“Community is an important aspect of life for most people. Cooley (1983) says that all normal humans have a natural affinity for community. He suggests that the primary factor inhibiting the formation of communities, no matter what their scale, is that they are difficult to organize” (Fernback & Thompson, 1995). On the internet , there are many web groups, message board groups and even social networking groups that each of us are a part of. One group that I have been a part of since the 2005 is Democraticunderground.com. Democratic Underground is a message board geared towards liberal and Democratic voters in the United States and across the globe. It is aimed at users who are disgruntled at the Bush Administration’s policy during this decade.
I joined in 2005, because I was angry at the way things were handled during the Hurricane Katrina fiasco. I needed to join a community where people had the same frustrations about the government’s handling of Katrina and what I can do to help with the situation. I searched all over the internet for a site that fit my world view of things. I didn’t know what a liberal or conservative was at the time and I didn’t really know who all the politicians were and who the Governor of Louisiana was but I needed to join something where I can relate with other people.
I have been a member of the site for more than three years, and now it is the 2008 elections. Tensions are high and the presidential race is down to its final stretch, and a lot of posters are disrespectful to each more than ever because of the intensity of the elections. However, the board is still a good place to catch up on news and information from a liberal point of view.
The differences that I find with the online community as opposed to the offline community is that there is obviously no face to face interaction. When you are debating with someone about politics and policy and the other person happens to disagree, you want to see their initial reaction. You don’t want to wait 5-10 minutes for a response. So response times are much slower in message board communities than in real life. If the other person wants to react in displeasure, they would usually post an emoticon to show their reaction to a topic. Also the feeling of anonymity is one that feels good, in a way because nobody knows who you are, unless you post a picture, and your much freer to discuss an unpopular viewpoint than if you were in a face to face conversation, that would make you think about the words you say before you say them . Those are the differences between the online and offline communities.
Democratic Underground
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