Chatting, Online Communities, and Cyber-Rape :: Personal Response Chat Message Essays

Chatting, Online Communities, and Cyber-Rape What is an online community? An online community is a computer location where people can go to access information or to get an answer to a question that they might have. Examples of online communities are chat rooms and discussion boards. Chatting, posting, and responding to different things on the internet are some of my favorite activities. With just a click of a button, I am able to access any topic, from the weather forecast to the score of yesterday’s football game. Online communities are fun and interesting. However, some people find them addictive and harmful. My membership in an online community showed me the necessity for self-discipline so that I could enjoy the benefits of this experience without risking psychological damage. On Thursday, October 3, 2002, through Monday October 7, 2002, I performed a 5-day project that enabled me to search for an online community, become a member, observe what was going on, and respond to the community. I searched everywhere looking for a community that satisfied my interests, but I could not find one. I finally logged on to http://www.mtv.com/community/message_boards/ . This is a website that gives people all kinds of information, whether it is about news or music issues. While surfing this site, I found out that it had discussion boards and chat rooms. I logged on as a guest, and then I looked around the site to see if this was the community for me. I browsed through many of the discussion boards offered, but I did not post any messages because I was just observing what was going on. While observing, I read different responses people had posted on particular topics. The language that they were using was plains and simple often consisting of incomplete sentences. The messages that I read were mainly about music. Since listening to music is another one of my favorite hobbies, I felt that joining a message board pertaining to music would give me better insights into favorite choices of music. The people who logged onto this website seemed cool and easy to talk to. They were of all ages, ranging from teens to adults. They also were from varied ethnic backgrounds and lived in places all over the country.