Research Survey: Ethics

[Cutie Lillie]

Hi !!! I'm a member and role player here at LIT, and I am also a student who happens to be working on a research paper for an Applied Ethics class, on online community ethics.

Part of my project is collecting feedback from people in online communities.

If you would like to help, and give some feedback .. then please read the survey below. Fill out as many questions as you can. Instructions are included below.

Your help will be GREATLY appreciated!!!!! THANK YOU!!

I know its a lot of brain work.. but its going for a good cause!

Please do not post your answers below. Instructions where to send them are below.

 

[Cutie Lillie]

When attending a social gathering or group in ‘real life’ certain dynamics happen within the group. Ethical behavior, communication, honest and trusted relationships are all expected. People assume when they go to these groups that the members will act accordingly. These assumptions usually pay of with developed healthy acquaintances, friendships and loved partners.

Social scientists and philosophers are studying the Internet’s affect on human behavior, especially in the areas of communication and relationship. Online communities are good sources for these kinds of interaction. The communities usually are focused around a central theme or topic. Members, though, often interact beyond the topic and move into personal discussions and friendships.

The question this survey is helping to address is whether the same standards of ethical interpersonal and group behavior in face-to-face groups operate in a similar way in online communities?

The responses to the following questions will be used in the preparation of a research paper for a class in Applied Ethics. No names will be used; only the gathering of random perspectives is the goal.

If you would like to participate, please read the questions and answer as many as you can. Please PM your answers to me, or email them to alypo@california.com or jansurvivor@hotmail.com. Please do not post your answers, so as not to bias any other responders. Your help will be greatly appreciated.

This is, understandably, a very long survey. If you would like to answer the questions one section at a time, and send those results separately, that will be fine. Take your time to think about the ethical issues raised by each question and how they impact both you and your community. If you can only do one section, please answer the questions in section four on Relationships.

If you have any questions, please post them. I will be happy to answer as best I can.
Thank your for your participation. If you would like to know the results of this survey, just let me know.


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Questions are categorized into four sections: general, community vs. individual, communication, and relationship.

A. General

1. Do you expect members of an online community to behave with the same ethics that your friends and family do? Why?

2. Is it possible a keyboard and monitor can provide a means to create a new personality? Do you trust that people are as they describe themselves to be?

3. Does anonymity bring out behaviors that people would not do otherwise in ‘real life? Why?

4. Do you think the ethical standards of daily life, such as trust, honesty, fairness, apply to online communities? Why?

5. Are online communities subject to the same ethical issues as real life? Will they collapse and fail if ethical behavior is ignored?

6. Are the expectations online higher towards ethical behavior or lower?


B. Individual vs. Community

1. Is interacting in an online community an individual experience or does the aspect of ‘community’ influence how you perceive your role there?

2. Is an individual responsible for the overall health and spirit of a community? Why?

3. Are individuals responsible to other ‘members’ of the site? If so, how and why?

4. Can one individual damage or destroy a community? How and why?

5. Is there a collective system of values in an online community?
If so, it is possible to keep it stable? How does it form?

6. What is the balance between Freedom of Speech and responsibility to the community?

7. Are there struggles for leadership and power in a community? How does it manifest itself?

8. Most people bond with others like themselves. What are the values that you bond with in others in your community? How do you observe other sub-groups bonding? What do you think ties them together into a sub-group.

C. Communication

1. How important is trust in communicating with fellow members? Why?

2. The majority of face-to-face communication is non-verbal: body language, gestures, facial expressions, and voice inflections. Do you find it challenging while communicating with fellow members not to use non-verbal cues?

3. How do you get your intended meaning across without those nonverbal cues?

4. Much of face-to-face communication is a quick give-an-take to make sure both parties understand the context of the conversation. Those quick exchanges or short check-ups do not usually exist on a message board. How easy is it to misunderstand a posted message without that ability to check quickly on the implied meaning? Can that affect the community as a whole?

5. Do you find most posted messages are declarations or conversational in tone? Does that affect how well you feel you understand the intended message?

