DOCSLIB.ORG

02-Paolillo 1..9999

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
02-Paolillo 1..9999 c:/3socio/5-2/02-paolillo.3d ± 3/4/1 ± 18:21 ± disk/mp Journal of Sociolinguistics 5/2, 2001: 180±213 Language variation on Internet Relay Chat: A social network approach1 John C. Paolillo University of Texas at Arlington and Indiana University This paper examines linguistic variation on an Internet Relay Chat channel with respect to the hypothesis, based on the model of Milroy and Milroy (1992), that standard variants tend to be associated with weak social network ties, while vernacular variants are associated with strong network ties. An analysis of frequency of contact as a measure of tie strength reveals a structured relationship between tie strength and several linguistic variants. However, the variant features are associated with social positions in a way that does not correlate neatly with tie strength. An account of these results is proposed in terms of the social functions of the dierent variables and the larger social context of IRC aecting tie strength. KEYWORDS: Social networks, language variation, computer-mediated communication (CMC), Internet Relay Chat 1. INTRODUCTION The 1990s will be remembered as the decade in which the Internet and its protocols for communication (e-mail, Listserv discussions, Usenet news, the World-Wide Web, Internet Relay Chat, etc.) arrived in the lives of millions of people around the world. Almost from the outset of its popularization, digital technology enthusiasts promoted the Internet as a means for fostering social connection and community-building among geographically dispersed people in `virtual communities' (Rheingold 1993), where `virtual' denotes, as in com- puter science, something manifest only in a realm of electronic information. As social structures manifest largely through language, virtual communities have also attracted the interest of sociolinguists studying computer-mediated com- munication (CMC) (Baym 1996; Cherny 1999; Collot and Belmore 1996; Ferrara, Brunner and Whittemore 1991; Herring 1994, 1996, in press; Murray 1988; Paolillo 1996). This research has focused predominantly on ethnographic and interactional aspects of electronic discourse: in-group lan- guage, patterns of participation, turn-taking, and message schemata. In these studies, virtual communities are viewed as speech communities or discourse communities that may or may not have a prior o-line existence, where some # Published by Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 2001 108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX41JF, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden MA 02148,USA. c:/3socio/5-2/02-paolillo.3d ± 3/4/1 ± 18:21 ± disk/mp LANGUAGE VARIATION ON INTERNET RELAY CHAT 181 important part of that group's participation takes place through computer- mediated communication. Such on-line social groups often exhibit variation in micro-linguistic structures. For example, in the community studied by Cherny (1999), prepositions could be deleted in certain widely used expressions: `Henry nods (at) George' (Cherry 1999: 89). As yet, few empirical studies exist relating such micro-linguistic variation to the social mechanisms by which virtual communities are structured and maintained. Sociolinguistic research on computer-mediated communication faces an immediate problem, namely, articulating a basis from which to discuss the social identities of participants. Oftentimes, information about participants' `real-life' social identities can be dicult to obtain, because they use on-line monikers that obfuscate or falsify their o-line identities, and because they can change the on-line cues to their identities by using dierent computer accounts. In circumstances such as this, where there are few reliable cues to social structure, a social network approach is often bene®cial, since it permits social structure to be observed directly from patterns of interaction (Milroy and Milroy 1992: 4±6). This is appealing for the study of CMC, where social background information is scarce, and where the only observable social structure may be that which emerges through on-line interaction. A small but growing number of CMC studies has adopted a social network perspective (Garton, Haythornthwaite and Wellman 1999; Rice 1994; Wellman and Gulia 1999). However these studies are directed at the analysis of social interaction itself, and not linguistic variation. In the present study, I conduct a social network analysis of linguistic variation in an on-line community on a form of multi-participant CMC called `Internet Relay Chat' (IRC), in which users interact in real time by typing text messages from their computer terminals. The participants are mostly expatriate South Asians or their children who interact on the channel #india, using Hindi codeswitching together with more widespread features of IRC language. The study tests a hypothesis derived from the model of social network and language variation of Milroy and Milroy (1992), according to which vernacular variables ± those which are