My thesis on Online communication

[[wcip]Angel]

Hello again!
As some of you may remember, I came asking for your help a few
weeks ago. If you don’t recall, or if you didn’t see my thread, click on
this link:
http://www.lurkerlounge.com/forums/index...topic=6234

Assuming you didn’t read my initial thread, I’m conducting research for
a master’s thesis about online communication. Originally, I had
planned on using your e-mails as research material, (and thank you
very much for those of you who submitted), but as it turned out, there
weren’t enough participants. I told my supervisor what you told me:
that many of you didn’t collect your outgoing e-mails. After having
considered my options, we found out that I were to use forum posts in
addition to e-mails. (To those who have already submitted 20 e-mails
to me: fear not, I will still make good use of what you sent me. :)
Also, it would also be of great value if those who sent me their
e-mails could also participate again by sending me your forum posts!)

So now I come asking for your help again. If you would like to
participate in my study on online communication, please send me your
last 20 forum posts to this address: literacy.study@gmail.com.

Forum posts is something everyone can contribute with, because you
all have them :) I hope this makes it easier, so that many more of
you can participate. Don’t worry about the length, content, style or
grammatical accuracy of your post. All I’m interested in is actual text.


The criteria you need to meet are as follows:
1. It needs to be 20 forum posts you've already written, not future ones

2. Please do not edit, proofread for errors, or amend your posts in any way,
except (see 3)

3. You may remove all sensitive information. (Your real name, private information
(phone number, bank account number, information of an intimate nature, etc.))

------

One of the most time consuming parts of writing a thesis is organising the source
material (in this case, the text in your forum posts). However, if you were to follow
these easy guidelines, it would lessen my workload immensely:

a) Copy the text from your last 20 forum posts into an e-mail.

B) Please separate these 20 forum posts by 3 asterix ("***") so it's easier to distinguish
where one post ends and another one starts.

c) In the topic heading of the e-mail you're going to send me (the one containing
the text from your last 20 posts), please use this format for the subject title:
"<Name of board>. <Online Nickname>. <Nationality>. <Gender>".
Example: "The Lurkerlounge. Diabloslayer666. American. Male."

d) After you've copied the text from 20 posts into a single e-mail, and made the
topic heading, please send it to me at: literacy.study@gmail.com.

Again, thank you very much for your help.

Best regards

- [wcip]Angel // Eirik Jakobsen

PS: Special note for administrators: For reasons of accuracy and concordance I'm
not using my previous thread (which still exists on the third page on the Lounge). I am
in no ways seeking to challenge the established rules and regulations of the
Lurkerlounge. I'm merely doing this for academic purposes only, and I hope you'll
look the other way just this once. Thank you.

[[wcip]Angel]

It's been a few days and so far, only 1 (via PM) has replied. If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to ask them. I really can't write about this subject without *your* help. I need 25 particants. So far, I have 1 (in addition to the ones who submitted their e-mails.)

I'm sure there's a "find my last x posts"-function somewhere on this board which can make this process a little less tiring and time consuming.

Some of your last 20 posts my contain quotes from other people. It's come to by attention that some of you might wonder if you're supposed to include or remove the quoted text. Please remove it. It's not that I don't *want* to use it, it's just that I don't have that person's permission.

Also, if you don't want to spend 2-3 minutes gathering your last 20 posts, you can let me do it simply by saying something along the lines of "I want to participate", "you can have my last 20 posts", or something to that effect. I really want to write this thesis, and I honestly can't do it without you. :)

[FenrisWulf]

You too can find all of your recent posts, in just two easy steps!!!

Step 1) Click on your name at the top of the forum. In case you don't know your name, it should be the underlined text that follows "Logged in as: ".

Step 2) Select the "Find member's posts" option from the Profile Options box.

It's that simple!!!!1

Best of luck with your Master's Thesis, [wcip]Angel. :)

[[wcip]Angel]

Thanks for that tip and for your encouragement, Fenris! May I assume that your posts are up for grabs as well? If so, may I know your nationality and gender?


---

Everyone else: I still need many more participants (between 15 and 20), so please, find it in your heart to aid me in my scholarly work. It doesn't require any more than a single sentence: "You may have my posts." :)

- [wcip]Angel

[Guest]

Why dont you just collect our posts on your own? I think as long as you dont publish the whole posts or use our names you are fine.
Analysing publically available data is legal and ethical.


Im just curious.

[--Pete]

Hi,

Also, if you don't want to spend 2-3 minutes gathering your last 20 posts, you can let me do it simply by saying something along the lines of "I want to participate", "you can have my last 20 posts", or something to that effect. I really want to write this thesis, and I honestly can't do it without you. :)
[right][snapback]85979[/snapback][/right]

Thank you. I was going to try to do this for you on Sunday, but my computer seems to have croaked. Just got through reinstaling and resetting (almost) everything. I think a virus got past the checker. I think it was the dreaded XP SP2 virus ;)

By all means, feel free to grab anything I've written on these boards. That includes posts and quotes in other's posts.

