| As individuals, we all use our unique sets of perceptions, both of ourselves and of the world around us, to order and regulate the social structures within which we achieve membership. The current exploration of internet communities is concerned both with ethics and meta-ethics, investigates not only norm formation, norm violation, and reaction to boundary crossings, but how behaviors are negotiated and the ways violations are remediated within such communities.;The study deals specifically with the development of ethical norms/appropriate behaviors, and enforcement of the same, and explore (1) how written communications operate in the development of community norms for online communities, and the ways such communities subsequently articulate their self-definitions; (2) the ways member performances of character influence belongingness through the establishment of norms within an online community; and (3) the manifestation within the online community structure of perceived violation of community members' boundaries and, when such violations draw response in an online community, the forms such responses take.;Three discrete internet communities, two asynchronous (e-mail and bulletin board) and one synchronous (chat room), were selected for ethnographic review. Field data was collected in each forum over an extended observation period by a participant-observer researcher for analysis. Mechanical characteristics with potential to impact the results, such as length and nature of actual exposure to the selected communities, community format, variety of governing rituals, proprietary acronym use, and how (or if) one could actually attain and maintain membership, were taken into consideration.;Findings suggest that the different character presentation stratagem employed in internet communities may have as much to do with the format within which performances occur as with community members themselves, and are directly impacted by the degree to which the goal of a performer is ego aggrandizement vs. desire to fit into a given community. Relative or perceived status in community hierarchy and/or claimed relationship has a direct impact on the manner with which a perceived behavioral violation is remediated. This study illustrates a number of the ways that performances of character encourage specific moral and ethical behaviors within the auspices of the internet community. |