not legitimized by the dominant group ± are expected to be used more frequently by members of the community with stronger social network ties. The results of the analysis reveal a highly-structured relationship in which the variables' interactional functions and social values in¯uence their association with tie strength, at times calling into question their hypothesized vernacular status. I account for these observations in terms of factors in the larger social context of IRC that both weaken the dominance of powerful groups and cause weak ties to predominate. Variables arise which are `standard', yet non-legitimized, through the role of weak ties in enforcing macro-social cohesion (Granovetter 1973). The remainder of this paper is laid out as follows. Section 2 introduces IRC, Milroy and Milroy's (1992) model of social network and language variation, and the channel #india. Section 3 explains the data collection and analytical procedures used to measure tie strength and their relation to linguistic # Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 2001 c:/3socio/5-2/02-paolillo.3d ± 3/4/1 ± 18:21 ± disk/mp 182 PAOLILLO variation. Section 4presents the results of the social network analysis, its interpretation in terms of tie strength, the correlation of participant groups and linguistic variables, and the relationship of the observed variation to tie strength. Section 5 integrates the interpretation of these ®ndings into a more general model of tie strength and language variation. Section 6 presents the conclusions drawn from this study for the sociolinguistics of CMC. 2. THE SOCIAL ANDLINGUISTIC ENVIRONMENT OF IRC 2.1 The IRC medium On IRC, users engage in simultaneous, multi-party interactions, hosted on `channels' that are maintained by a network of servers (Werry 1996). When users connect to a server on a particular IRC network using a client program and `join' a channel, they immediately start to see messages from other users appear on their screens; as messages are added, the text on the screen scrolls upward, allowing the user to see new messages as they arrive. To send messages to the channel, users type in a buer window and hit the return key. A typical IRC session from the channel #india is given in Example 1 (line numbers have been added in this and all other examples for ease of reference), in which the researcher joined #india under the nickname `gora'. Example 1. A typical IRC log from the channel #india (all typographical and spelling errors appear as they occur in the original).2 1. *** gora ([email protected]) has joined channel #india 2. *** HighChief has left channel #india 3. * Zainaa PRince-1!! 4. *** Sandhya has left channel #india 5. 5Dr_K94 Gujju- hehehe muthafucka, i know khamoshi is a bot, but someone is on the bot ad talking thru it .. that's who i am tlaking to!! heheh ur a moron, muthafucka !! 6. 5shareen4 ANYONE HERE FROM BKK? 7. *** bhim ([email protected]) has joined channel #india 8. 5shareen4 ANYONE HERE FROM BKK? 9. * Zainaa H E L L O ! PRince-1 H E L L O ! H E L L O ! PRince-1 H E L L O ! H E L L O ! PRince-1 H E L L O ! 10. *** True^Love is now known as Nicole 11. 5lilly4 hi guys 12. 5lilly4 hi guys 13. 5Dr_K94 hi lilly.. would u like to have a quickie netsex with me? 14. 5lilly4 yup me 15. *** Signo: TripleX (Operation timed out) 16. 5Pavitra4 Gujju: hiya:) 17. *** amesha ([email protected]) has joined channel #india 18. *** Signo: Sheraz (Connection reset by peer) # Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 2001 c:/3socio/5-2/02-paolillo.3d ± 3/4/1 ± 18:21 ± disk/mp LANGUAGE VARIATION ON INTERNET RELAY CHAT 183 19. * Gujju walks slowly . towards. Lilly. and screams. HIIIIIiiiii ya lilly . to kisko milli? 20. 5Gujju4 Hi pavitra..hows it going? 21. * ¯amenco wonders if gujju is ajit the villain 22. 5Pavitra4 Gujju: Its going great..and urself? 23. *** pyckle ([email protected]) has joined channel #india 24. * Gujju is no villan 25. * Gujju is a gujju 26. * Gujju laughts 27. * ¯amenco wonders if ajit the villain is gujju 28. *** Gujju has left channel #india 29. *** Gujju ([email protected]) has joined channel #india 30. 5Gujju4 tnt2 OPME 31. 5lilly4 no i don't dr-k9 32. 5Dr_K94 lilly- why not ? 33. *** Mode change ``+ooo Gujju'' on channel #india by KhAm0sHi 34. *** Signo: DESIBABU (Leaving) 35. 5¯amenco4 scatman:) ) hows u? 36. *** Akshay ([email protected]) has joined channel #india 37. *** pyckle has left channel #india 38. *** k0oLaS|Ce is now known as SEXPL0S|V 39. *** umdhall1 ([email protected]) has joined channel #india 40. 5lilly4 cause i don't wanna 41. * Gujju tells Dr_K9 there is no one talking throught the bot hahaha ...u idiot.. Khamoshi is programmed to do that..once in a while..randomly.. 42. *** umdhall1 is now known as Panchaud Prior to joining a channel, users select a nickname (`nick') by which to be known on the channel. In the default mode of communication on IRC, users type something to be broadcast to the channel, hit the return key, and the system displays it with the user's nick appended inside angle brackets (as in lines 5, 6, 8, 11, 12, 13, etc.).
