Buffy Boards R us!

[elmo]

Hi everybody.

I'm a sociology student at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland and I've been an active member of the boards for about 4 years now. I'm currently doing a research project and I'm interested in online communities in particular. I would like to learn more about Buffy-Boards. I need your help.

Disclaimer: Any information posted in this thread will be used in the study unless the member specifically requests otherwise. Please be reassured, however that all information provided will be treated anonymously. Also, if you are unsure about posting your views on the open board you are more than welcome to PM me with any thoughts or contributions you would like to make.

Firstly, I'd like to start by asking a few questions:

Buffy Boards and You
1 - What brought you to Buffy-Boards?
2 - What made you stay?
3 - Has the place changed since you joined? If so, in what ways has it changed?

Buffy Boards and others
1 - Would you say you've made friends here on the boards?
2 - Are those relationships similar to or different from "real life" relationships? In what ways?
3 - Is an online community more or less social than an offline one? Why?

Online communities
1 - What, in your opinion, makes an online community work?
2 - What makes it similar to or different from a physical community?
3 - Under what circumstances would it not work?

Please feel free to add any other thoughts on the subject. I would be very interested in reading them. :) Thank you for your time.

[GATEGOD]

I answered some...
:coolman:

Buffy Boards and You
1 - What brought you to Buffy-Boards? Started rewatching the show and wanted somewhere to talk about it!
2 - What made you stay? Very cool things such as the many different sections, templates, people, and the house and rpg system(even though nothing was happening)
3 - Has the place changed since you joined? If so, in what ways has it changed? I think i got you to start up the rpg again ^_^ Can't think of anything else

Online communities
1 - What, in your opinion, makes an online community work? Lots of active members and leaders. Without that everything falls apart.
2 - What makes it similar to or different from a physical community?
3 - Under what circumstances would it not work? If you cracked down on my many faults :lmao:

[elmo]

2 - What made you stay? Very cool things such as the many different sections, templates, people, and the house and rpg system(even though nothing was happening)

So Buffy brought you here and other sections make you want to stay? Do you think that, if we didn't have other sections (non buffy related), that the forum wouldn't thrive?

[GATEGOD]

So Buffy brought you here and other sections make you want to stay? Do you think that, if we didn't have other sections (non buffy related), that the forum wouldn't thrive?

If ya had more sections it would even be better ^_^ Talking about shows that are still on that people can watch every week, I know there are threads scattered around somewhere with them, but not alot of people know where they are ^.^ I haven't seen anyone posting in a Heroes thread or House or anything not in the whedonverse ^.^ Course I could just not be looking hard enough maybe i should go post in those threads myself right now!!!!! bye >.<

[elmo]

In the time that I've been on the boards it has changed considerably. They have expanded to include many other sections designed for discussion of other Whedonverse shows. I do think that it's important to have a specific theme on a forum and, although the boards are expanding, becoming a more general discussion board might not be healthy for the community as it's harder for members to find things that they might have in common. What do you all think about that?

[Tranquillity]

Buffy Boards and You
1 - What brought you to Buffy-Boards?
I stumbled across the Buffy-boards while looking for a place to discuss buffy. It was just a random find, no one reccomended it, but i was looking for a discussion board at the time

2 - What made you stay?
I liked the BB because it seemed friendly and active. In my quest for a good discussion board i had tried a lot of them - many of them seemed to just host arguments (mainly over Spike vs Angel) and for a newbie, it seemed very difficult to break into the community. many of the boards were stagnant and it could take weeks to get a decent array of new posts to view and respond to. The BB is on the whole pretty friendly, disagreements do occur but they don't seem to get as mean and nasty here - gosh we can even debate Spike and Angel with a level of civility and good humor so that's saying something! plus its active! i can visit daily and always find something to respond to.

3 - Has the place changed since you joined? If so, in what ways has it changed?
i haven't noticed many changes, just that members come and go. you get patches of really strong activity from people then they drift away.

Buffy Boards and others
1 - Would you say you've made friends here on the boards?
Not friends - cyber-aquaintences more like.

2 - Are those relationships similar to or different from "real life" relationships? In what ways?
for me, not at all like a 'real-life' relationship- i mean i don't know them beyond Buffy.

3 - Is an online community more or less social than an offline one? Why?
in one way it's more social because when you check in you are doing so for the specific purpose of socialising with other simarlarly interested people but it is less social in that i am sitting in my house by myself in another part of the world and its really quite isolated. It is rare that i get involved in a real time discussion while on-line.

Online communities
1 - What, in your opinion, makes an online community work?
activity - the community must be active to work, tolerance of a multitude of opinions, utilising the conventions of regular social interactions - by this i mean that just because we are in a faceless online environment doesn't mean you should be rude or mean to other members.

2 - What makes it similar to or different from a physical community?
The biggest difference is that all the commuication takes place with written text and you have to interpret the words through what is written rather than inter-personal cues. things like humor and sarcasim can get lost in the post and misinterpretation of intent can result in misunderstandings or arguments.

3 - Under what circumstances would it not work?
as i said above - emotions and intent are up to the reader to interpret - sometimes that causes problems

[Frenchy Faith]

Be grateful, I'm doing this when I should be working on my overdue dissertation! :silly:

Buffy Boards and You
1 - What brought you to Buffy-Boards?
A friend that I met in the Buffy UPN chatroom (back in the time when it still existed) who told me this forum was about Buffy and that it was great.

2 - What made you stay?
The people I met here with whom I could have discussion / arguements about BtVS or other topics, the fact that it was a BtVS forum and that this was my favourite show ever & the bonds I made with people who became friends to me.

3 - Has the place changed since you joined? If so, in what ways has it changed?
Yeah it did... I joined only a few months after the show had stopped and when Angel was still going on... somehow, it made the atmosphere different. People have come and gone, and the absence of some people make the place different to me. Also, I've grown older and I guess I have different and changing priorities, which makes my involvment on the board not as important as it used to be. Private life plays a big part I think.

