Hi guys. I really need your help for two research papers I'm writing on wotmania. This is part one. If you could take five minutes and fill out this survey, it would be incredibly helpful.

-What is your race?
caucasian

-Do you think that there is an explicit hierarchy at wotmania? If so, how does it break down?
I think that there is definitely an explicit heirarchy in a sense; Mike, Pento, and the admins have certain abilities which other members do not. Having said that, I don't think this heirarchy has much effect upon the conversations that go on here, or the way that people interact. I don't think that it has any effect on peoples' respect for one another; for example I don't feel that anybody bases respect for another upon their position in this heirarchy. There is also no social pressure to do this.
So while I think there is an explicit heirarchy, it is a rather odd type of heirarchy.

There is also (though I get the impression that it used to be more pronounced) some form of heirarchy resulting from the labels 'newbie', 'midbie', and 'elder'. This is quite a fuzzy heirarchy, with their being no explicit defnitions of the terms. Again, I don't feel that this heirarchy has much influence upon interactions here, except in a few cases where a new member has been insulted for asking an innocent question, or for their lacking knowledge of the workings of the site.

-Do you believe that there is a hierarchy at wotmania, but it isn’t officially noted by anyone? If so, how does this hierarchy break down?
I suppose the 'newbie' etc. terms that I considered above could fit here as well as in the first question. I think these terms are definitely explicitly recognised, but not 'official' in any way, so a heirarchy formed by them would fit in both questions.

-Do the terms Elder, Midbie, and Newbie actually mean anything for a person, or is it just a title that establishes how long someone has been at the site?
I think that both are involved. Someone who is very new would probably consider themselves a newbie (I did myself at any rate).
However, the label 'newbie' seems to be used of those not yet familiar with the workings of the site, and as a result ask questions that are obvious to most here. Some people don't ask these questions; I never had the label explicitly applied to me because of this (I certainly deserved it a couple of times, though I watched quietly for long enough not to ask the really obvious questions). Others may have still been asking what a Pento was for a long time, and as a result been labelled a newbie when they were far less new. In this sense, being labelled a newbie does say something about a person in terms of their knowledge of the community.

-Do you think that the admins on the site are in higher standing than the other members?
Well...only in the sense that they have greater abilities. Wether someone is an admin or not does not influence my respect for them at all, and I think this attitude is universal or near universal. I don't act differently when talking to an admin than anybody else, and I don't think that anybody does.

-In your opinion, do those who post on the Community MB think that they are “better” than those on the WoT MB?
I'm sure some do. Personally I don't.

-In your opinion, do those who post on the WoT MB think that they are “better” than those on the Community MB?
I'm not sure...I haven't been there more than a couple of times since the board split, and I'd be somewhat hesitant to post there, not being familiar with most of the posters.

Thank you.



~netweaver~