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Application Log Analysis
    Masarykova univerzita Fakulta}w¡¢£¤¥¦§¨ informatiky !"#$%&'()+,-./012345<yA| Application Log Analysis Master’s thesis Júlia Murínová Brno, 2015 Declaration Hereby I declare, that this paper is my original authorial work, which I have worked out by my own. All sources, references and literature used or excerpted during elaboration of this work are properly cited and listed in complete reference to the due source. Júlia Murínová Advisor: doc. RNDr. Vlastislav Dohnal, Ph.D. iii Acknowledgement I would like to express my gratitude to doc. RNDr. Vlastislav Dohnal, Ph.D. for his guidance and help during work on this thesis. Furthermore I would like to thank my parents, friends and family for their continuous support. My thanks also belongs to my boyfriend for all his assistance and help. v Abstract The goal of this thesis is to introduce the log analysis area in general, compare available systems for web log analysis, choose an appropriate solution for sample data and implement the proposed solution. Thesis contains overview of monitoring and log analysis, specifics of application log analysis and log file formats definitions. Various available systems for log analysis both proprietary and open-source are compared and categorized with overview comparison tables of supported functionality. Based on the comparison and requirements analysis appropriate solution for sample data is chosen. The ELK stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash and Kibana) and ElastAlert framework are deployed and configured for analysis of sample application log data. Logstash configuration is adjusted for collecting, parsing and processing sample data input supporting reading from file as well as online socket logs collection. Additional information for anomaly detection is computed and added to log records in Logstash processing.
    [Show full text]
  • Analysis of Web Logs and Web User in Web Mining
    International Journal of Network Security & Its Applications (IJNSA), Vol.3, No.1, January 2011 ANALYSIS OF WEB LOGS AND WEB USER IN WEB MINING L.K. Joshila Grace 1, V.Maheswari 2, Dhinaharan Nagamalai 3, 1Research Scholar, Department of Computer Science and Engineering [email protected] 2 Professor and Head,Department of Computer Applications 1,2 Sathyabama University,Chennai,India 3Wireilla Net Solutions PTY Ltd, Australia ABSTRACT Log files contain information about User Name, IP Address, Time Stamp, Access Request, number of Bytes Transferred, Result Status, URL that Referred and User Agent. The log files are maintained by the web servers. By analysing these log files gives a neat idea about the user. This paper gives a detailed discussion about these log files, their formats, their creation, access procedures, their uses, various algorithms used and the additional parameters that can be used in the log files which in turn gives way to an effective mining. It also provides the idea of creating an extended log file and learning the user behaviour. KEYWORDS Web Log file, Web usage mining, Web servers, Log data, Log Level directive. 1. INTRODUCTION Log files are files that list the actions that have been occurred. These log files reside in the web server. Computers that deliver the web pages are called as web servers. The Web server stores all of the files necessary to display the Web pages on the users computer. All the individual web pages combines together to form the completeness of a Web site. Images/graphic files and any scripts that make dynamic elements of the site function.
    [Show full text]
  • Why Do People Seek Anonymity on the Internet?
    Why Do People Seek Anonymity on the Internet? Informing Policy and Design Ruogu Kang1, Stephanie Brown2, Sara Kiesler1 Human Computer Interaction Institute1 Department of Psychology2 Carnegie Mellon University 5000 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15213 [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] ABSTRACT literature that exists mainly derives from studies of one or a In this research we set out to discover why and how people few online communities or activities (e.g., the study of seek anonymity in their online interactions. Our goal is to 4chan in [5]). We lack a full understanding of the real life inform policy and the design of future Internet architecture circumstances surrounding people’s experiences of seeking and applications. We interviewed 44 people from America, anonymity and their feelings about the tradeoffs between Asia, Europe, and Africa who had sought anonymity and anonymity and identifiability. A main purpose of the asked them about their experiences. A key finding of our research reported here was to learn more about how people research is the very large variation in interviewees’ past think about online anonymity and why they seek it. More experiences and life situations leading them to seek specifically, we wanted to capture a broad slice of user anonymity, and how they tried to achieve it. Our results activities and experiences from people who have actually suggest implications for the design of online communities, sought anonymity, to investigate their experiences, and to challenges for policy, and ways to improve anonymity tools understand their attitudes about anonymous and identified and educate users about the different routes and threats to communication.
