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I have just purchased an online discussion forum for use in our local community…its purpose is to unite the community and improve the quality of life in our area with well-moderated discussion. I’m heavily influenced by my experiences here at StayLDS (positive experiences with moderation) as well as participation ranging from deep and long, to short and infrequent at two other discussion forums. And don’t read anything into this research– they are not thinly veiled statements meant to refer to any deficiencies in any person, any moderator or anything. I am simply sharing the research since everyone here has SOME interest in discussion forums or you wouldn’t be visiting here.
One key point was that STIGMA improves the success of the forum. Forums that appeal to people who are stigmatized tend to amplify the success of the forum. Perhaps that is why we have such a strong discussion forum here, as people who are unorthodox, and ostractized in the LDS church definitely carry a stigma — a stigma which doesn’t exist here.
Sadly I can’t post the journal articles here due to limits on the kinds of files that can be posted, and the articles are through a subscription service but here are some cut and paste abstracts and key sections of the articles from scholarly research…
Here is the abstract of one. It’s a bear to post files and even images here….so this is the best I can do: Quote:
Individual and social benefits of online discussion forumsHighlights
• Online discussion forums have benefits at individual and society level.
• They are positively linked to well-being for stigmatised group members.
• Online discussion forum use is linked to offline civic engagement in related areas.
• Identification with other forum users mediates the above relationships.
• Online discussion forums are of greater applied importance than has been realized.
Abstract
There has been much debate surrounding the potential benefits and costs of online interaction. The present research argues that engagement with online discussion forums can have underappreciated benefits for users’ well-being and engagement in offline civic action, and that identification with other online forum users plays a key role in this regard. Users of a variety of online discussion forums participated in this study. We hypothesized and found that participants who felt their expectations had been exceeded by the forum reported higher levels of forum identification. Identification, in turn, predicted their satisfaction with life and involvement in offline civic activities. Formal analyses confirmed that identification served as a mediator for both of these outcomes. Importantly, whether the forum concerned a stigmatized topic moderated certain of these relationships. Findings are discussed in the context of theoretical and applied implications.
Here is another set of indicators of a successful forum: this is aimed at professional forums where you go to get an answer to questions, so filter out that noise, and take away what seems to apply to a non-professional online community like StayLDS. Quote:
Several concepts were derived from the data generated by the users:• The reliability of information providers (personal influences-behavior):Is the level of the member clearly labeled? Most students indicated that they really cared who replied to their questions. If those providing answers are not familiar with the domain, they will probably not use the answer provided.
• Timely and relevant reply to questions (behavioral influences-behaviors): Participants indicated that most times they login to Yahoo Knowledge+ because they have an urgent question that needs to be solved. Therefore, if the information provider replies rapidly, he/she may be rewarded with a token. One girl (ID No. A96002) mentioned that the gossip of other members in the discussion is sometimes a distraction. She believes that an ideal discussion forum would not have any content that is not directly related to the topic.
• The quality of information (environmental influences-person, behaviors): Is the information correct or not? Is the information high quality or not? Is the information clear or not? Participants mentioned that they occasionally received obscure statements, which really annoyed them and forced them to skip the answers provided by those individuals (if the students remembered the provider’s ID).
• The reply is a copy-paste or real knowledge from the information provider (environmental influences-person). Most participants indicated that they would consider a copy-paste answer as perfunctory and hope that the information provider offered a diligent and serious answer. Moreover, individuals who provide copy-paste answers are considered to be cheating to obtain their bonus.
• Do administrators manage the discussion forum (personal influencesperson, environment)? One participant (ID No. A96003) indicated that when he logged into the WeFong discussion forum, he disliked the fact that there are a lot of annoying advertisements and some questions which were unrelated to the topic.
• Do the members of the forum always update the information (behavioral influences-person, behaviors)? One of the participants (ID No. A96001), who is also a member of the WeFong discussion forum, indicated that he really cares about new information because he majors in MIS and technological information changes quickly. Therefore, if the forum did not update the information regularly, he might abandon it in favor of another with more up to date information.
ATTRACTING USERS TO ONLINE DISCUSSION FORUMS 289
• Are there new members in this forum (environmental influences-person)? A number of participants care whether there are new members in the discussion forum. One student (ID No. A96002) said that she believed that if there were only a few newcomers, it would probably present problems because a forum needed many members so that there was a greater likelihood that any question put forward by a member could be answered by another member.
• Do the members of the discussion forum discuss matters politely (behavioral influences-person)? One student (ID No. A96024) indicated her experience of using Yahoo Knowledge+ to answer a question and later receiving a rude comment from another respondent, making her very angry. She considers politeness to be a critical factor for a successful discussion.
