Posted by Dr. Bob on October 10, 2000, at 11:54:49
In reply to Re: Hypotheses about Online Text Communication, posted by Leonardo on October 10, 2000, at 6:23:55
> 1) If you haven't used the internet/newsgroups before there can be a very big barrier to getting started. I read various groups for about a year before actually getting around to posting (I don't have home PC, and was reluctant to post from work, also didn't really understand how private groups are. I now know that some are not very private, you can be traced through IP addresses etc..)
So it was not wanting to be traced that kept you from posting? And once you learned more about the issue, you felt reassured?
Before you started posting, did you feel comfortable enough to make use of any offline alternatives?
Finally, I think it's significant, and probably worth making into another hypothesis, that online groups can be easier to join because it's possible to get comfortable with them by lurking before participating more actively.
> 2) Getting positive feedback can give you a boost, but criticism or negative feedback is very damaging when you are depressed.
>
> 3) Just posting and getting things off your chest is a help, but getting no replies to your messages is very damaging emotionally (nakes you feel worthless that noone could be bothered to reply.Right, this is along the lines of what Greg was saying, there are two sides to some of these issues.
> 4) You can get a feeling of being part of a community, but I think this is largely illusory. After returning to a group after a few months I realised I had no meaningful connections left from the contacts I knew before, which made me feel very lonely, and also that the previous interactions were a waste of time.
Hmm, when you returned, the people you knew before weren't there anymore, or they were still there but the feeling of being connected to them wasn't?
Just because something doesn't last doesn't necessarily mean it's a waste of time...
> 5) You can definitely get addicted, and rely too much on what you expect to find from the group. Occasionally you can get a gem of support or information, but mostly not on the whole I have found.
That's an interesting idea, that you might find gems online, but not enough to make it really worth looking for them there.
Bob
poster:Dr. Bob
thread:844
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20000813/msgs/926.html