Posted by Racer on July 23, 2005, at 15:24:24
In reply to Re: question to Dr. Bob about other boards research? » alexandra_k, posted by Jen Star on July 23, 2005, at 14:15:36
(And I'm a geek by nature, so any sort of research is cool to me...)
You know what I find even more interesting than the whole Internet group interaction thing? How similar these internet groups are to real life groups, in some of the cyclical dynamics that appear. Here on Babble, over the years, there are some pretty definite cycles, with a certain amount of Bob-bashing at times, and quiet periods, and so on. Or there are short bursts of hurt feelings that seem to go 'round, usually based on misunderstandings, where it seems that every board here will have two or three posters with hurt feelings over something -- different posters on each board, and it's all totally unrelated. Kinda as though there's some restlessness that's just infected the boards, and there has to be some sort of cathartic reaction to bring things back to equilibrium.
The same things go on in the Real Life support groups that I've been involved with. There is a bit less of the direct "person A hurt my feelings" in the RL groups, but there's the same sort of cycle of high emotion, and back to baseline.
It may be part of group dynamics -- something I know little to nothing about -- but I still find it fascinating when I see it in action, no matter where I find it...
poster:Racer
thread:531823
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20050716/msgs/532219.html