[Air-l] an emerging social phenomenon on the web

[Ellis Godard]

"95 percent" seems an exaggeration. There are groups whose content is
largely flames, but my doctoral research confirmed previous indications
that, Usenet-wide, less than 10% of messages are flames, and far less in
some groups. On the other hand, I also uncovered factors that may generate
online "gangs" such as are described below, though the elements of that are
only subtly included in my dissertation.

-eg

> -----Original Message-----
> From: air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org 
> [mailto:air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Bunz, Ulla
> Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2005 12:08 PM
> To: air-l at aoir.org
> Subject: [Air-l] an emerging social phenomenon on the web
> 
> 
> Forwarded upon request. For inquiries, please contact Wyatt 
> Ehrenfels directly.
> 
> Ulla
> 
>  
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> ---------------
> ---
> 
> From: J. Wyatt Ehrenfels [mailto:jwyattehrenfels at yahoo.com] 
> Sent: Monday, November 21, 2005 9:17 AM
> Subject: an emerging social phenomenon on the Web 
> 
>       I am a social psychologist referred to you (i.e. the 
> Association of Internet Researchers) by a participant of an 
> education and technology listserv who responded favorably to 
> my efforts to raise public awareness about an emerging 
> phenomenon -- amusing yet disturbing -- intellectually 
> stimulating -- I am talking about gang cyberstalking and 
> specifically about the risks of participating in unmoderated 
> news groups.  
> 
>      These news groups are available through the front pages 
> of most ISPs and most prominently through Google. For 
> example, while many psychology department web sites and blogs 
> include the psychology "news groups" in their comprehensive 
> list of resources, over 95 percent of the messages archived! 
> to these "news groups" are flames. No, I'm not talking about 
> adversarial debates about topics relevant to the news group.  
> I'm talking about personal wars.
> 
>       These tastefully-named "news groups" have become home 
> to gangs of anonymous stalkers seeking to harass individuals 
> who contribute unconventional wisdom or complaints to the 
> Web.  These gangs are comprised not only of tech-savvy 
> juveniles and belligerents with criminal and/or psychiatric 
> histories but seasoned academics and practitioners (i.e. 
> professional shills) who adopt menacing personalities under 
> the anonymity afforded by Usenet. (And I'm not talking about 
> "handles" but true aliases supported by anonymizing 
> remailers, free news posting servers, and forgery).
> 
>      The products of these flame wars and defamation in these 
> news groups end up vandalizing Wikipedia and the search e! 
> ngines (especially Google), raising questions about the 
> credibility and educational value of these resources.
> 
>      To offer some insight into the scope of the problem,  I 
> composed a series of related reports about an illustrative 
> self-described "cabal" operating out of unmoderated 
> sci.psychology.psychotherapy.  The reports are offered in the 
> spirit of civic responsibility, social science, and also to 
> entertain its readers while striking a note of caution.
> 
>      I hope you enjoy them. The main report is the following:
> 
> http://www.fireflysun.com/book/sci.psychology.psychotherapy.PUBLIC.php
> 
> with links to related reports in the right navigation bar, 
> including reports that illustrate how Web Resources (e.g. 
> Google, Wikipedia, Amazon.com) are abused or vandalized for 
> the purposes of harassment and defamation:
> 
> http://www.fireflysun.com/book/Google_PUBLIC.php
> 
> http://www.fireflySun.com/en.wikipedia.org.php
> 
> http://www.fireflySun.com/book/stalker_profiles.php
> 
> http://www.fireflySun.com/book/stalkingAmazon.com.php
> 
> http://www.fireflySun.com/book/proxyname.php
> 
> best regards,
> 
> Wyatt Ehrenfels
> 
> 
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