    [Show full text]
  • Don't Feed the Trolls: a Cautionary Tale
    Don’t Feed the Trolls: others (Linux, of course). In fact, the phrase originated as a reference to the A Cautionary Tale comic book the Fantastic Four, as one of the characters could turn himself DANA SAMUEL into a Human Torch. Chat participants would use the HTML‐styled, bracketed annotation to insult other participants online. In Eddo Stern’s Best. Flame War. Ever. we are presented with an online argu‐ <flame on> You’re pretty stupid for ment over seemingly insignificant not knowing what MMPORPG means. game‐playing topics that grows quickly Go look it up on Wiki. </flame off> out of proportion and out of the realm of online experience. Two collaged When the internet opened to the animated masks – each an amalgam of commercial world, and more people heraldry, knighthood, pixilated joined these groups, more language warriors, fantasy species, castles, and jargon was developed to describe shields and symbols – animate a flame the goings‐on in these communities. A war that actually took place online “troll” is one who writes nasty flames over the role‐playing game Everquest, just to make others angry and to be an MMPORPG. annoying. “Meat‐puppets” and “sock‐ Did I just make you feel like a total puppets” are those who are deceptive “newb”? about their identities or their true Online games, discussion boards and allegiances on a discussion board. communities have developed their How all very “D&D.” own language since these online It’s said, by several theorists, that worlds were first populated in people can be more uninhibited online, research and academia, and then, later they can change their personality, role‐ (post‐cold war, after the military had play and morph into who they no need for such a specialized perceive themselves to be.
    [Show full text]
  • CS 508 102 NOTE Definition of Flaming, Which Asserts Both a Behavioral and Reproductions Supplied by EDRS Are the Best That
    DOCUMENT RESUME ED 355 572 CS 508 102 AUTHOR Thompsen, Philip A. TITLE A Social Influence Model of Flaming in Computer-Mediated Communication. PUB DATE Feb 93 NOTE 9p.; Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Western States Communication Association (64th, Albuquerque, NM, February 12-16, 1993). PUB TYPE Speeches/Conference Papers (150) -- Viewpoints (Opinion/Position Papers, Essays, etc.) (120) EDRS PRICE MFO1 /PCO1 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Communication Research; Definitions; *Electronic Mail; Higher Education; Interpersonal Communication; Models; *Social Influences IDENTIFIERS *Communication Behavior; Computer Mediated Communication; *Flaming (Computei Mediated Communication) ABSTRACT This paper explores the phenomenon of "flaming," which has been typically cited as an antisocial effect of computer-mediated communication. The paper discusses the diverse range of conceptual and operational definitions of flaming found in the literature. The paper offers a four-point critique of previous theoretical explanations of flaming, and suggests an alternative definition of flaming, which asserts both a behavioral and interpretive dimension to flaming. Drawing from the work of J. Fulk, J. Schmitz, and C. W. Steinfield, the paper then develops a social influence model of flaming that provides.a more flexible and powerful approach than previous theories, while yielding potentially useful insights to guide future research. A figure representing the model is included. (Contains 56 references.)(RS) ***********************************************************************
    [Show full text]
  • Literature Review.Docx
    HOW COMPUTER-MEDIATED COMMUNICATION CAN CONFUSE EMOTIONS IN DIVERSE TEAMS by Adam Bartek Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Departmental Honors in the Department of Information Systems and Supply Chain Management Texas Christian University Fort Worth, Texas May 2, 2014 ii HOW COMPUTER-MEDIATED COMMUNICATION CAN CONFUSE EMOTIONS IN DIVERSE TEAMS Project Approved: Supervising Professor: Beata Jones, Ph.D. Department of Information Systems and Supply Chain Management Charles Greer, Ph.D. Department of Management, Entrepreneurship, and Leadership David Preston, Ph.D. Department of Information Systems and Supply Chain Management iii ABSTRACT This study focused on how various forms of CMC (Computer-mediated communication) were perceived and analyzed in a team setting by different genders and members of different generational groups. Specifically, the aspects of flaming, emoticons, and conflict resolution were examined in detail. Hypotheses concerning flaming were mixed as while all participants disliked flaming, baby boomer-age respondents were more tolerant of it. However, all hypotheses concerning emoticon usage were not supported. Neither gender specifically supported emoticon usage. Also, younger generations were not as supportive of emoticon usage in a team setting as expected. Finally, mixed results were found for hypotheses concerning conflict resolution. While male respondents were more comfortable with conflict over CMC, there was no significantly higher level of comfort concerning conflict and CMC for younger generations. Implications and possible avenues for future research are also discussed. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This paper would not exist without the assistance and help of numerous professors, advisors, family, and friends. In particular, the guidance of the thesis committee was greatly appreciated.
