Hey, I wrote my paper!
Well, one of them anyway....
from 
JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
Hey, I finally got off my ass and wrote my English paper. Okay, I didn't really get off my ass, I was sitting when I wrote it, but you get the idea. The writing prompt was interestingly enough related to this community...well, I picked JU to use in this paper. The prompt was to think of an informal but thoughtful guide to the writing culture I've chosen to an audience who knows very little about it. It's supposed to be an informed and analytical description of the community....so...I think I did alright...but if you guys catch anything screwy, please let me know. I hate looking like an ass when I screw up my writing, it's a pet peeve of mine....well, I posted it here if you want to have a look....it's kind of long, trust me...I didn't want it to be.
I participate in a community called Joeuser.com, which is commonly referred to as JU by its members. It is a community that encompasses many aspects of writing. It is officially a web log or a blog. JU has many functions and many different authors. There is a select group in the community that would be the top authors, but there are new members coming in and out all the time. Around two dozen are regular members, and by that I mean they post frequently and comment on several other articles. It is an open forum for anyone who registers. Guests can comment on articles if the author permits, but cannot post articles unless one registers; registration is free to all who wish to join.
I have been a member for more than two years, and after my recent hiatus, I returned and started contributing again. The community is fairly consistent, because upon my return the same group of loyal members were there to greet me again. It’s true that some leave and get preoccupied with life, it happened to me, but they usually get curious and check back in from time to time and may even come back with new gusto like I have.
As stated before, JU is an open forum and many topics are discussed on a daily basis through the forums and article submissions. All writing is placed in a person’s blog and is also sent to the forums as well. The forums keep articles moving up or down depending on the amount of discussion taking place on them. Commenting on an article will post it back to the top of the page so others can keep reading it. However, if no one comments on the article it drifts further and further down the list as more popular articles take over.
I believe this community to be very informative and friendly if one knows how to conduct themselves. Blatant fighting and angry comments are referred to as flaming. Saying something insulting or being disrespectful is referred to as trolling. These people are usually shunned and cut off from participation. A user has the option of limiting access to articles by restricting anonymous users from posting or blacklisting members. Blacklisting keeps members from posting on the user’s blog, however the blacklisted user can still read the article. Blacklisting is used to keep people from bringing fights and disrespectful comments to a new article. It can also be used to silence the opposition, but I believe that is not the proper use. A writing community is designed to let people comment on your thoughts, opinions, or work whether they disagree or like it. It’s important, in my opinion, to hear all comments that are presented to you. If you don’t agree with what they said, then you don’t have to like it, but you should at least respect them enough to listen. If you are not prepared to hear negative comments about what you write, then you should probably not publish anything in any writing community.
As with all communities there is some drama. When many of my friends joined, I created a group for us. We did pretty well for a while and then there were quite a few spats, which I won’t describe here, that lessened the appeal for my friends and they drifted away. There have also been several little crusades against one member or another. They can last for a while but most are usually resolved fairly quickly. Which means that they either come to an agreement, agree to disagree, one member leaves, or someone gets banned.
It should be said that while this is a free community and you are typically allowed to say what you want. The creator of the website, as well as the administrators, do have say in what you can post and how you act. If you are too harsh or say something very inappropriate you will be warned and if that activity continues they can ban you from the site. That happened with an extremely interesting member whom I shall refer to as SPM. He claimed to be a member of the English aristocracy and often made outlandish, and sometimes slightly disturbing claims. He also criticized the administration in very exaggerated ways. I believe the very article that lead to his banishment was comparing the administrators to Nazis. He was not around very long after that. He was a very amusing character in his own strange way, though. The Great SPM fiasco was finally put to an end, with some disappointment to the people who liked to play along with him.
I find participation in this community to be insightful, informative, and quite often very amusing. The range of personality, experience, and history in an online community is phenomenal. There are people from all over the world that are connected and come together in this community. So many stories and views are there to read and think about. Through the writing of these people you see the world in a new light. Topics of conversation include politics, poetry, science, news, people, funny stories, trivia, and everyday life. It is a very interesting place to be.
JU is a good source of intelligent thought sharing and debate. Some communities are very immature in their approaches to disagreeing, but JU is for the most part a mature community. Teenagers and young children don’t often frequent this kind of site. I don’t believe the style appeals to many of younger generations. Other sites such as MySpace and LiveJournal have a younger appeal to them. I stop by those sites occasionally to see how friends are doing, but for good discussion I tend to lean toward JU.
In conclusion, I believe JU is a very good blog site. It has more appeal to me than many of the others and that is why I have been a member for so long. It has a good community feel to it, and if you are willing to post respectfully and your writing is understandable then you will probably fit in very well. However, if you want to focus on being immature and incoherent, don’t expect many people to read anything that you post. Being respectful is key to being part of any community. The purpose of JU is to share feelings, thoughts, and ideas. If you are interested in what people have to say and what they think of your writing, then it’s a good community to join.
