that I thought he was teenager, 18 the oldest, but I was guessing more around 15 to 17. It turned out he was not only in his mid-20's, but he was also married with children. He also lead a very turbulent life during his adolescence, something I didn't perceive at all until he talked about it.
A late arrival in the experiment, but one of the most interesting subjects, was a newbie by the name of Shadowmimiiru. Like Strafe Malone, I misjudged Shadow's age by about ten years, as well as her in general. When she first started posting, I thought she was a teenage girl with a delicate persona. It turned out that she two was in her 20's, and she was in the army. It wasn't until the end of the experiment I saw any kind of anger from her whatsoever, and of course it was directed at me. When I posted the final farewell, she responded with, 'paco . . . i'm gonna miss you you're liberal like me and damn!' After she discovered first the initial sarcastic remarks on my site, followed by the second remark the next day, as well as my using her quote, and finally my explanation of this experiment in my site's forum, she became very, very angry. Surprisingly angry, in fact. Out of all the other subjects, she almost managed to make me feel bad about what I had done. It was an unnerving experience.
Part 4: Concluding Discoveries and Theories
The Extended Faerlwynd Theory
Earlier in the report I discussed the Faerlwynd Theory. Here I will elaborate on it, as it applies to more than internet forums. The Faerlwynd Theory states that and member could, in fact, be a created character. This theory is already proven by the very existence of this experiment. I will put it in to terms more scientifically applicable.
The Faerlwynd Theory states that any member of an internet forum could be a fabricated character made (1) by a single person for entertainment purposes, (2) by a group of people, also for entertainment purposes, (3) by a single person in order to satisfy attention depravity, or (4) in order to observe the forum unassumingly.
This experiment itself already proved the fourth variation of the short version of the Faerlwynd Theory. The ClanBOB member known as Valen Faerlwynd could be any of these, in addition to actually being a depressed person with nothing better to do. In addition to this theory, I have created the Extended Faerlwynd Theory as one of the concluding arguments of this report.
The Extended Faerlwynd Theory, TEFT, states that any anonymous entity may be a fabrication. This applies to internet forums, news groups, chat rooms, newspaper editorials, callers to talk shows, authors, and virtually all mediums in which the person providing material is only identified through their own methods with no way of checking them.
After making this discovery, I realized this was probably the most obvious given of the internet world. Don't trust strangers in chat rooms. That worked off of TEFT. At first I was going to omit this discovery due to the sheer fact hat's it's already been shown countless times since the internet became a popular communications medium in the late 80's. In fact it wasn't even a discovery, it was a very long-winded way of arriving at something amazingly obvious. However, before this report, no one (to my knowledge) had ever given such a notion an actual name before, so I left it in.
The Refresh Button Syndrome
Something I noticed early on in the experiment was that the forum, posting in the forum, and debating in the forum, were highly addictive. I call this the Refresh Button Syndrome because I caught myself, several times, spending upwards of an hour a night posting, waiting, and hitting the refresh button on my internet browser every minute or so to check for replies. I developed a nervous tick of tapping my finger impatiently on the mouse before every click of the refresh, followed by aggravation when I realized there were no new posts I hadn't read yet.
If ten minutes or so went by with out much happening, I skip around to the other forums besides general discussion to see what was going on there. Once that happened once it became a regular thing every five minutes. The longer I was on, the less time I waited in-between refreshing and forum jumping. Sometimes it got down to doing one of these actions every ten seconds. This could only stop if (1) a game thread picked up, which usually meant every refresh would so a new post, (2) a debate was picking up and a few people were getting involved, or (3) I noticed there were only two or three members online at the time and I didn't recognize their names.
This nervous tick of hitting the refresh button twice a minute is not the only symptom of the Refresh Button Syndrome. Another was that the forum began to outweigh other leisurely responsibilities. My videogame collection, despite it's vastness and expense, and not been touched since I began the experiment. I stopped listening to music while I was online, the typing on the keyboard was its replacement. On my personal web site, I made a habit of taking some of my more detailed posts and converted them into my daily column. Actually, major work on my ever-growing web site all but ceased. I put off menial housework in order to keep up with debates. There was a night I spent two hours playing the Describe the One Above Thread with about two or three other members. I used to play Team Fortress Classic all night, now I discussed politics and flamed spam.