    [Show full text]
  • I Give Permission for Public Access to My Thesis and for Any Copying to Be Done at the Discretion of the Archives Librarian And/Or the College Librarian
    1 I give permission for public access to my thesis and for any copying to be done at the discretion of the archives librarian and/or the College librarian. Emily Merritt 06/22/12 An Analysis of the Discourse of Internet Trolling: A Case Study of Reddit.com Student presenter: Emily Rose Merritt Project advisor: Esther Castro-Cuenca With the proliferation of social media and community discussion and forum websites, interest in understanding and explaining communication on the Internet (with an emphasis on language-based communication) is on the rise. Over time, new genres of interaction have developed that take place primarily or exclusively in online communication, and with them has developed the need to investigate the structure of these interactions, what their function is within conversations and communities, what their place is within certain Internet discourses, and over time what effects they have on communication on and offline. Thus far many of these genres have been deemed at best disruptive and at worst anti-social, but when studied from a judgment-free point of view show high levels of complexity and offer us excellent opportunities to understand how the Internet is shaping and being shaped by new kinds and contexts of communication. One of these genres of interaction that has gained significant fame on some very popular forums and discussion sites is called trolling. Trolling occurs on discussion sites or message boards when a user intentionally posts erroneous or inflammatory information with the intention of provoking a strong reaction out of other users. The objective of this study is to understand the complexities of trolling, as well as some of its functions and outcomes in anonymous online communication.
    [Show full text]
  • Online Flaming
    INSIGHTS Building parent-school partnerships WORDS Catherine Gerhardt Online Flaming So what is online flaming? Catherine Gerhardt gives us the lowdown plus practical tips for parents to recognise the signs and how to respond should your child be affected. A friend of mine lives with avid teenage contribute to online flaming: the of the responsibility that comes with gamers, and she was horrified to discover apparent anonymity and invisibility of the privilege of using the technology. In recently the language and the insults the Internet, the lag between sending a most cases parents have either supplied that her children were exposed to while message and getting feedback, and the the device or pay the bills for usage – engaging in a popular online game with minimum authority that seems to exist in that means you have the responsibility their friends. digital spaces. and the right to control it. Mutual respect Flame wars have become a major As parents we often complain that is required here, having password control online annoyance. When people start we can’t keep up with the technology does not give you permission to spy, and a flame war they are deliberately trying our kids are using, however many of us your child needs to know they are being to stir up trouble, start a fight and get a agree that we want to be their first point monitored. reaction. Flaming is all too common on of call if things go wrong. Parents can Let me tell you the story of another multi-player gaming sites, chat rooms, be their child’s strongest asset in the friend of mine who had been line of defence against negative online message forums and social media sites.
    [Show full text]
  • Uncovering Flaming Events on News Media in Social Media Praboda Rajapaksha, Reza Farahbakhsh, Noel Crespi, Bruno Defude
    Uncovering flaming events on news media in social media Praboda Rajapaksha, Reza Farahbakhsh, Noel Crespi, Bruno Defude To cite this version: Praboda Rajapaksha, Reza Farahbakhsh, Noel Crespi, Bruno Defude. Uncovering flam- ing events on news media in social media. IPCCC 2019: 38th International Performance Computing and Communications Conference, Oct 2019, Londres, United Kingdom. pp.1-9, 10.1109/IPCCC47392.2019.8958759. hal-02363443 HAL Id: hal-02363443 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02363443 Submitted on 14 Nov 2019 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Uncovering Flaming Events on News Media in Social Media Praboda Rajapaksha, Reza Farahbakhsh, Noel Crespi, Bruno Defude To cite this version: Praboda Rajapaksha, Reza Farahbakhsh, Noel Crespi, Bruno Defude. Uncovering Flaming Events on News Media in Social Media. International Performance Computing and Communications Conference, Oct 2019, London, United Kingdom. hal-02363443 HAL Id: hal-02363443 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02363443 Submitted on 14 Nov 2019 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not.
