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How Language Is Used On Forums

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There are a multitude of forums scattered across the internet. They were one of the first forms of easy communication online, and they are extremely versatile in what they can do. Facebook is technically a forum, as much as people aren’t aware. So are Twitter and its ilk. However, here I will be researching how language is used on forums, more specifically SpaceBattles, Reddit, and the Steam user forums.

No one on any of these forums is referred to by their real names. They are never revealed, and to fill in the gaps a username system is in place. Hence, all users will be called by their usernames, not their real, unknown, names.
Forums are not known for being completely eloquent or polite. “In the context of online forums, Hanna and de …show more content…

Technical support, gaming, creative writing and art, real world military discussion, they all came in to help categorise the ever increasing amount of threads that were being created all the time. Back then, most people’s internet connections were inefficient at best and just plain broken at worst, which meant that you had to choose your words carefully as you never knew when your message might actually go through.

Eventually things got into one big mess of one-upmanship in an incident only known as OBS: Oh Big Steve. Big Steve was a member in the early days who was quite a fan of Star Wars, as with many other members. In VS debates involving the Galactic Empire he would reliably bring out his favourite ship, the Eclipse class Super Star Destroyer, and then proceed to use it as proof that the empire would win the current fight, often with a hastily made, yet quite advanced for the time 3D render depicting the ship destroying the opponent. This behaviour continued before another user, Cool Guy, got fed up with it all and made a thread containing a single picture: a pair of Galaxy X class ships from Star Trek destroying Steve’s beloved Eclipse with single shots each. Steve quickly retaliated with a picture containing a massive fleet of Star Destroyers... which was pretty much instantly blown up in one shot by Cool Guy’s reply render. Things rapidly escalated from there, with truly inane amounts of ships being rendered and destroyed. More members got involved,

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