Online Communities - Chat Rooms and Discussion Boards Essay

Online Communities - Chat Rooms and Discussion Boards To those who have never experienced an online community they may seem pointless, a waste of time or simply childish. However, for those that have expanded beyond the traditional means of communication such as, talking on the telephone or conversing face-to-face, online communities offer a new and exciting means of communication. They offer a chance to meet others, gain advice, voice an opinion, defend an argument, or to simply relax and have a little fun. Acknowledging both points of view, I decided to explore the world of online communities for myself. For my online community I decided to enter a Yahoo, country music, chat room. Through Yahoo, there were many different chat†¦show more content†¦Curse words were thrown around left and right, and it seemed as if everyone was in a big fight over nothing. I also tried posting a comment that said, â€Å"Can’t we all just get along,† and I received two responses; one person told me to â€Å"Shut Up† (lonelycowgirlnee5, yahoo) the other said, â€Å"You seem like a nice girl can I AIM you?†(cowboysainteasy,yahoo) However, the more I observered the room the more I learned, and my first impressions were altered slightly. I found most of the people in the room were in their mid twenties or younger and it appeared everyone knew everyone else. When chatter entered the room, they were greeted by all of their online friends. Chatters seemed to know things and events that were occurring in each others lives and talked as if they were good friends. A lot of bad mouthing and fighting still took place, and one person or another was always making a rude comment that would get everyone into a big argument. The room was constantly full of drama. The guys were always making perverted comments to the girls, and the girls either cursed them or thanked them. While I was in the room I received five AIM messages from guys asking for my name, age, and location to which I did not respond. This kind of talk and actions made me feel like I was back in a high school locker room. I found it annoying and hard to follow, but entertaining. The whole time that I was reading the comments I think the topic of countryShow MoreRelated Online Community Essay1489 Words   |  6 PagesOnline Community After searching through various online communities, I finally found one that looked very interesting and informative to me, fitness.com. I chose an online community in which I would not only gain helpful information and advice, but I could also communicate with people who are interested in the same topic as I am. I knew right away that it was a community rather than just a typical webpage that someone had made. 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