~Zoo (Don't worry, I did indent all the paragraphs on my paper...it doesn't seem to want to do it on here, though)
I participate in a community called Joeuser.com, which is commonly referred to as JU by its members. It is a community that encompasses many aspects of writing. It is officially a web log or a blog. JU has many functions and many different authors. There is a select group in the community that would be the top authors, but there are new members coming in and out all the time. Around two dozen are regular members, and by that I mean they post frequently and comment on several other articles. It is an open forum for anyone who registers. Guests can comment on articles if the author permits, but cannot post articles unless one registers; registration is free to all who wish to join.
I have been a member for more than two years, and after my recent hiatus, I returned and started contributing again. The community is fairly consistent, because upon my return the same group of loyal members were there to greet me again. It’s true that some leave and get preoccupied with life, it happened to me, but they usually get curious and check back in from time to time and may even come back with new gusto like I have.
As stated before, JU is an open forum and many topics are discussed on a daily basis through the forums and article submissions. All writing is placed in a person’s blog and is also sent to the forums as well. The forums keep articles moving up or down depending on the amount of discussion taking place on them. Commenting on an article will post it back to the top of the page so others can keep reading it. However, if no one comments on the article it drifts further and further down the list as more popular articles take over.
I believe this community to be very informative and friendly if one knows how to conduct themselves. Blatant fighting and angry comments are referred to as flaming. Saying something insulting or being disrespectful is referred to as trolling. These people are usually shunned and cut off from participation. A user has the option of limiting access to articles by restricting anonymous users from posting or blacklisting members. Blacklisting keeps members from posting on the user’s blog, however the blacklisted user can still read the article. Blacklisting is used to keep people from bringing fights and disrespectful comments to a new article. It can also be used to silence the opposition, but I believe that is not the proper use. A writing community is designed to let people comment on your thoughts, opinions, or work whether they disagree or like it. It’s important, in my opinion, to hear all comments that are presented to you. If you don’t agree with what they said, then you don’t have to like it, but you should at least respect them enough to listen. If you are not prepared to hear negative comments about what you write, then you should probably not publish anything in any writing community.
As with all communities there is some drama. When many of my friends joined, I created a group for us. We did pretty well for a while and then there were quite a few spats, which I won’t describe here, that lessened the appeal for my friends and they drifted away. There have also been several little crusades against one member or another. They can last for a while but most are usually resolved fairly quickly. Which means that they either come to an agreement, agree to disagree, one member leaves, or someone gets banned.
It should be said that while this is a free community and you are typically allowed to say what you want. The creator of the website, as well as the administrators, do have say in what you can post and how you act. If you are too harsh or say something very inappropriate you will be warned and if that activity continues they can ban you from the site. That happened with an extremely interesting member whom I shall refer to as SPM. He claimed to be a member of the English aristocracy and often made outlandish, and sometimes slightly disturbing claims. He also criticized the administration in very exaggerated ways. I believe the very article that lead to his banishment was comparing the administrators to Nazis. He was not around very long after that. He was a very amusing character in his own strange way, though. The Great SPM fiasco was finally put to an end, with some disappointment to the people who liked to play along with him.
I find participation in this community to be insightful, informative, and quite often very amusing. The range of personality, experience, and history in an online community is phenomenal. There are people from all over the world that are connected and come together in this community. So many stories and views are there to read and think about. Through the writing of these people you see the world in a new light. Topics of conversation include politics, poetry, science, news, people, funny stories, trivia, and everyday life. It is a very interesting place to be.
JU is a good source of intelligent thought sharing and debate. Some communities are very immature in their approaches to disagreeing, but JU is for the most part a mature community. Teenagers and young children don’t often frequent this kind of site. I don’t believe the style appeals to many of younger generations. Other sites such as MySpace and LiveJournal have a younger appeal to them. I stop by those sites occasionally to see how friends are doing, but for good discussion I tend to lean toward JU.
In conclusion, I believe JU is a very good blog site. It has more appeal to me than many of the others and that is why I have been a member for so long. It has a good community feel to it, and if you are willing to post respectfully and your writing is understandable then you will probably fit in very well. However, if you want to focus on being immature and incoherent, don’t expect many people to read anything that you post. Being respectful is key to being part of any community. The purpose of JU is to share feelings, thoughts, and ideas. If you are interested in what people have to say and what they think of your writing, then it’s a good community to join.
~Zoo (Don't worry, I did indent all the paragraphs on my paper...it doesn't seem to want to do it on here, though)
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