Patrizia DiLucchio, the director of community at Healthcentral.com,
agreed that anonymity is a major issue. "As a person who has been
involved in a lot of online communities, I agree that less anonymity
breeds better discussion. However, there are a lot of situations where
anonymity is the only option. I'd be very hesitant, for example, to
encourage people to discuss their health problems publicly in a world-readable
forum."
Finally, the Web Lab study concluded that groups work better together
when they're self-policing rather than under the guidance of an
outside mediator.
"From the very beginning we said, 'This is either going to work
or not work because of you,'" Joseph said. "It's up to everyone
in the group to make sure it works."
What the study found was that in the absence of an outside authority
figure, people were more civil to each other, and when they did
have conflicts they were more likely to resolve them in a mutually
respectful way.
Gail Williams, the director of communities at Salon
and The Well, said of the study,
"I think it's exactly true. You have some continuity with people,
you know who they are, and suddenly it all makes sense.
"Reading this study it occurs to me that some of the technological
limitations we fought to get around in the early days of The Well
actually worked in our favor in forming community," she said. "We
might suggest to people now that they follow some of these things
in forming new conferences."