Buffy Boards and others
1 - Would you say you've made friends here on the boards?
Yup definitely.

2 - Are those relationships similar to or different from "real life" relationships? In what ways?
Different. Most of my irl friends don't like BtVS. What brought us together are our life, school, work, clubs, associations etc. The relationships have grown without that common denominator (although sometimes it was replaced by something else).
People here have become friends through the show, which means we can talk about it and be sure the other person understand what you mean, although they might not necessarily agree (as we know that point of view on the show can differ in so many ways). Since BtVS is an important thing to me, the fact that I can talk about it with people from here is really great. It's even better when we get to meet those people from the board offline. It makes those "relationships" more real in a way.
The fact that it is all online though, makes people around me more alert than if I was talking about people offline. The general view of people met on the internet is still a bad one. It makes it harder to share part of your life (the board, when you spend hours on it it's part of your life to me) to people from your offline life.
And sometimes it's hard to trust. Hitting a friendship online can be risky, maybe just as much as in real life, maybe more, I'm not too sure on that point yet. I guess it sounds more risky to me as you don't see the person and you can't be sure they are, at least the age and gender they claim to be.

3 - Is an online community more or less social than an offline one? Why?
Less social in the way that people irl see you spending lots of time online and it makes them think that you don't enjoy their presence and it makes you look asocial.
More social, because you can talk more easily to random people, you can express your view in a group when you wouldnt necessarily do it irl if you were shy, and you can make friends as well online as when you're offline.
So it makes you look less social to the offline world, but more social on a general, personal level I think.

Online communities
1 - What, in your opinion, makes an online community work?
Common interest, respect, authority figures to prevent abuse or excess, the will to post and discuss things (I don't think stalking only could constitute a community as there would be nothing to read).

2 - What makes it similar to or different from a physical community?
Different: everyone gets to express their opinion without being "cut" by someone else who wanna express theirs (although some people posts might still not actually get read, at least they got the chance to say what they wanted to), usually their is a common interest (in boards like this one) when there isnt always one offline, unless you join an association / society.
Similar: people, online or offline remain people. Although there is a control of abuse (with the mods) and there is no possibility to fight physically, people can still hurt each other's feelings or they can still make other people feel things (sympathy, pity, love, disgust etc etc), and feelings is one important thing that take place in any community (reasons why they are in this community or why they leave it or stay in it)

3 - Under what circumstances would it not work?
An online community? I'm not sure, I'm pretty sure it could work to some extent in any cases... even on Karma people still post every now and then... so I think the question would be what makes a community more or less successful, and again, I think it's the common interest thing that makes it work the most.

[Keanoite]

Buffy Boards and You
1 - What brought you to Buffy-Boards? I had been looking for a decent forum to discuss Buffy for months and just stumbled upon it by chance.
2 - What made you stay? The vastness of it, how friendly everyone was, the level of activity, how interacvite it was. There is so much more going on here than any other I have incountered.
3 - Has the place changed since you joined? If so, in what ways has it changed? I'm just a newbie so no.

Buffy Boards and others
1 - Would you say you've made friends here on the boards? I'm not here long enough yet but I met my best friend on another Buffy forum, so I would say 'Give me time'. I would have potential friends, if that makes sense!
2 - Are those relationships similar to or different from "real life" relationships? In what ways? The friends that I have made on other forums are just as important as my 'real-life' friends. I would actually probably speak to my best friend everyday, I can't say that for alot of my 'real-life' friends.
3 - Is an online community more or less social than an offline one? Why? Well that depends on what you regard as social? we speak everyday...we can't all head down to the pub together afterwards, but i don't think it makes it any less social. It's still meeting people and sharing their company.

Online communities
1 - What, in your opinion, makes an online community work? activity, communities fall apart if the members don't paticipate
2 - What makes it similar to or different from a physical community? cliques, although this forum is fairly free of them, some communities can make it impossible for others to get involved, same as physical communities.
3 - Under what circumstances would it not work No memebers, like I said before, every community needs its people active and taking an interest or it would fall apart.

[elmo]

Buffy Boards and others
1 - Would you say you've made friends here on the boards?
Not friends - cyber-aquaintences more like.

First of all thankyou very much for taking the time to answer this thread.

I find this phrase "cyber-aquaintances" very interesting and wondered if you would be interested in elaborating? It's also interesting that you say that the difference between online relationships and offline ones is that you don't know the online people beyond Buffy. Does this mean that, if you were to get to know these people beyond Buffy, they might become friends?

2 - What makes it similar to or different from a physical community?
The biggest difference is that all the commuication takes place with written text and you have to interpret the words through what is written rather than inter-personal cues. things like humor and sarcasim can get lost in the post and misinterpretation of intent can result in misunderstandings or arguments.

Do you think that internet communication has an equivalent for regular interpersonal cues? Is it possible that our interpretation of a post stretches to make room for the lack of visual and aural cues? What effect does this have on interaction?

Be grateful, I'm doing this when I should be working on my overdue dissertation! :silly:

Thankyou honey! I know you're busy busy busy and I appreciate it. :)

A couple of things:

By "stalking" do you mean "lurking"?

What you said about your "real life" friends not liking Buffy and becoming friends through various institutions was interesting too. Do you think it's harder to make a connection with people offline if they don't have this common interest or does your common institution act as the link?

