MEDIA AND REPRESENTATION IN REC. MOTORCYCLES

Rec. Motorcycles is a forum located within google groups with nearly 2000 members. Topics of the forum are concentrated on topics relating to motorcycles. Discussions about where to ride, pros and cons of certain bikes, troubleshooting, equipment and more can be found, as well as your typical internet trolls.

Troll Definition: Internet slang for a person who shows discord on the internet by starting arguments or upsetting people, by posting inflammatory, or off topic remarks in an online community (newsgroup, forum, chat room, blog, etc.) with the deliberate intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or otherwise disrupting normal on topic discussion. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_troll)

A study was conducted of the forum group “rec. motorcycles” over a two day period. Three separate strings made up of forty six total messages were part of the study. The study was conducted at the end of the year 2000.

In our everyday life, if someone wishes to prove their expertise or correctness on a given topic, they can typically physically prove it. If someone claims they can lift a weight over their head and you don’t believe them, then they can simply do it and show you. In a forum such as Rec. Motorcycles one can not simply show their expertise on a given subject, they can claim expertise all they want but it is ultimately up to the reader to decide whether or not sound advise is given.

In order to prove ones expertise online, various methods have been used. Viewing the Rec. Motorcycles forum you will find various people chiming in on questions posed by other members. Often you will see at the end of a response a brief description of a persons qualifications (master mechanic, rider for 20 years, etc) obviously anybody could claim these qualifications so other methods are popular as well. Frequent use of jargon is common as well as detailed explanation of why or why not something will or will not work, as if speaking in jargon or technical terms means you know what your talking about. As you can imagine if you ask a group “can you use a torch to clean your gas tank?” and the first post simply says “yes” you would be skeptical. If the response goes on to say “you could use a torch to clean your gas tank but be sure to have all the fuel drained from your tank and that it is not connected to any fuel source before applying flame to it” then that would seem like a more well thought out response and someone may take the advice. (please do not clean a gas tank with a torch this was just an example)Many posters go into great detail about how mechanical parts work and seem very credible.

Two brand new tires for sale! These tires have not been used and have been stored using state of the art silica gel packs to ensure no moisture is able to break down the molecules of the tire. Studies have shown that moisture is the number one cause for premature tire wear and damage.

Consider reading this statement on a forum or website. It sounds great, after all studies have shown that moisture is bad for tires! You must keep in mind the credibility of the source. Just because Jimbo from nowhere USA says they are great, certainly does not mean that this is true.

A delicate balance of credibility has been formed on forums such as Rec. Motorcycles, a system of checks and balances is probably the best description for making sure information is credible or not. People often attack other posts and call them out on false information, sometimes violent language is used and things get rather out of control. Another aspect of the internet is the feeling of invincibility. Very little you say in a forum is going to cause you any kind of real problem, where as if you are extremely rude to someone in person it may get you a black eye. The term “hiding behind your monitor” is a common saying among online groups.

This is also a common place for “trolls” to come into the forums and have their fun, often people will read forums and reply to posters and be rude, or claim their information to be false just to try to get a emotional response out of people.

Much like in real life situations reputation is extremely important on online encounters. Ebay is perhaps one of the best known websites that utilizes reputation to help people find others that they can trust. Rec. Motorcycles does not have this kind of rating system so you are forced to try to qualify members by the content of their post.

ITS A HUMAN THINGWhile the forums inside Rec. Motorcycles can get rough with a decent amount of verbal abuse and harassment it is a familiar pattern. Take a look at any other forum topics and you will find that whether talking about motorcycles, computers, video games, gardening or dancing you will still find the same types of conversations going on. You will have the trolls in nearly all online forums, there will always be the people that try to prove their knowledge of a subject by belittling others. It seems as though human nature takes a turn for the worse when anonymity is possible. Sociology tells us that people act differently in groups than they do as individuals and it seems as though online personality's allows us the opportunity to be in a state somewhere in between “group” and “individual”

GROUPSPeople in groups tend to feed off of each others emotions, often groups can be volatile and difficult to control due to the lack of direct connection to consequences. It is very easy for people to feel like they will not be blamed for wrong doings if they do it with a group.

INDIVIDUALS

People as individuals tend to be more sympathetic to others, even if the views and opinions tend to be opposing to their own. Direct association with their own actions make it difficult for people to act in a way that would be frowned upon, with no group to blame and no anonymity available people are more likely to act “appropriately” when singled out as individuals.

CYBER LAND

In the cyber world when people are able to achieve their own desired degree of anonymity by only putting forth the image of themselves they wish to be seen. People can act however they want without any more repercussion than angry words from their victims, cyber laws have become much more elaborate in the 15 years since the study of Rec. Motorcycles and the effects of cyber bullying and such have become much more evident to people. While serious harassment can result in legal action most cyber harassment goes unpunished, allowing “trolls” to act as they please in the safety of their own home. “There’s a freedom of speech without a fear of consequences, there’s no inhibition. It’s like being drunk.” Alan Manevitz, M.D (http://news.health.com/2012/08/02/troll-psychology-mean-internet/)

Studies have borne out the idea that people who are physically distanced from each other are less likely to play nice. One recent study found that game-show contestants were more likely to criticize a fellow contestant in the next room rather than one standing right next to them.

Similarly, a famous 1960s-era study found that people were willing to administer an electric shock (it was fake, but they didn’t know it) to a person they couldn’t see, even if they knew it was causing them serious pain

http://news.health.com/2012/08/02/troll-psychology-mean-internet/

HOW QUICKLY WE FORGET

Newborn babies experience only pure and uncontrolled desire. When they want something, they cry for it, reach for it, or crawl for it. They have no self-control, nor do they know about social inhibitions. When they are hungry, they want to eat then and there; when they wish to urinate or defecate, they do so at once, no matter where they are. If they are angry, they express anger at once. Infants live for gratification of desire.Yet from the moment of birth, social inhibitions and controls also begin at once to curb the infant’s actions and expressions. The child learns that there are times and places to be fed, that not everything may be grasped, that the elimination of waste must be strictly controlled, and so forth.(Rhetoric in pop culture pgs. 193-194)

We are born with the idea that we can do as we please and society sets limits to what we can do that is acceptable, with the medium of our computer blocking us from real life judgement it seems as if we go back to our original methods of self gratification and loose our regards for public acceptance. Obviously not everybody acts with such disregard but the concept still remains.

WRAP IT UP

The ancient Greeks relied heavily on rhetoric to convince their fellow man of their agenda. The equivalent of todays town meetings were when men would gather and discuss issues that had an impact on the public. Men would address the crowd in an attempt to convince them of whatever it is they needed at the time. Those who were poor at public speaking and did not use rhetoric effectively ultimately did not get what they needed to succeed and often would fail.

A similar use of rhetoric can be found on the internet today in forums like Rec. Motorcycles, members must convince the audience of their expertise and credibility and unlike the ancient Greeks there are very few governing rules that stop people from saying what they want. Members must simply speak in a manner that is good enough to convince the general audience that they are the go to resource for the given topic.

Works Cited

Brummett, Barry. Rhetoric in Popular Culture. Print.

Brummett, Amanada. "Troll Psychology: Why People Are So Mean on the Internet." Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health. N.p., 02 Aug. 2012. Web. 27 Apr. 2015. <http://news.health.com/2012/08/02/troll-psychology-mean-internet/>.

Images retrieved from google images