Since I've touched on whether or not I consider these fan discussion boards as an actual virtual "community," I wanted to bring up a reason for why this could be. There seems to be these "social hierarchies" within the web page, with posters and visitors to the site being labeled depending on their usage of the forum. On Television Without Pity, this "social hierarchy" consists of different labels: Just tuned in, Stalker, Loyal Viewer, Couch potato, Fanatic, Video archivist, and Channel surfer.
The site doesn't provide criteria for when or how someone can move up the "social ladder" and having been a member and active poster of the website since early September, I still have not changed from my newbie status of "just tuned in."
In an article we read for class, Watson describes about how the intimacy of a community can be threatened with these social hierarchies. After using the website for a few months, I would agree with this assumption. As I've stated before, it's hard to voice an opinion as someone who has "just tuned in" when all the other posts are by members who are considered "fanatics" and "loyal viewers." I think the discussion board would be more productive and conducive to new members if these labels did not exist.
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