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1.4SituationaldescriptionofInternetforums
27
Thediscussionis,aswasmentionedbefore,asynchronous,whichmeans
thatagiventhreadmayremainaliveforonlyafewhours,orevenminutes,up
toafewmonths,orevenyears(sometimes,atsomeforums,inactivethreads,
i.e.theonesinwhichnonewpostshavebeenwrittenforaspecificperiodof
time,arelockedpermanentlyandnonewpostscanbeaddedthere).Participants
arenotabletointerrupteachotherandthecommunicationoccursinclearly
separatedturns.
Theparticipantsareusuallyanonymoustoeachother;someofthem,though
clearlyaminority,usefirstnames,whilethevastmajorityusevariouskinds
ofnicknamesfunctioningasaparticular,usingChyrzyński)s(2010:81)words,
“InternetID”31(formoreonnicknamesontheInternet,cf.Taras2004,Crystal
2006:165-168,Grzenia2007:130-137,Chyrzyński2010,32Yus2011:42-44,
Żydek-Bednarczuk2013:449).Yus(2011:42-44)seesthemasequivalentsof
propernamesbutatthesametimestressestheinstabilityofnicknames(e.g.
agivenusermaydeletehislheraccountandthenappearontheforumagain,
butusingadifferentnickname;theycanthusbeused“withtheintentionof
concealingtheuser)sidentity,”Yus2011:44).Naturally,oncertainforumsthere
mightbeagroupofuserswhohavemetinrealityand,asaresult,knoweach
otherinperson.33Itappears,however,thatthisismostprobablyaclearminority.
ItcanthusbestatedthatoneofthetypicalfeaturesofanInternetforumisthe
anonymityofitsusers(cf.alsoCrystal2011:13-14).34
Mostforumshavecertainrulesregulatingitslife;theyareusuallywritten
andlocatedinthetopthread.Sometimestherulesaresupplementedorreplaced
byFAQ(frequentlyaskedquestions),i.e.thesetofquestionsandanswers
regulatingthelifeofagivenforumordiscussiongroup(Naruszewicz-Duchlińska
2009:196).Theobservanceofrulesiscontrolledbyforummoderatorsand
administrators.Apartfromtherules,theobservanceofnetiquette,“Internet
savoir-vivre”(Naruszewicz-Duchlińska2009:196),isalsoexpected.35
31
Thesecondmanifestationofone)sidentity,apartfromthenickname,istheuseofspecial
signatures,i.e.afewlinesoftextsaddedtoallpostsofagivenuser(Godzic2000:180).Theyare
veryfrequentlyaphorismsorquotationsfromsongsorpoetry.
32
ThepaperbyChyrzyńskiisespeciallyimportanthere,asitpresentstheclassificationof
InternetnicknamesandanalyzesPolishandEnglishnicknamesonthebasisofselectedsocial
networkingwebsites,discussionforumsandchats.
33
Cf.thecaseoftheforumfortheparentsofdiabeticchildren(BasińskaandŁuczak2014).
34
AsGolusrightlynoticesinconnectionwithchats,anonymitymightbeafacilitatingfactor
forInternetuserstodiscusstopicswhichmightbetooembarrassingfortheminreallife(Golus
2004:34).Ontheotherhand,itmayalsobeafacilitatingfactorformakingoffensiveremarks,as
“theinteractionbetweensenderandreceiverisdifferentfromtraditionalconversation”(Crystal
2011:7).FormoreonsocialandlinguisticaspectsofanonymityontheInternet,cf.Baym(1998)
andTaras(2004).
35
Formoreonnetiquette,cf.Taras(2004:48)andŻydek-Bednarczuk(2013:456).