Even my life off the computer was affected by the Syndrome. During the day I watch CNN. This is just a habit I formed to keep up with current events so I could discuss them at school. During the experiment, I was practically taking notes in front of the television. Every story was a possible debate. I wondered if I was being a workaholic because of the experiment or if I was being addicted to the forums. I decided on the later because I considered everything else I worked on, and nothing moved me like this, even the stuff I looked forward to and was considered by most people to be 'fun'. A side effect of the Syndrome meant that while my computer time was now mostly devoted to the forum, my television time was now mostly devoted to CNN. I kept up with everything. I even began to notice personal quirks of the anchors. Wolf Blitzer was amazingly charming, I discovered, while Miles O'Brian, though he tried, mostly came off as a goodhearted buffoon. This is all for another report, though. Another factor the Syndrome effected in my life was that every time I saw, did, or said anything I instantly wondered about the replies it would get in the forum. Television, books, movies, commercials, conversations with friends, even what I decided to have for lunch.
The Refresh Button Syndrome made me glad I chose Summer to do the experiment in. Had I done it while I was in school, I would've been pushing off homework and studies in order to be in the forums. That wouldn't have worked at all. Besides, going to school would mean I'd miss the morning and early afternoon of the news day and I'd be ill-prepared for debates in the night. The problem with this discovery lies in the fact that I only observed it in myself. I have no idea if any of the other members experienced this. Thus, this experiment will have to be reproduced by a few other researchers before it can be proven.
The Anonymous Family and Anonymity Bonding Scenarios
One of my favorite observations was the Anonymous Family Scenario. The members of ClanBOB had developed, over the course of a few years, a close-kit community. People showed each other respect, gave advice, and playfully insulted one another. There was a lot of constructive criticism all around, and when a debate ended, it ended. Those that would harm this way of life where weeded out by the previously mentioned newbie system. This was all between people who, for the most part, had never seen each other in real life. This was very interesting and I wanted to study it closer. One of the key elements was the history of the ClanBOB forum specifically. The forum servers had been moved twice in the past. Those from the first server who remained to this day were known as elders. This meant that the same people had been posting in the forum since they first opened. It was a public forum on a generally well-known site, so new people came in, but most left. Out of the hundreds of registered members with the forum, only about 50 or so were regulars. The rest were newbies who eventually left or one-shot spam artists.
Out of the regulars, some only posted in specific forums, like the comic, music, art, and role playing forums. General Discussion was home to roughly 30 regulars. So despite the enormous amount of traffic passing through, the actually community remained rather small. The small size meant that, when a newbie became a regular, they became part of a family. In my final test, I wanted to see how much that meant.
First, I posted a farewell, message, the last post I would need to make in those forums. I must've really outdone myself, because it was hailed almost unanimously as one of the best farewell message ever made. The day I read all these posts, I had a sudden crisis. Should I continue with the experiment and destroy the connections I had made with these people, or should I end it right here, wait a week, and go back to the forums saying I changed my mind about leaving'
Everything I went over came back to me in a sudden rush. The newbie experience, the respect I had for Phant and Steltek, the fun I had in the games threads, it was all pointing me back. Forget the experiment and just go back, but then. The Refresh Button Syndrome. It still haunted me. I knew of only one cure, get rid of it's source. The final test went on schedule.
After I posted the farewell, I posted a very immature bit in my web site's daily column. It basically broke down every ounce of respect I had received. It was designed for one purpose, and it worked magnificently. Turn love into hatred. Oh, it was worse than I hoped. Every single member I had ever known discovered my treachery and posted about it, angrily. I had taken their system and ripped it apart in a matter of an afternoon.
I started as an unassuming newbie, worked my way up to being a regular, I was probably a few weeks away from even getting a bob name. I won their trust. I was asked for advice. I was part of the family. It all got a huge 360 in the end. But why' What was the purpose of this final test, an act of small-scale terrorism, a heinous crime some would have punishable by death' Simple, I had done everything else, or observed it at least. But I never saw a regular suddenly do a complete reversal of character and leave, like a bitter newbie. I hadn't seen a long-term version of Vicious. So I subjected the members to the test and the experiment ended.
My final discovery was that anonymous people, when exposed to each other for a long period of time, grow a bond of trust and honor. They believed in that bond. I call it the Anonymity Bonding Scenario. The problem with such a bond it that it can be all too easily hampered by the Faerlwynd Theory, extended or short versions. This final test proved that flawlessly.
Conclusion and Apologia
In conclusion of the Add Reply Experiment, I suggest everyone become part of an internet forum at least once, but leave before getting attached to it. That can lead to the Refresh Button Syndrome, and because of the Faerlwynd Theory you never know who you're getting involved with. The Anonymity Bonding Scenario is all well and good, but it may not be for the best. In addition to this, I would like to apologize to ClanBOB and its forum members for subjecting them to this experiment. Hopefully sometime in the future they will forgive me.
AC.TK: AC Press
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