References - Harvard University€¦ · Web viewBodybuilding.com is the world's largest online...
Transcript of References - Harvard University€¦ · Web viewBodybuilding.com is the world's largest online...
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Prospectus: Exploring The Complexity of Rapidly Evolving Information in a bodybuilding, the
Challenges of Quality Assurance and Social Capital
Tasha
LSTUE-120
Assignment 4
April 28, 2015
I. Introduction
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Bodybuilding is a sporting event where both males and females engage in physical exercise in
an effort to develop defined muscles and physique to engage in competitive events. The
bodybuilding communities are a large network of local, state and international people who
connect through online forums. Forums assist in facilitating interactions among networks that
focus on topics beyond what is relevant to a geographically defined neighborhood (DiMaggio et
al 2001). Bodybuilding and fitness forums create intellectual and social capital as well as a set of
understandings used by people to make decisions that are important to their health and
businesses. The benefit of knowledge discovered in the forums is beneficial and the benefits
typically extend well beyond the initial benefit received by the initial poster. Additionally, the
growth and the complexity of bodybuilding and fitness forums is creating an expanding array of
athletes and business who are contributing to the online forums thereby challenging
credentialing.
Although the prosperity of the bodybuilding and fitness forums are surrounded by a strategic
source of knowledge, many websites must balance the contribution of rapidly revolving health
information and free speech with inaccurate and illegal contributions to the online communities.
The primary focus of this review will be on a critique of one of the most popular website forum
in the world for fitness and bodybuilding information (http://forum.bodybuilding.com/ ). The
critique will explore how Bodybuilding.com allows free flowing of information, manages the
contribution of illegal content, and maintains social capital.
Bodybuilding.com has a continuum of educating athletes and challenging their ideas on
nutrition and legal supplementation while combating consistent threats to the quality of the
community interactions. The protection of members and intellectual property rights, forum
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cultural maintenance, and educational information must be prudent by identifying inaccurate
information and illegal information eroding the fitness forums.
II. Method of research
The data collection process will include an observation of the forums and a search strategy
using keywords specific to Bodybuilding.com. The data will be aggregated and analyzed. The
analysis will include a review of the interactions between forum participants and how forum
leaders moderate their communities when information provided is illegal by the community’s
guidelines. Additionally, data analysis will include reading forum messages and determining
how Bodybuilding.com protects their forums from content that impacts the quality of
contibutions and interactions. Furthermore, the data collection will provide additional insight on
how member contributions impact social capital. For the purpose of this research, social capital
is defined as, ‘the networks of relationships among people who live and work in a particular
society, enabling that society to function effectively’.1
III. Community Structure of Bodybuilding.com’s Forums
Bodybuilding.com is the world's largest online fitness community with over 1.7 million
unique site visitors a day. According to the website, Bodybuilding.com assists more than 29
million people every month by providing access to supplements, articles, videos and online
support through technology. Their online forum community is BodySpace Fitness Community
with more than 2.4 million active users. Bodybuilding.com’s vision statement is:
“"We are Bodybuilding.com. Your transformation is our passion. We are your personal trainer,
your nutritionist, your supplement expert, your lifting partner, your support group. We provide
1 http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/social-capital?q=social+capital
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the technology, tools, and products you need to burn fat, build muscle, and become your best
self."2
As a highly active community, nearly one-quarter of Bodybuilding.com’s employees are
based in the information technology department. Technology and the internet has contributed to
the shift of a network that allows for people to make it easy for people to collaborate and
exchange ideas with a global community via online forums.( DiMaggio et al 2001) Being the
largest online fitness community, Bodybuilding.com has created guidelines addressing how their
forum communities communicate and function. In order to accomplish this, Bodybuilding.com
has fifty-five forum leaders whose function is to encourage healthy commnity engagement as it
pertains to fitness. In addition, moderators oversee specific forums and have the ability to edit
and delete posts, move threads, and perform other actions. Becoming a moderator for a specific
forum is usually rewarded to users who are particularly helpful and knowledgeable in the subject
of the forum they are moderating. According to Bodybuilding.com , the requirements to be a
moderator are as follows:
● Must be a member for more than one year.
● No bans.
● No multiple accounts.
● Must be over the age of 21.
● No trolls.
● Infractions will be looked upon on a case by case basis.
● No current employees or reps of supps companies.
● You must have only one account (no multis or second accounts).
● You must be able to be trusted with sensitive information.
2 http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/bbcomcareer.htm
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The position of a moderator can be viewed by participants as a way to enhance social capital due
to increased trust among peers that result in increased forum participation. (DiMaggio et al
2001).
However, some forum contributions border on the line of abuse and biases that members find
offensive. Therefore, a moderator's’ role is to evaluate each submission and decide whether to
allow the content to remain or to be removed.
In summary, the Bodybuilding community is complex and has millions of members. While
freedom of speech is endorsed, information published on the website is not without internal
scrutiny or oversight to protect the rights of all.
IV. Reputation of Users
Forum users have the right to freedom of expression. Conversely, many may disagree with a
particular expression. For this reason, Bodybuilding has created a reputation system in an effort
to ensure all participants’ freedom of speech rights rights are protected. The system allows peer
ranking based on the quality of contributions to the community called reputations. An
individual’s reputations is a reference that primarily represents how peers moderate comments
and contributions of a peer. A green dot indicates positive reputation, a red dot indicates
negative reputation, and a grey dot indicates a neutral reputation. While the reputations system
allows users to recognize reputable contributions, moderators must ensure that content within
their community follows the forum guidelines.