D. Relationships

1. Do you feel its possible to develop relationships online that are as close as those offline? Why?

2. What kind of relationships do you interact within in your community? How would you rate them? Intimate, close, friend, acquaintance, stranger, other human with only shared interest in site’s subject matter?

3. What criteria do you use to base your ideas about other person? What makes you take interest in becoming friends with them?

4. How much do projected perceptions of others impact your understanding of members in your community? Is it based on word choices, grammar, tone, and subject matter?

5. Explain your tolerance level towards the following ethical relationship issues:
a. trust
b. honesty
c. manipulation
d. duplicity
e. transparency
f. sex
When would you consider terminating a relationship based on these issues? How would you recognize crossing the line and not being able to repair the relationship?

6. Considering all communication is done in text, how is it possible for someone’s feelings to be hurt within a community?

7. Is conflict resolution easier or more difficult to obtain online? Why?

8. Can you be sure that someone is honestly representing his or her true selves? What methods do you use to judge transparency and honesty in another?

9. Is it possible for someone to pretend to be a completely different person (gender, age, personality, history) and not be discovered? How much of an ethical issue is that in a community? What impact can lying have on a community?

10. What impact can impostering or hiding behind a false identity have on individuals and the community?

11. In ‘real life’, most people forget what was said hours after a conversation. In an online community, words are kept archived for sometimes years. Does this have an impact on the relationships within the community? If so, how?


Last Question: Do the terms ‘real-life’ and ‘virtual life’ contradict each other?

 

[Cutie Lillie]

My paper is Due Dec. 5th.. so take your time..there is no rush.

If I can have your responses by Nov 29th..that is great.


PS - Please feel free to be as honest as can..I certaintly have no biases and won't read anyone's replies with a raised eyebrow.

THANKS AGAIN!! THIS IS A BIG HELP!

 

[Problem Child]

Will you blow me if I answer this thing?

 

[Azwed]

you need to ask her if she is a college cheerleader too.

that is important.

 

[BlondeBeauty]

Typical male responses.


So...how female-friendly are you?


(In case you're wondering, that was a joke. If anyone asks me about my sexual orientation, I will hurt them.)

 

[Oliver Clozoff]

Will you blow me if I answer this thing?

What my friend PC is trying to say, Lillie, is that ethics online can be considered as a system of quid pro quo, or "tit for tat", if you will. As in any non-zero sum game, social interaction on lit generally favors a social strategy of reciprocal altruism. Of course, as there are usually nasty trolls about, unconditional love not generally an ethic found here. You have to be nice to have folks be nice to you.

So I want a BJ for my answers too.

 

[Problem Child]

And I want to cum on your tits. Anything for research, you know.

 

[Cutie Lillie]

*sigh*

Well y'all will have to come down to the Role Play board.... cause that's where I role play..

Up to you..


And no.. LOL I'm NOT a cheerleader.. though there is some guy roasting some of those in a thread.. you might want to go talk to him..

 

[*bratcat*]

Hey Princess...wanna

 

[Calamity Jane]

And I want to cum on your tits. Anything for research, you know.

So, I'm doing this research paper...

 

[Azwed]

Re: *sigh*

Well y'all will have to come down to the Role Play board.... cause that's where I role play..

Up to you..


And no.. LOL I'm NOT a cheerleader.. though there is some guy roasting some of those in a thread.. you might want to go talk to him..

Hmhh roasting cheerleaders???? Nah i think i will pass sorry about that.

 

[Problem Child]

*smile*

 

[Cutie Lillie]

LOL

You guys are either scaring me or cracking me up.. LOL



Nice 'smile' though

 

[Cutie Lillie]

just bumping it up..

 

[Ezzy]

Re: Hey Bratcat bey Bratcat (bey spelt wrong intentionally)…

ummm...ok, I almost did...but I am not into pain!

Let us get this straight you are a woman, a mother, married to a man and you come here for pleasure. LMAO @ Cat.





EZ

 

[Purple Haze]

Man, that's a lot of typing.

Can I take this quiz orally?

I'm serious.