Community

Finding a community to join was interesting because there are so many to choose from. The search became more of what the community offered and what the make up of the community is. The things I might be interested in and subjects that I would like to chat or talk about. This narrowed the list of options and even limited my options. I joined several different groups because of a few points I was very interested in; 1. How disputes are resolved. 2. How the groups participants interact with each other. 3. The types of groups and the differences in participants and how you join and become a member. I made a choice and joined two groups I think have a large audience, AOL Hometown because even today they have more members then any other internet service provider and with each membership you are in the AOL Hometown. The other group (Talk City) I decided to just look and play as a guest because the groups were very tight nit and the members were in conversations with each other in the chat rooms and when you ask a question or comment the members would either ignore my post or I would only get a brief response from a member of the chat room. I found disputes are handled in much the same way between the two groups, although AOL has made some changes because of the new free service people who violate the rules have other options, in the past AOL could suspend the service of an unruly member. If there is a problem and it breaks one of the rules set by the terms of use agreement that you agree to when you join or log into for the first time, then there is procedures that are followed to deal with the dispute. In my searches I did find a group that was interesting and I watched the group for a few weeks before I joined. I wanted to see how disputes were resolved seeing as how the rules for the site are clear and the members break the rules all the time. The group is called “The Lost Diner” the main page looks interesting and the rooms sound very interesting. I follow a link to a room and find that members have filled them with Pornographic photos and links. I return to the rules page to read and find that the terms of use say that you agree not to post this kind of material and the administrators can not prevent it and they will remove it when they can. I can see how the administrators can keep up with the posts, because there are so many of them, but the majority of the posts are these kinds of postings. As of the time of this blog I have asked an administrator of the page how they deal with the mass quantities of pornographic material that is flooding the site everyday. I will post any update once I get a response from the administrator.


Casey