Here is more — the types of posts that generate discussion: Again, this is for a commercial context, but take what you can from it as it seems to apply:
Quote:
No Comment?! The Drivers of Reactions to Online Posts in Professional GroupsSocial media has moved beyond personal friendships to professional interactions in high-knowledge industries. In particular, online discussion forums are sponsored by firms aiming to position themselves as thought-leaders, to gain more insight in their customer base and to generate sales leads. However, while firms can seed discussion by posts, they depend on the forum members to continue the discussion in the form of reactions to these posts. The goal of the current study is to investigate what features and characteristics drive the number of comments that a post receives on an online discussion forum. The empirical setting involves a global manufacturer connecting with health care professionals through a LinkedIn discussion forum. We project that (i) content characteristics, (ii) post characteristics, (iii) author characteristics, and (iv) timing characteristics jointly determine the number of comments a post receives. We show that the readability of the post, the controversiality of the content and the status of the post author have the highest elasticity on the number of comments. These results provide valuable insights for firms on how to build and maintain an attractive online forum through ongoing discussions.
•We examine the drivers of reactions to online posts in professional groups.•There is a lot of heterogeneity in the number of comments, many posts evoke none.•We include content, post, author, & timing characteristics as drivers of commenting.•All four types of characteristics contribute to the number of evoked comments.•Readability, content controversiality, and author SES have the largest (+) effect.
Quote:
Trolls Just Want To Have FunIn two online studies (total N=1215), respondents completed personality inventories and a survey of their Internet commenting styles. Overall, strong positive associations emerged among online commenting frequency, trolling enjoyment, and troll identity, pointing to a common construct underlying the measures. Both studies revealed similar patterns of relations between trolling and the Dark Triad of personality: trolling correlated positively with sadism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism, using both enjoyment ratings and identity scores. Of all personality measures, sadism showed the most robust associations with trolling and, importantly, the relationship was specific to trolling behavior. Enjoyment of other online activities, such as chatting and debating, was unrelated to sadism. Thus cyber-trolling appears to be an Internet manifestation of everyday sadism.
Quote:
An Empirical Study of Online Discussion Forums by Library and Information Science Postgraduate Students using Technology Acceptance Model 3.Abstract:
E-learning is an important trend globally that is believed to enhance the acquisition of knowledge by students within and outside the classroom to improve their academic pursuit. The Online Discussion Forum (ODF) is one of the tools that are used for e-learning in Nigerian universities. It facilitates interaction among postgraduate students as they can communicate and share information sources with one another to promote learning. However, the optimum use of this forum is determined by anchor factors in TAM 3 such as computer self-efficacy, perceptions of external control, computer anxiety and computer playfulness. A conceptual model based on TAM 3 was proposed and empirically tested. Using a survey research design and an online questionnaire for 121 Library and Information Science (LIS) postgraduate students, the paper demonstrated that computer self-efficacy, perceptions of external control, computer anxiety and computer playfulness have significant influence on the use of ODF. The paper therefore proposes that Online Discussion Forums should be encouraged for learning in postgraduate education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Here is an article on who uses online discussion forums from Pew… If you download the complete report to the very right of the screen, it goes into who uses all the different social media platforms out there…what age group, how many internet users actually use them, etcetera. Discussion forum users are about 15% of the Internet users, while facebook has 72% of them. Wow!
Wow. Lots of great information SD. There truly is an art and a science to crafting a successful discussion forum. Roy wrote:
Wow. Lots of great information SD. There truly is an art and a science to crafting a successful discussion forum.
The part I found most interesting is that trolling is most closely related to the sadistic personality disorder. That it’s simply an expression of their desire to hurt others. Fascinating. I am glad there aren’t any here. I have seen them on other forums…
Thanks, SD. These are excellent resources. Group discussions can be tricky – and every adjective imaginable. It is good to do the homework, but, in the end, it is as much art and intuition as science.
Kind of like raising kids who are very different.
I came across some more research related to online comments, not specifically internet discussion forums. The short answer is that Vermont is one of the most trollish states with a high proportion of comments considered toxic and likely to make you leave the discussion. Mormon belt states tended to have significantly lower percentages of trollish comments in the sample the researchers took. This is consistent with my observation that Mormons tend to be more interested in good relationships than other, non-Mormons I have interfaced with in the community over the last several years. I am not saying that people of other religions are less interested in relationships, simply that when I have compared my experiences in the LDS church with my experiences in the community at large (non-members, mostly), the church people show greater kindness and respect for relationships in general. Less backbiting, less meanness, less political behavior in the organization. I assume that translates in less trolling comments.
Enjoy:
SilentDawning wrote:
I came across some more research related to online comments, not specifically internet discussion forums. The short answer is that Vermont is one of the most trollish states with a high proportion of comments considered toxic and likely to make you leave the discussion.
That sounds like something HITLER WOULD SAY!!!
In all seriousness, I really appreciate these insights. The internet is a wonderful place; its just a shame how toxic people can get in anonymity. Great articles!
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