[Frenchy Faith]

Yeah, the common thing is the link most of the time. I mean even at school, you don't really bond with people you have nothing in common with... there is always a little something, even if apart from that little thing the 2 people are completely different.
Why would you bond with someone you have no interest in common at all? I mean it's possible, but it doesnt seem to me that any relationship of this kind can last on any level (friendship or other)

[elmo]

A lot of you have said that our common interest in Buffy is an important thing that links us. One thing that people offline share is a common history/memory. Their relationships might not be built on common interest but they are definitely linked by something in common (assuming that they have been part of a community for some time). Do you think that common memory/history is something that we share also or does it not apply?

[Allycat]

Buffy Boards and You
1 - What brought you to Buffy-Boards?
Google. Search terms: Buffy and board ^_^. I had previously been discussing Buffy/Angel on a very small Dutch-language board, which was a lot of fun, but it wasn't very active and the owner took it down. So, I was left with a need to discuss the show(s). I decided I wanted to a bigger board and international one at that. Buffy-boards (or buffy-bytes.com at the time) was exactly what I was looking for.
2 - What made you stay?
Well obviously, there are still many aspects of Buffy and Angel that I want to discuss. And if I don't really feel like it I take sabbaticals from this place for a few months. But ultimately what makes me come back every time is, apart from that, are the members and the community. Which is not to say that I like every single member on this board, but I do feel a connection to them. Both series feature a strong themes of self-made family and I guess that is what applies to the members of this board too. Coming on this board after being away for a while, really feels like coming home.
3 - Has the place changed since you joined? If so, in what ways has it changed?
My first thought is to say that it has changed a tremendous lot. The most important change is that members come and go. Some of the regulars from the days I first joined are still around but a lot of others left. This place kind of goes through phases. First there was the Oz-obsessed phase, then the David/Angel/spamming-phase, then came the Swedish Lesbians (;)). There have been interesting people to meet in every phase the board has gone through (and not so interesting ones too). It's also gotten a lot bigger and a lot busier over the years. When I joined the no 1 poster had little over 1,000 post, the current no. 1 has well over 10,000. However, what has not changed is the feeling of community and family I mentioned earlier. That is as strong now as it was the first day I joined.

Buffy Boards and others
1 - Would you say you've made friends here on the boards?
Yes, although not directly. I have met a lot of interesting people on here, who have become friends of mine. But the actual becoming friends was mostly done on MSN.
2 - Are those relationships similar to or different from "real life" relationships? In what ways?
In my experience there are a few major differences. First off, you don't really hang out with people online. You can't catch a movie, grab a drink, or just chill on the couch with a good movie. Basically, the only thing you do is talk... and a lot at that. It's often times easier to share the heavy stuff from your life on MSN, because you're not face to face with the people you're telling it to. I've done so with a few people I've met through this board and they've also made me privy to some of their inner-most thoughts. Because of this, these relationships can be a lot more intense than regular friendships. The fact that most of these friendship are online-only is limiting in a way. The biggest problem in that regard, I think, is that at one point a very close friendship has very few options for growth, other than meeting irl, which is not always possible. When that is possible, I feel that it does add a significant new layer to the friendship. I've only once met someone from BB irl (Faldor), so I don't have too much experience in that regard.
3 - Is an online community more or less social than an offline one? Why?
A little bit of both. Here I have to hark back to the family-thing. Like with family, I have a stronger sense of responsibility when it comes to the members of this board and a stronger desire to help them out (like writing this). Not that I wouldn't help out an RL-friend in need, but I would feel less responsible.

Online communities
1 - What, in your opinion, makes an online community work?
That is a really difficult question. I think every online community works in a different way, because the type of people that join a forum about 50 Cent are very different from the people who join a forum about Buffy and Angel. I guess mutual respect is very important. As well as the willingness to help others and welcome newcomers into the community. Also, a lot depends on the admins/mods-team; their policies set a tone for the board.
2 - What makes it similar to or different from a physical community?
If you don't like someone in a circle of friends, it's very difficult to avoid them. If on the boards you tend to disagree with someone a lot, you can opt not to react to them. Nobody will think it's strange and it's an easy way to get along with people. I think this is a big difference that benefits online communities. Another advantage of online communities such as this one is that because everybody here shares a common interest there's always something to talk about. Whereas with groups of friend IRL some discussions might not interest every single member of the group and might feel people left out. Such a thing can't happen here.
3 - Under what circumstances would it not work?
I guess un-moderated communities where people are generally unfriendly and easily angered and prone to flame-wars won't really create a community (take for instance the IMDb-boards).

[Lyri]

ok, my turn...


Buffy Boards and You
1 - What brought you to Buffy-Boards? i was a member of an Angel board that i realized was a little too anti-Buffy for my liking, and i wanted somewhere i could discuss both shows without bias, and i found this place!
2 - What made you stay? the fact that no opinion was disrgarded, even if someone disagreed. i liked the fact that there was seperate forums for art, fanfic, the RPG and games. plus off topic forums and dorms. there is somewhere on the boards where you can discuss anything and everything.
3 - Has the place changed since you joined? If so, in what ways has it changed? hmm, no not really. we've gone through some staff changes, and the dorms have become a little more interactive, what with the Prefects and interdorm competitions, but i think it's still similiar to what it was when i joined.

Buffy Boards and others
1 - Would you say you've made friends here on the boards? yes, without question. there are certain people on this board who i would class as good friends. they know who they are, i hope! lol
2 - Are those relationships similar to or different from "real life" relationships? In what ways? um, maybe just a little. i might not be as open with certain people online as i might be if i knew the same person in real life. we can't hang out or go for dinner, but i know when certain people are probably gonna be online if i wanted to talk to that particular person. i'm also more likely to not be afraid to voice my opinion online, because i know that i won't have to deal with someone dragging out what i've said face to face.
3 - Is an online community more or less social than an offline one? Why? i think it's pretty much the same. a social circle can't exist without people, no matter if their in the flesh or over a computer screen. i might be a little more closed off than in real life, but at the same time, i'm more likely to anwser something like this than i might be ordinarily.