And the best of luck in your thesis.

--Pete

[Doc]

Feel free to grab my last 20 posts or so. I don't mind.

Change any and all names to protect the innocent, blah blah blah.

[[wcip]Angel]

Why dont you just collect our posts on your own? I think as long as you dont publish the whole posts or use our names you are fine.
Analysing publically available data is legal and ethical.
Im just curious.
[right][snapback]86285[/snapback][/right]

Ethical considerations :)

My supervisor says I need consent in order to use the text you've written. It's not my rule, but I intend on following it. (Especially on a Master's course)

Thanks to everyone who's given their consent. You make this thing possible!

And I'll be sure to notify you of my progress during the process of writing my thesis. :)

[Doc]

Bla bla bla, ethical considerations, bleh ble, etc. :)

My supervisor says I need consent in order to use the text you've written. It's not my rule, but I intend on following it. (Especially on a Master's course. Had it been an undergraduate thing ... :P)

Thanks to everyone who's given their consent. You make this thing possible!

And I'll be sure to notify you of my progress during the process of writing my thesis. :)
[right][snapback]86304[/snapback][/right]

I want to read it!

[Guest]

Well you have my consent. But I dont use email enough to mess around doing all that(or Im just lazy).

[Kylearan]

Hi,

feel free to use any posts from me for your thesis. And when it's finished, I'd be interested in reading it if it's open to the public. The subject sounds very interesting!

-Kylearan

[FenrisWulf]

Just adding a quick explanation so I don't look like a massive hypocrite: I really did get all of my posts to [wcip]Angel before I made my first post in this thread. :) There were just some e-mail problems on the way over, which have been sorted out.

[[wcip]Angel]

Ghosttiger, Doc and Kylearan:
Did you receive your PMs?

Many thanks to those of you who have sent me PMs allowing me to use your forum posts, and I also want to thank those of you who have contributed to this thread.

So far I have 11 participants from the Lurkerlounge. I need 14 more, so to those of you who still haven't participated, please do so if you are able. All I need is your permission :)

----

Update on my thesis:
I am still in the early phases of my work. I am currently reading my linguistic theory, gathering data (writing posts and PMs), and I've started writing about chat groups (aka "forums", "Internet boards", etc) in general. During the week-end, I will finish this section and start writing about the Lurkerlounge itself as part of my introduction.

I really hope my fellow Lurkers can find it in their hearts to give me permission to use their forum posts :)

[Kylearan]

Hi,

Ghosttiger, Doc and Kylearan:
Did you receive your PMs?

Yes, and I did reply yesterday already - but now it won't show up in my 'sent' folder. :unsure: I've sent it again just now, hopefully it will work this time.

[...]and start writing about the Lurkerlounge itself as part of my introduction.

Now that will be interesting... :D
Will you mention the fact that you are part of this community, and thus possibly biased, in your thesis?

-Kylearan

[[wcip]Angel]

Hi,
Yes, and I did reply yesterday already - but now it won't show up in my 'sent' folder.&nbsp; :unsure:&nbsp; I've sent it again just now, hopefully it will work this time.

Now that will be interesting...&nbsp; :D
Will you mention the fact that you are part of this community, and thus possibly biased, in your thesis?

-Kylearan
[right][snapback]87306[/snapback][/right]

I found your initial E-mail. I guess I was experiencing a case of slight blindness. Thanks for re-sending :) Your posts are collected and archived. Cheers!

-------

Concerning my description of the Lounge, I'll have a talk with my supervisor and ask her if she thinks I should mention in my thesis that I am a user on this board.

Still need 10 more participants! :)

[Lady Vashj]

I just sent mine via e-mail, including date, time, and thread. Ironically, post #20 was on your last thesis thread.

[[wcip]Angel]

I just sent mine via e-mail, including date, time, and thread.  Ironically, post #20 was on your last thesis thread.
[right][snapback]87402[/snapback][/right]

Got it! Thanks Milady ;)

----

I love you guys! :wub: I now have 20 participants! I only need 5 more and then I'm done collecting material. It will mark the end of the first phase of my thesis. I can't wait! :w00t:

[[wcip]Angel]

Here's what I got on the Lounge so far. Please tell me your thoughts :)
(And if I've written anything to offend the administrators and members of this site, please comment on that as well, so I may rectify it.)

-----------

“The Lurker Lounge” (www.lurkerlounge.com)
The Lurker Lounge is a gaming community for fans of the game series “Diablo”, an
adventure game by developer Blizzard Entertainment. Compared to other gaming
communities such as GameFaqs, Gamespy and Gamespot, The Lurker Lounge is a
relatively small one. However, administrators and members of the website take
great pride in keeping high standard of the content posted on the site, both in
terms of guides written for the games, but also in terms of posts and threads on
the forums. In the “about us”-section of the site, the administrators explain their
perception of the Lurker Lounge.

