F-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-GHT!!!

March 26, 2004 5:37 AM

"Conflict is an important social force among online communities, as it assists in the construction of hierarchies and social orders without the need for prior knowledge of individual participants or other forms of verification or trust in relation to the claimed identity of others."
posted by Blue Stone (8 comments total)

All right, bring it on...
posted by PigAlien at 5:42 AM on March 26, 2004

Sounds like a guy thang to me. The chatrooms where I hang out are more about playing.
posted by SealWyf at 5:44 AM on March 26, 2004

"Conflict is an important social force among online communities, as it assists in the construction of hierarchies and social orders

What hierarchies?

Have I missed something?

Have the more contentious asshats among us been elevated in their social standing while I wasn't looking?
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 6:29 AM on March 26, 2004

Bow down before me
posted by Outlawyr at 6:33 AM on March 26, 2004

I have noticed this on MeFi. There are certain users here who get more respect than others.
posted by Quartermass at 7:46 AM on March 26, 2004

Typical Hawk-Dove game. When the cost of fighting is high (e.g. injury) the animals avoid the fight (e.g. elephants, wolves), otherwise they might fight to the death (e.g. doves) when placed in closed environment.

Same here, cost of fighting is small, just the opportunity cost of the wasted time. This is why trolls flourish in online communities, they make use of a resource which before had only a low "return": their time.
posted by MzB at 7:57 AM on March 26, 2004

I, for one, welcome our conflicting overlords...
posted by Skaramoosh at 8:21 AM on March 26, 2004

Which is why you ban trolls. To raise the cost of conflict.
posted by inpHilltr8r at 2:28 PM on March 26, 2004