Online communities
1 - What, in your opinion, makes an online community work? people. a forum can't exist without people, regardless of who or what they are. different opinions also goes into making a community work. it'd be pretty boring if we all thought the same thing and this place would close pretty quickly. respect for other board members is a good thing, as i've already gone through a situation where lack of respect forced a board to close.
2 - What makes it similar to or different from a physical community? it's easier to disagree with someone online, as you don't have to deal with their emotional reaction, just what they write back. online communities have the added benifit of uniting people with a common interest. we all come here for one purpose...to discuss Buffy and Angel. we always find something to talk about, even if we've discussed it before, there'll always be someone with something new to add. and again we come back to the respect thing. it's easy to be disrespectful of someone online, as you don't know this person in real life. if you have the same discussion with a group of friends in real life, you might never say something you might not think twice about typing.
3 - Under what circumstances would it not work? again, respect. if we lose respect for each other and start disregarding each others opinions, people will stop visiting and eventually the boards will grind to a halt.

[StuckinTraffic]

Ok, I'll give it a go!


Buffy Boards and You
1 - What brought you to Buffy-Boards?
Shortly after I fell in to my Buffy craze, I searched the internet for websites, message boards, etc. dedicated to Buffy and found Buffy-Boards!

2 - What made you stay?
The people. The discussions. Buffy-Boards is busy enough to stay interesting, despite the fact that the show is off the air, and has been for a while.

3 - Has the place changed since you joined? If so, in what ways has it changed?
Not really. People come and go, but the spirit lives. The heart is what's important.

Buffy Boards and others
1 - Would you say you've made friends here on the boards?
No, but there are a couple people I care about.

2 - Are those relationships similar to or different from "real life" relationships? In what ways?
They're different in that I've never met any of the people I know here in real life. They're similar in that I don't think the couple of friends I have here are less my friends just because I've never met them in person.

3 - Is an online community more or less social than an offline one? Why?
I don't think it's less social, but I do think our shared interest in Buffy and by extension all things Whedon is what brought us here, and what keeps us here. You don't always get such a concentration of individuals with the same interests in an offline group, unless that group was formed around a theme. Fan clubs, band booster clubs, girl scouts or boy scouts, etc.

Online communities
1 - What, in your opinion, makes an online community work?
Good people who share a similar interest. They don't have to see eye to eye on everything, because the differing views are what makes it interesting.

2 - What makes it similar to or different from a physical community?
I feel that it's harder to make a connection with people in an online community. I think it's because you don't spend a lot of actual time with them, sharing experiences. You have your common interest to discuss, but they're just words on a web page. It doesn't seem like a real life and blood person. In a physical, real world community, tho, you don't always find people that share the same interests as you. For instance, I don't have any friends in real life that share my Buffy love, but despite that, I meet and make friends with more people out here in the real world.

3 - Under what circumstances would it not work?
There are some boards out there that are really not newbie friendly, and where an opinion that differs from the "accepted" one is ridiculed. I think that leads to eventual stagnation.

[Tranquillity]

I find this phrase "cyber-aquaintances" very interesting and wondered if you would be interested in elaborating? It's also interesting that you say that the difference between online relationships and offline ones is that you don't know the online people beyond Buffy. Does this mean that, if you were to get to know these people beyond Buffy, they might become friends?

Cyber-aquaintences are to me, rather like people you work with, who you say g'day to, chat to because you have a place of employment in common. You may, occasionally stray to other topics but for the most part, communication revolves around work related topics (whether they be serious or social). The BB is a bit like that only instead of work Buffy is the comonality we share. You get to know people based on their responses to particular topics - For example, i know that 'White Avenger' is massively pro Buffy and Spike and that 'Nerd 4 Hire' is a great defender of the official canon - but i don't kow anything about them beyond that. If i knew more about them perhaps you could form a friendship - but i suppose that's not what i'm looking for in an online community. Like work collegues - i love to chat and pass the time, but i don't neccessarily want to hang out of hours...

Do you think that internet communication has an equivalent for regular interpersonal cues? Is it possible that our interpretation of a post stretches to make room for the lack of visual and aural cues? What effect does this have on interaction?

This is really a difficult question! I don't think there is a substitute for interpersonal cues - unless you use a lot of emoticons. at the end of the day it is up to the reader to interpret the post and how a reader interprets the post depends so much on their own mood at the time, and their own feelings on the topic. Most of the time posts can be taken at face value - as a statement of the posters belief. other times you have to read a number of times to try an decide if the post is serious or going for sarcasim or humor. In my experience, when intent gets mistaken that's when disagreements or misunderstandings seem to occur most. Sometimes responses might appear rude or curt or dismissive when this was not really how they were meant to be taken (of course sometimes it is...). i'm not sure i answered you're question properly though.

[TabulaRasa]

Buffy Boards and You
1 - What brought you to Buffy-Boards? My bff told me about it because she was apart of charmed-boards and checked on bb and found there was one, gave me the link and here I am.
2 - What made you stay? People share my passion, we get to talk right down to the knitty gritty about everything.
3 - Has the place changed since you joined? If so, in what ways has it changed? Well, more members, more colors more avatars and more threads etc, but I think generally it's the same as when I first joined.

Buffy Boards and others
1 - Would you say you've made friends here on the boards? Yes I have.
2 - Are those relationships similar to or different from "real life" relationships? In what ways? To me they are sometimes more special. You have friends in life you love, but those friends don't always share your passion. Some of the people on BB do, and the ones I speak to now on msn and such, I wouldn't trade them for anything.
3 - Is an online community more or less social than an offline one? Why? I think just as much. And you may even be able to share more online when you're not face to face.

