Assignment 7, Option 1: IGN.com's The Vestibule: an exercise in cognitive dissonance.

Of all the different communities that I am a part of, one in particular came into mind during this past week's discussions about social networks: The Vestibule. The Vestibule is one of many of IGN.com's message boards, and probably one of the largest sources on the internet of ridiculous ideas and useless banter. Although IGN is primarily a website devoted to video games, the people who post on the message boards come from various backgrounds. It is because of these diverse ideologies clashing together that such a bellicose atmosphere is formed, and this is why I recommend you save yourself the trouble and never visit The Vestibule.

As I have already said, The Vestibule is a diverse mix of opposing viewpoints: there really is very little common ground to be found. If you make a post about your certain viewpoint, no matter how inane or random the subject may be, I can guarantee you that there will be at least one person in your thread telling you how wrong you are. Most of the threads created are about random, completely different subjects, and half the time the threads themselves are "hijacked" (when the subject in the thread changes completely from the original subject). Additionally, many threads are so-called "babe threads," with pictures of barely-clothed women, which isn't exactly the kind of material that stimulates intelligent conversation. It is for all these reasons that I would categorize The Vestibule as a Gesellschaft network. There is no real sense of connection between all the members of the board, and I would definitely say that it is a dystopic network. To give you a sense of what I've been talking about thus far, I've included a screenshot of the most recent posts at the time I was examining the board.




There are certain instances of reciprocity in the world of The Vestibule. There exists a sort of pseudo-currency, called the WUL, or watched user list. Basically, one person can add another member to their list of watched users. The more people you have watching you, the better you are considered to be by the rest of the community, and your comments may actually even carry more weight. This has lead to many people offering to give WULs to anyone who can solve a difficult homework problem or some other kind of task set forth, and if a person is not rewarded for their hard work with a WUL, it is considered a serious offense.

Because The Vestibule really only exists in the online realm, there is no kind of online/offline synergy to be found. I would say that for any given member of this network, there may be a handful of people they converse with offline, and even then, it is usually friends who lured others into joining this community. I, for example, was talked into joining the Vestibule by my friend Dan. Although I think it might be interesting to see an offline version of the Vestibule in action, I believe the world already has enough problems.