Missed Cues: How Disputes Can Socialize Virtual Newcomers
Main Article Content
Abstract
This study considers how newcomers are socialized into an online group for sexual abuse survivors. The focus of the article is a dispute wherein a newcomer does not behave according to the group’s expectations regarding the nature of communications between regulars and newcomers. In the ensuing dispute, regulars send explicitly instructional messages to the newcomer, who eventually apologizes and assumes the stance appropriate to newcomers. The analysis highlights ways in which the dispute serves to reveal and re-affirm the social organization of the group. In concluding, it is suggested that aspects of the medium may increase the number and likelihood of disputes in Internet forums as compared with comparable face-to-face interactions.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Licensing and Reuse: Unless another option is selected below, reuse of the published Work will be governed by a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ ). This lets others remix, tweak, and build upon the Work non-commercially; although new works must acknowledge the original Language@Internet publication and be non-commercial, they do not have to be licensed on the same terms.