Online communities
1 - What, in your opinion, makes an online community work? People. I mean people who have interests to share, advice to give, etc. As long as there is a mutual love for something, it works.
2 - What makes it similar to or different from a physical community? Well the problem is the people I do enjoy talking to I don't get to go for a coffee with or have a Buffy night with. That's the one thing I am sad about.
3 - Under what circumstances would it not work? We need respect and moderation. Other than that we're good.

[palabravampiress]

I'll play!

Hi everybody.

I'm a sociology student at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland and I've been an active member of the boards for about 4 years now. I'm currently doing a research project and I'm interested in online communities in particular. I would like to learn more about Buffy-Boards. I need your help.

Disclaimer: Any information posted in this thread will be used in the study unless the member specifically requests otherwise. Please be reassured, however that all information provided will be treated anonymously. Also, if you are unsure about posting your views on the open board you are more than welcome to PM me with any thoughts or contributions you would like to make.

Firstly, I'd like to start by asking a few questions:

Buffy Boards and You
1 - What brought you to Buffy-Boards?
I only recently got into Buffy. I tried talking to my husband, my roommate, and my family about it, but no one else is interested. I was aching to make viewing more interactive. I wanted to discuss. Since I couldn't talk to anyone in real life, I went looking for interested people online. I googled "Buffy forums" and after a few bad eggs, I found this board. It took me awhile to find a forum that looked active enough to pique my interest.


2 - What made you stay?
Well, the amount of activity definitely made me stay. On the Buffy Boards, you can usually go post in a few threads, click New Posts, and then see that someone had already responded. Also, the responses were usually very thought provoking. Basically, I found what I wanted: intelligent, Buffyverse-related discussion. Other features, like a writing project and the RPG, were pleasant surprises. Also, I found that other members were usually very nice and welcoming. Before I knew it, I was part of the community.

3 - Has the place changed since you joined? If so, in what ways has it changed?
I only joined a little while ago. There hasn't been enough time for me to notice major change.

Buffy Boards and others
1 - Would you say you've made friends here on the boards?
I'm still pretty new. I'd say I have the potential to make friends on the boards. I do find myself discussing, debating, PMing, and Karma sharing with some of the same people over and over again. I think those people could become internet friends. Who knows? Eventually I might make a real friend. I made a friend in another, non-Buffyverse community. She and her family even stayed at my house last time she was in town. I am very cautious about letting internet friendships become real-life friendships, though. I've only done that once. Only time will tell, I guess.

2 - Are those relationships similar to or different from "real life" relationships? In what ways?
Like I said above, I'm cautious about internet friendships. There is a degree of anonymity available on the internet that is not available in real life. I think that makes internet relationships take a lot longer to develop from an acquaintance to an actual friendship.

3 - Is an online community more or less social than an offline one? Why?
Probably more social. In real communities, interpersonal relationships are trickier. People bicker. Alliances form. Power plays are made. On the internet, disagreements can be settled more peacefully -- if only because they must be typed instead of yelled. That, plus the anonymity about which I wrote earlier, makes the internet a more freeing environment.

Online communities
1 - What, in your opinion, makes an online community work?
Strong dedicated "core" members, basically long time members and moderators, can sustain a community even as other members come and go, especially if the long term members are friendly and approachable.

2 - What makes it similar to or different from a physical community?
As with any social club, the members of online communities are bound by a common purpose or interest. Unlike a physical community, members are not constrained by set-in-stone schedules. Members can participate as much or as little as they choose and they can do it in their free time. They can do it in their pajamas, if they so choose. That makes it less of a commitment, which I, personally, find appealing. Ironically, because it is less of a commitment, I spend more time participating in online groups than I do in similar groups in the "real" world.

3 - Under what circumstances would it not work?
If the owner can't afford to keep the site up!

Please feel free to add any other thoughts on the subject. I would be very interested in reading them. Thank you for your time.

[Wiccaness]

Buffy Boards and You
1 - What brought you to Buffy-Boards?
I'm a huge Buffy fan, and really don't have any one on the out side to share my interest with. So i looked for a place where i could share my interest and
found one that worked.

2 - What made you stay?
I found what i was looking for, and the people were great.

3 - Has the place changed since you joined? If so, in what ways has it changed?
i think if it has changed me its in the fact that i pay more attention to the details, all the discussions made look deeper into things and get my own thoughts out there about the show.


Buffy Boards and others
1 - Would you say you've made friends here on the boards?
Not really ,but I've made some friends

2 - Are those relationships similar to or different from "real life" relationships? In what ways?
I'd say their different, i'm closer to some of my real life relationships, but then again, theres all these people who are more or less strangers that know more about some of my likes then some of the people in my real life.

3 - Is an online community more or less social than an offline one? Why?
I think they're about the same, the only difference would be that in an offine community, your not on your computer. But in both, your talking to people or stating your opinion, agreeing or disagreeing.


Online communities
1 - What, in your opinion, makes an online community work?
I think respect is something that makes an online community work, people have different opinions, and as long as you respect them and their opinion while keeping yours everything would work out.

2 - What makes it similar to or different from a physical community?
A difference is that you can express your self more freely, and sometimes you arent afraid to say what you want because you really arent facing that person or persons your giving your opinion to, or you can say it freely with out having to be vocally stopped by that person by an interruption or something like that.


3 - Under what circumstances would it not work?
I think it wouldnt work if the people in the community didnt care about the others, or didnt respect them. Once again, it works out when you respect other people and their opinions

hope this helps =)

[eponinethen]

Anything I can to do help a Helmo!
Interesting topic and thread, decided to answer the questions myself before I read the other members' answers though:

Buffy Boards and You
1 - What brought you to Buffy-Boards?
I had been a lonely Btvs fan for a out 8 months, didn't know any other fans and had started looking for them online. I accidentally stumbled on a link to BB on the IMDd Btvs boards
2 - What made you stay?
The members, the family/community feeling. It was amazing, I had no idea there were this many fans – these people seemed to know everything about the show/the actors/Joss/etc.! Plus most of them were really friendly and nice.
3 - Has the place changed since you joined? If so, in what ways has it changed?
Yes, it has changed a lot. I joined after the show was canceled, but it it still felt like a home to me when I joined, and for about 8 months after that? I don't know how to describe it, we were a family? We really were a community. At least to me that feeling has sort of disappeared. I have that feeling in Raiden sort of, but not at all to the extent that it was on the entire boards in my first few months at BB...