This site tends to have a more mature focus than general gaming
news sites, most of which are after two things: hit count and popularity.
Well, take it from Bolty [site administrator], who's been writing and
reading gaming news sites since 1995: popularity stinks. The bigger a
gaming site gets, the more bogged down it gets and the intelligence level
of its forum becomes lower and lower. "That's a snooty attitude," you
might think, and you'd be right. But it's also true. Here at the Lurker
Lounge, the site and forum administrators fight to keep the maturity and
intelligence levels of the site and its forums high - and we take great
pride in that.
(http://www.lurkerlounge.com/content/view/731/125/)

One would not be wrong in assuming that most gaming communities are targeted
at adolescents and young adults. The Lurker Lounge, however, because of its
ambitious administrators and demanding user base, has earned somewhat of an
elitist reputation, which tends to discourage the average gamer from signing up.
Rather, this call for eloquence, intelligence and experience often attracts the
mature gamer. As a result, the Lurker Lounge differs heavily from the average
gaming community, something which is best seen in the forum posts of its
members.

When it comes to gaming communities, the language of message boards can be
quite perplexing for the uninitiated. “OMG th@ts s0 kewl!!!11” may appear
perfectly legible to the average gamer, but to those who have yet to experience
the idiosyncratic manipulation of the English language at online message boards,
the linguistic irregularities will most likely seem confusing and awkward. In this
respect, the Lurker Lounge also differs from other gaming communities. Not only
do the administrators and (most of) the members abhor this non-standard form of
writing, it is also described in one of the two rules-sections on the website:

Please post in real English. If English is not your first language (or even if it is
*cough*), we do not mind spelling or grammatical errors...we do not mind typos
from anyone either. However, we do not appreciate '|337 5|o33|<' or any
unnecessary shortenings of English words - common abbreviations such as 'lvl' or
'dmg' are fine though. If you do not follow this rule, you will be flamed or ignored
completely. … If you have a question, please be polite about it. You are more
likely to get a good response with 'Can anyone help me with...' than 'Tell me how
do u d00dz do that!'.
(http://www.geocities.com/elricofgrans/lounge.html)

Because the Lurker Lounge is somewhat unique in its high standards of English
language accuracy, it warrants attention in a study on online communication.

--------

This is *not* a thesis about the Lounge, so I'm not going to write up and down about Pete's rants or Occhi's strange fascination with coffee. :) It's just to give a general idea what makes the Lounge 'special.' (in a "non-retarded" sort of way.)

---

Also, 4 more participants needed ;)

[--Pete]

Hi,

One would not be wrong in assuming that most gaming communities are targeted
at adolescents and young adults.

I saw something recently that indicated that the *average* gamer was in his thirties (and, yes, the average gamer *is* male). If you can track down a reference for that, you might shift the emphasis in this part of the introduction more from "elitist" to "catering to the ignored majority of mature players".

When it comes to gaming communities, the language of message boards can be
quite perplexing for the uninitiated. “OMG th@ts s0 kewl!!!11”&nbsp; may appear
perfectly legible to the average gamer,

Do you intend to give some fair examples of the usage on other fora? Or at least links to the fora. Otherwise a reader without game forum experience might think you are exaggerating the case or might not realize the full extent of the 'problem'.

Because the Lurker Lounge is somewhat unique in its high standards of English
language accuracy, it warrants attention in a study on online communication.

I think that, for this statement to make sense, more emphasis needs to be given on what has become 'normal' online communication. And, to a linguist, I suspect that the evolution of online 'English' is much more interesting than the existence of a conservative (in terms of language) bastion. That the Lounge, an English speaking board, uses English is hardly surprising unless taken in the context of game boards in general.

. . . I'm not going to write up and down about Pete's rants . . .[right][snapback]87596[/snapback][/right]

Aw, shucks. :)

--Pete

[Guest]

Continueng Petes line of thought and then a seprate point..

1. The Lurker Lounge might be interesting not for its conservatism but rather for the signifigant changes to written English that we conservative types HAVE accepted, even changes we dont notice our selves..

No one really thinks swaping "e" and "3" is the new course of English. But our use of jargon and our Paragraph structure may be a break from the past. IM guessing a close analysis would also show a great deal more we dont notice beyond simple game jargon.


2. I have also regularly posted in at one of the larger collection on gamer FORUMS. IGN vault/VN forums.
Whats interesting there is that probably half the posters are 20-40, but "dewd" language is common. However its ussually used with either the intent to annoy or more commonly as a wink-wink ironic form of sarcasm.