Hey ppl,
I've got an anthropology assignment to do and I thought I'd look at how and why ppl act in message boards. I used to use TPM back in the old days when it had its own site, and thought it'd be a good place to start. So here's some questions I've been thinking about. Any comments, ideas, discussion on any of these would be very appreciated.

1. What is the longest you have been with a message board (posting or reading – days, weeks, months etc)

2. Do you start topics? Why? - What do you gain from entertaining/enlightening/isulting the ppl here, who you've never met and can call most strangers?

3. Do you care about the number of replies you get for your topic? Why?

4. What do you gain from posting replies? (see q2)

5. Do you care about the opinions of others at a board? Why?

6. Do you care about the number of posts you have? If so, then what do you believe it says about a person?

7. Do you post truthfully?

8. Why do you think people spam?

9. Do you get into conflicts? Why?

10. At a board, is it worse to be ignored or to be hated?

11. Is your personality/identity/image/actions at a message board different from when you’re with family or friends? If so, then how? Is it closer to the ‘real’ you? Are they different at different boards?

12. Do you feel like you know the people at a message board?

13. Are there people you’ve met at a board that you consider friends as much as real life friends?

14. What qualities do you look for in your signature, account name and profile?

15. Why do you think people post the names of their clubs and board friends in their sigs?

16. Would you like to be a mod? Why?

ThAnX

Edit: changed a stupid q. thank you mistysakura for pointing it out.