Buffy Boards and others
1 - Would you say you've made friends here on the boards?
Definitely. I've made some really close friends on the boards – both people in Sweden and in other countries, and both people I have met irl and people I only talked/talk to online.
2 - Are those relationships similar to or different from "real life" relationships? In what ways?
They are different in the way that we have this big thing in common. Don't get me wrong, I have things in common with my irl friends, but I don't think I've gotten to know anyone irl who is a real BtVS fan, it's a little bit like sharing a really unusual religion? Also, my BB people I seem to keep contact with even if I see them once a year or less, we always have things to talk about, we always have that geeky world in common.. and we can always do BtVS drinking games :D
3 - Is an online community more or less social than an offline one? Why?
I think it really depends on what kind of person you are. Personally, I don't have any irl friends that I see every day, or even more than twice a week (not counting when I see them at uni). When I was really active on the boards (for the first 2 years or so) I was online posting on the boards every day, and I talked to my close BB friends on msn probably almost every day. So to me, online communities can be very social...

Online communities
1 - What, in your opinion, makes an online community work?
Tricky. It needs to have quite many active members, but still not too many, you need to have a chance to read all the threads and get to know most of the members even if you're not online three times a day. A specific topic is a god idea, like BtVS, so that the members actually have something in common. But imo the most important thing is that community/family feeling, that the members care about each other, etc. And that's something that is pretty hard to create..
2 - What makes it similar to or different from a physical community?
I guess the similarity would be that closeness between the members (and the intrigues at times :) ). I think that online communities usually contain a more diverse group of people – although that probably depends on what kind of online community it is – on BB we're of very different ages/genders/political and religious views and we live in different parts of the world. In irl communities I've never seen that kind of diversity – which is very understandable. But it all depends on what you have in common, here it is a TV show and a geekiness, in my life irl it is usually political opinions or interests in a specific topic like theatre/feminism/queer, etc.
3 - Under what circumstances would it not work?
For some reason members usually – after a certain time – run out of things to talk about. But I think the man problem is that members leave, which changes the community. That seems to – imo – be the problem at BB. Sometimes people don't have time for online life (though, that can be true about irl life too), or lose interest in the topic of the boards. When there is no longer a community feeling between the members, the community will have problems..

(Hope I helped at all! Good luck!)

[Frenchy Faith]

Oh yeah, and in the changes on the boards I forgot to mention the houses! There was no houses when I joined... and I guess it made the getting to know people, particularly newbies, harder? Cause it was just the whole forum and that was it, where now, Houses enables us to get people more easily, because it's like, a small group... and even though we don't usually talk about BtVS in the House, it's still easier to get to know people there, because you only have to focus on a small number of people. :silly:

[Frenchy Faith]

elmo agrees: I see what you're saying there. Does that mean that, when the community gets so big, smaller groups must form to keep a sense of group identity?
Not at all... the group identity is still there, no matter how big the group, because it's defined by our common interest, BtVS... what I meant was that it's easier to get to know people on a one to one basis in smaller group. The small group enable us to go beyond the community and to get to know each other, outside of our common interest.

[TabulaRasa]

I think large group or small, there are always going to be certain people in those groups that are attracted to other 'certain' people. I don't mean attracted as in date I mean attracted as in, they enjoy their posts and and find their ideas are similar. I have about 12 friends from BB in my personal life and it's because those people and I share something more than some of the other BB-ers. No matter how large the group gets there will be that small handful of people I indentify with.

[GATEGOD]

In the time that I've been on the boards it has changed considerably. They have expanded to include many other sections designed for discussion of other Whedonverse shows. I do think that it's important to have a specific theme on a forum and, although the boards are expanding, becoming a more general discussion board might not be healthy for the community as it's harder for members to find things that they might have in common. What do you all think about that?

All I'm saying Is One New Forum entitled Other Television Shows
I can think of so many shows I'd love to discuss on the forums.
Stargate, Roswell, Heroes, House, Andromeda, Tru Calling, Las Vegas, Jag, Star Trek, and more ^.^
All I'm saying is it would be fun to talk about more things on the forum and it would keep more people here.
Plus I'd love it, so I'm not seeing a down side of just one forum called Other Television Shows.

^_^

[Wiccaness]

For me this is a BTVS and Angel board. Where people talk about that. Buffy and Angel. For anything else off topic, including other shows, you go to Social Studies, or a board that is for that show, i agree with Elmo in which some other thing might actually break apart this community. Personally i love Tru calling, house and Heros....but those are something else, if theres something i really feel like is worth sharing with you guys, like i said, Social Studies is right there. People dont come here for other shows they come here for Angel and Buffy, possibly time to time, some other Whedon related show.

[GATEGOD]

So why can't we also have one tiny forum devoted to other t.v. shows?
Do you think Buffy/Angel fans are so petty we would really break apart if there were other t.v shows being discussed.
People watch more then just Buffy/Angel. I'm sure they don't want to spread themselves across 15 forums to discuss each of them.
Just having a full on Buffy/Angel board like this is great. But also having a tiny outlet for other shows will only broaden the boards.
That's a GREAT thing, People who don't want to talk about other shows don't have to, people who do can.
Right now there are 26 forums some odd sub forums numbering probably up to 50. At least 45 are Buffy related.
Why can't we have one sub forum to discuss OTHER T.V. SHOWS. Please :cry:

[Wiccaness]

You can do that in Social Studies thats the sub forem. It probably wont break the fans a whole great lot, but seriously like i said the people come here for Buffy....if the mods decide to listen to you and put up another place for tv shows that fall under other, fine thats cool, you'll probably see me in there...but i wouldnt vote for them putting one up. Thats just my opinion.