    [Show full text]
  • System Log Files Kernel Ring Buffer Viewing Log Files the Log Files
    System Log Files Most log files are found in /var/log Checking logs are critical to see if things are working correctly Checking logs is critical to see if things are working correctly. Take a look at all the log files on scratch ls /var/log Kernel Ring Buffer The kernel ring buffer is something like a log file for the kernel; however, unlike other log files, it’s stored in memory rather than in a disk file. You can use the dmesg command to view it. Many times it is logged to /var/log/dmesg as well. It requires sudo privileges to read the /var/log/dmesg file, but not to run the dmesg command. Viewing log files There are a number of commands to view log files. cat less head tail Anytime a new entry is added to a log file, it is appended to the end of the file. This is one of those times where tail is particularly useful. Usually when we want to look at log files we want to look at the most recent entries. When organizing our viewing command - order matters. Most of the following commands produce different results. And all are useful depending on what type of results you want. Go through the thought process and figure out what each command does. Can you figure out which three produce identical results? cat /var/log/syslog cat /var/log/syslog | grep daemon cat /var/log/syslog | grep daemon | tail -n 10 cat /var/log/syslog | tail -n 10 cat /var/log/syslog | tail -n 10 | grep daemon less /var/log/syslog less /var/log/syslog | tail -n 10 | grep daemon head -n 10 /var/log/syslog head -n 10 /var/log/syslog | grep daemon tail -n 10 /var/log/syslog tail -n 10 /var/log/syslog | grep daemon If you add the -f option to the tail command it provides a live watch of the log file.
    [Show full text]
  • Netiquette (Adapted for Web Design 1) We Expect Other Drivers to Observe the Rules of the Road
    Netiquette (Adapted for Web Design 1) We expect other drivers to observe the rules of the road. The same is true as we travel through cyberspace. That's where netiquette, a term allegedly coined from either network etiquette or Internet etiquette comes in handy. To guide you through your online communications, keep these pointers in mind: 1.Avoid writing e-mail or posting messages in blogs, newsgroups, forums, chat rooms and other online venues using all capital letters. IT LOOKS LIKE YOU'RE SHOUTING! Not only that, it's difficult to read. 2.When you talk with someone, the tone and inflections of your voice convey great meaning. For informal written conversations (avoid when a professional tone is required), you can add personality and humor to your messages with smileys, also known as emoticons. These are expressions you create using the characters on your keyboard. Below are some of the more popular smileys. Can you guess what they mean? Go to the end of this page to find out. 3.Keep your written communications focused. This is true whether sending e-mail or posting messages online. Few people like reading lengthy text on a computer screen. Many people now receive e-mail on mobile phones and other portable devices. Tiny screens make reading e- mail challenging. 4.To shorten messages for informal written conversations (avoid when a professional tone is required), use common abbreviations: < BTW > means By the Way. A < G > enclosed in brackets indicates grinning. < IMHO > means In My Humble Opinion. A good one to keep handy in case you're worried about offending someone is < ROTFL > measn Rolling on the Floor Laughing.
    [Show full text]
  • Wallstreetbets: Positions Or Ban Christian J. Boylston, Beatriz E
    WallStreetBets: Positions or Ban Christian J. Boylston, Beatriz E. Palacios, Plamen T. Tassev Georgia Institute of Technology WallStreetBets 2 Abstract r/wallstreetbets (WallStreetBets or WSB) is a subreddit devoted to irreverent memes and high-risk options tradings. As of March 30, 2020 the subreddit boasts a usership of nearly 1.1 million subscribers and self-describes as “if 4chan found a Bloomberg terminal.” This paper will utilize Amy Jo Kim’s community design principles along with social psychology theory as frameworks to understand how this chaotic, oftentimes offensive community has developed one of the largest and most loyal user bases on the platform. We further will argue that humor plays a vital role in promoting in-group cohesion and in providing an unconventional third place for traders (and thinly veiled gamblers) to seek support from each other in the form of vulgar, yet good-humored taunting. Keywords: high risk trading, humor, online community, third place, gambling ​ WallStreetBets 3 WallStreetBets: Positions or Ban r/wallstreetbets (WallStreetBets or WSB) is a subreddit devoted to irreverent memes and high-risk options tradings. As of March 30, 2020 the subreddit boasts a usership of nearly 1.1 million subscribers. Members congregate here to talk shop about the market, share outlandish memes, and pepper each other with light-hearted teasing and support in equal measure. The community occupies an irreplicable space in the Reddit landscape with its instantly recognizable linguistic style, headline-catching antics, and vast reservoir of overzealous devotees. This paper will utilize Amy Jo Kim’s community design principles along with social psychology theory as frameworks to understand how this chaotic, oftentimes offensive community has developed one of the largest and most loyal user bases on the platform.
    [Show full text]