[Buffy obsessed fan]

Buffy Boards and You
1 - What brought you to Buffy-Boards? I loved the show, and wanted to talk with others about it.
2 - What made you stay? The people here are awesome and I have fun giving my views on things =]
3 - Has the place changed since you joined? If so, in what ways has it changed? Not really =]

Buffy Boards and others
1 - Would you say you've made friends here on the boards? Yeah, no great friends as of yet, but everyone is super friendly
2 - Are those relationships similar to or different from "real life" relationships? In what ways? Similiar, in the way people act, I guess.
3 - Is an online community more or less social than an offline one? Why? More, because it's easier to be yourself online.

Online communities
1 - What, in your opinion, makes an online community work? Active and friendly people.
2 - What makes it similar to or different from a physical community? People online are nicer, because they're not trying to 'impress their friends/social groups'
3 - Under what circumstances would it not work? If people tried to show off and insulted people, causing a loss of activity.

[eponinethen]

elmo agrees: Thanks hunny... :) You say that the family/community feeling has disappeared for you? Do you think you could explain why? It's interesting that you would say that when so many people are saying the opposite.
I have been trying to figure this out. I think many "older" members feel the same though? Don't you? I guess that's what happens.. like most of the people I talked to when I first got here don't post anymore? Probably has a lot to do with me, I don't take the time to get to know the new members [who are probably awesome etc. though]. I personally felt like it was easier to get into BB back then though, I don't know if there were fewer active members back then or if it's cause I was online on the boards like for hours every day, haha..
Have the boards gotten bigger? If they have I'd say that's it... heh.

[GATEGOD]

So why can't we also have one tiny forum devoted to other t.v. shows?
Do you think Buffy/Angel fans are so petty we would really break apart if there were other t.v shows being discussed.
People watch more then just Buffy/Angel. I'm sure they don't want to spread themselves across 15 forums to discuss each of them.
Just having a full on Buffy/Angel board like this is great. But also having a tiny outlet for other shows will only broaden the boards.
That's a GREAT thing, People who don't want to talk about other shows don't have to, people who do can.
Right now there are 26 forums some odd sub forums numbering probably up to 50. At least 45 are Buffy related.
Why can't we have one sub forum to discuss OTHER T.V. SHOWS. Please :cry:

Wiccaness agrees: Sorry but i think its ok like it is.
DarklyDreamingDrusilla agrees: There is another forum called after-darkness.com that a lot of Buffy-Board members go to that is about all types of sci-fi shows you should check it out.
StuckinTraffic agrees: That's what after-darkness.com is for....

But After-darkness is another forum, which looks pretty dead to me... I don't want to join a dead forum.
I want to stay here lol At the moment I think I'm part of 6 active forums : erm :
This idea isn't going to harm anyone, it isn't going to take anything away from the Buffy experience.
It would just add on to the already great features the forum has.

[elmo]

Thanks everyone, for participating. I'm still very interested to read any other entries. Please feel free to comment further.

GATEGOD: I'm not sure this thread is the right place to put forward suggestions for changes on the boards but thankyou for your contribution to the discussion. Afterdarkness.com is run by the same people who run this forum. And many of the members there are from BB, as far as I know. If you find that it's dead (I'm not up-to-date on that) then perhaps that could answer your question? I'm not saying that your suggestion would be harmful to the boards in any way. Maybe it would be beneficial... who knows? However, we must consider that people do come here for Buffy/Angel related discussion. Over the years there have been many forums/sub-forums added to the boards related to T.V. shows starring Buffy cast members, etc. Maybe it would be a good exercise for me to look at where people post more on a daily basis around the boards?

Does anyone else have anything else they would like to say on the matter? So many of you have posted your opinions and I thank you again for taking the time.

A lot of you have mentioned that Buffy is what brings you here and I think that is pretty self-explanatory. Registering on BB seems a sure way to find people who have things in common with you... do you talk more about that one thing in common than other things? I

n light of what epo said, do we find a group of friends when we join and then stick with that group? Does that make BB generations, so to speak?

And, thinking about what Buffy obsessed fan said, do we act nicer online than off? Is it easier to be yourself online?

[ILLYRIAN]

BUFFY-BOARD AND YOU
1/ I was at another site, but that began to go the way of other sites, in that the only place Buffy was mentioned was in the fanfic section. I came to this site primarily because of the fanfic, but also because of the people who are willing to debate all things Buffy related.
2/ The reason I stay here is that I write a lot, much of which I can make Buffy related fanfic. I do enjoy the constant questions that are Buffy/ Angel/ Faith related.
3/ In the short time I've been here there han't been any site changes.

BUFFY-BOARDS AND OTHERS
1/ Yes, I do think I have made friends here. I may never see them in person, but that isn't important to me.
2/ I think that on-line friends are similar to off-line friends, both require verbal interaction and both require more than one view that is commonly liked.
3/ As I don't get out much, the on-line community is pretty well all I have. If you don't see the person, then the conversation is only changed due to use of the keyboard not the mouth.
ONLINE COMMUNITIES
1/ On-line communities work best when there is a common thread of interaction, when people can be acceptable of each other even if they have a different viewpoint, and that they are tolerant of the other person.
2/ In real life some people may resort to physical violence if their views are disagreed with, where-as on-line you can simply go to another persons question.
3/ How would it not work ?. Remove the common thread that joins every-one here.

Do we act nicer on-line than off-line ? most of the time. There are people here who will insult you. There are people who will see what they want to see regardless of it not being there, but 99% of the people here are acceptable to the idea that the other persons view is their view. As in real life, if you don't like a person views, then you don't go looking for that person.
So yes we do act nicer on-line as it is easier to walk away/ go to another thread.

[Bangelxx]

Yay! I love these type of question thingys!:)

[B]1 - What brought you to Buffy-Boards?- Friends on youtube told me about it and i love Buffy!
2 - What made you stay? making friends, finding out other peoples opinions!
3 - Has the place changed since you joined? If so, in what ways has it changed? Nope, I joined 2 weeks ago! lol

Buffy Boards and others
1 - Would you say you've made friends here on the boards? well, yeah! Theres poeple i enjoy talking to anyway!
2 - Are those relationships similar to or different from "real life" relationships? In what ways? They are different because most of my "real life" friends don't even know what BtVS is! but in other ways, Its similar because they're all friendly and fun to talk to!
3 - Is an online community more or less social than an offline one? Why? what? more social

I can't think of any good answers for the last set of questions! sorry! lol

[The Chosen]

Buffy Boards and You
1 - What brought you to Buffy-Boards? I found it in an affiliates thing on another VB board. Obviously, Buffy + message board = Happy TC. ;)
2 - What made you stay? The people and the Buffy.
3 - Has the place changed since you joined? If so, in what ways has it changed? There have been no changes - except the pager is gone...I miss that thing.

Buffy Boards and others
1 - Would you say you've made friends here on the boards? Yes. Very much so.
2 - Are those relationships similar to or different from "real life" relationships? In what ways? Very similar. You know someone pretty well by their exterior- or their "net vibe"- but once you converse and things you find Buffy isn't your only thing in common. Life is.
3 - Is an online community more or less social than an offline one? Why? Way more social. It takes away the awkwardness of real life situations.

Online communities
1 - What, in your opinion, makes an online community work? Strong leaders and a common goal to stay active. We all care about this place too much to let the discussion go to waste.
2 - What makes it similar to or different from a physical community? Obviously it's cyber so that's a major difference. It's similar because through PMs and regular chatting and stuff you get to know people -- like real life.
3 - Under what circumstances would it not work? [i]If no one cared about the community. Or Buffy in general, really.

[Wiccaness]

For me this is a BTVS and Angel board. Where people talk about that. Buffy and Angel. For anything else off topic, including other shows, you go to Social Studies, or a board that is for that show, i agree with Elmo in which some other thing might actually break apart this community. Personally i love Tru calling, house and Heros....but those are something else, if theres something i really feel like is worth sharing with you guys, like i said, Social Studies is right there. People dont come here for other shows they come here for Angel and Buffy, possibly time to time, some other Whedon related show.

Comments on this post
GATEGOD disagrees: =(
DarklyDreamingDrusilla agrees: I am there with you Wiccaness I like how it is and I am okay going to other forums because then there are different people to meet. So I agree to keep it how it is. =)
elmo agrees: This is a Whedonverse related board. Mainly Buffy/Angel related... but once you get here and meet other Buffy fans you may want to talk about other things. Do you feel that Social Studies provides that for you?



I think it does, i mean it says it right in the description, For off topic discussion. If i feel like i really want to share it with you guys i'll post it there, there doesnt have to be a different sections for different types of off topic discussions. There arent that many posts there. I think its doing a fine job as it is, it gives us a place to post that stuff. So yeah.

[Jules]

Ok, I'll have ago. It's been years since I joined, but I'll answer as best I can :)


Buffy Boards and You
1 - What brought you to Buffy-Boards? As far as I can remember I was doing a search on google about Buffy and this site came up. It was the first board I'd seen and I joined straight away. I loved the show and had lots of opinions on the topic but no one to share them with.
2 - What made you stay? There was so much to talk about and people actually replied to comments made, plus after a while you start getting to know certain members and before you know it you have friends on the boards.
3 - Has the place changed since you joined? If so, in what ways has it changed? When I first joined there were just forums for Buffy and Angel, no other shows. There were no Houses for members to join. There's probably loads more but there the two I remember :)

Buffy Boards and others
1 - Would you say you've made friends here on the boards? Definitely. I've never met up with any people off the boards. It's something I'd love to do though.
2 - Are those relationships similar to or different from "real life" relationships? In what ways? Other than my ''real life'' friends being here in the flesh I would say its pretty much the same.
3 - Is an online community more or less social than an offline one? Why? I'd say more social. Taking the place were I live, I'd say no more than a ''Helloe'' to my neighbors in passing. Here you speak to everyone in a general way, even if you don't actually comment on peoples posts. I think its a lot more friendly.

[NIX]

Buffy Boards and You
1 - What brought you to Buffy-Boards? a friend
2 - What made you stay? new friends that were crazy about the same stuff as me
3 - [U]Has the place changed since you joined? If so, in what ways has it changed? the only big change is new episodes are not aired anymore so most of chats are set in the past but still great
Buffy Boards and others
1 - Would you say you've made friends here on the boards? i'd like tot thinkg so
2 - Are those relationships similar to or different from "real life" relationships? In what ways? not really different - some mates are rl mates now and have been for over 5 years
3 - Is an online community more or less social than an offline one? Why? more social i think cause you have a tendancy to be more honest i think online cause its not face to face so its easier and there are so many more people to be friends with eg different countries

Online communities
1 - What, in your opinion, makes an online community work? a good stable admin team and something in common with others
2 - What makes it similar to or different from a physical community? because you are all human at the end of that internet connection
3 - Under what circumstances would it not work? a bad admin team fighting and not being honest - if you get one person on an admin team that is poisonous it can be very distructive and you need postive strong good natured people around to pick up the pieces and sort everything out. admin teams keep comunities together and protect people.