While there is a belief that everyone has the right to free expression, an obstacle called trolls
can occur when putting theory into practice with online forums. According to Golbeck (2014),
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trolls are people with the intent to abuse their anonymity by disrupting conversation through
negative and venomous contributions. While the Bodybuilding.com forum has been a great
platform to share information, the anonymitiy has allowed everyone voice their opinions and
communicate information. Similarly, certain topics are know to generate passionate responses
but can also bring out incivility online. Notably, Duggan (2014) described users’ behavior
statistics as noted:
● 60% of internet users said they had witnessed someone being called offensive names
● 53% had seen efforts to purposefully embarrass someone
● 25% had seen someone being physically threatened
● 24% witnessed someone being harassed for a sustained period of time
● 19% said they witnessed someone being sexually harassed
● 18% said they had seen someone be stalked
While highly debatable subjects can be discussed in a forum, thoughtful and insightful
comments can improve a user’s reputation. Additionally, such practice can increase the
community’s knowledge of the reputable attributes a contributor can bring to the forums.
Bodybuilding.com’s forum users are allowed to distribute only five ranks to a peer per month in
an effort to minimize abuse of the system. Moreover, they must rank 40 different users before
being able to rank someone again. Those with high reputations enjoy greater privileges in the
forum community.
In summary, the sharing of knowledge online cannot be successful without the active
participation of forum members. Every component of the online forum play an important role in
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the development of a great online community and presents a challenge to the forum leaders as
they moderate the forums.
V. User behavior and Illegal Content
Bodybuilding.com’s forum users appreciate opportunities to engage and participate with
others in an online forum that may not be available in their residential community. During the
evaluation process, fragmentation and inaccuracy to superficial interaction have been identified
as disadvantages to online participation. (DiMaggio et al. 2001). For the purpose of this
research, Bodybuilding.com’s entire community guidelines, will not be outlined but will have a
primary focus on community behaviors and forum management as it pertains to the following
rules:
● Illegal, banned, or controlled substances. This includes but is not limited to: steroids,
FDA banned substances, pro-hormones, illegal drugs (United States laws apply), and
prescription drugs. If it isn’t a product currently sold on Bodybuilding.com take caution
in discussing it.
● Underage supplementation
● Illegal activities (United States laws apply). This includes theft, pedophilia, rape, incest,
murder, etc.
A. Steroids and Prohormones
One topic of conversations that users are not allowed to engage in in the forums is the use
of illegal substances. In the United States, the possession and distribution of anabolic steroids
is a felony offense unless prescribed by a physician for medical use. U.S. federal law
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classifies anabolic androgenic steroids as Schedule III controlled substances. Schedule III is
the same category as barbiturates and LSD precursors and are drugs that possess a medical
purpose but do carry with them the risk of dependency and physical damage but to a lesser
extent than compared to Schedule II drugs. There is a general perception that individuals,
especially athletes, should learn about the pros and cons of supplements, when they should be
taken, and the legal issues that guide their distribution. Many popular fitness sites dedicate a
board on their forum specifically to address such topics such as T-Nation3, However, such
topics are strictly prohibited on Bodybuilding.com. A significant guideline for
bodybuilding’s addresses the sole use of products that are only sold by Bodybuilding.com
may be discussed in the forums.
Prior to the The Designer Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 2014 being passed,
Bodybuilding.com allowed forums to speak freely about prohormones, which were
considered precursors to hormones. After the act was passed, all discussions were banned.
Similarly, in evaluating keyword searches of the forum, there was not any formal
announcement about the expectations or reiteration of the forum guidelines as it pertained to
prohormones. The forum leaders deleted threads without warning. In this particular thread4 ,
members discussed frustration in the moderation of the boards and the lack of
communication to members.
3 http://tnation.t-nation.com/free_online_forum/sports_training_performance_bodybuilding_gear?s=forumIndexCat4 http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=164513731&highlight=prohormone
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Exhibit 1.1
Another important point by Chiu et al (2006), supports there is a correlation between how
social interaction, reciprocity of information, and how someone identifies with a community
increased a user’s quantity of knowledge that is being shared but not necessarily the quality
of the knowledge. Additionally, social interaction greatly affects trust within an online
community and reciprocity of information builds trust, which is the key to online social
relationships.
B. Supplement Use: Underage
As one of the leaders in online supplements, Bodybuilding carries over 15,000 dietary
supplements. It is a multi-billion dollar industry with children and teenagers use of
supplements increasing. Unfortunately, supplement use by young athletes is very complex
and many make very ill- informed decisions about usage. Moreover, higher use of
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supplements in youth creates a grave concern because many parents are not aware of their
potential risks. Bodybuilding.com created a thread specifically for those under the age of 185
to assist them with healthy supplementation. According to Duggan (2014), while 92% of
internet users can be critical, 68% agree that it can create a very supportive environment, as
demonstrated by a thread6 where a 14 year old who wants to use supplements. In evaluating
the quality of the thread, it is very interesting to see the 14 year old who initiated the thread
have a low reputation ranking by peers, which indicates their perception of his contribution
of knowledge.
Exhibit 1.2
According to Chiu et al (2006), the knowledge sharing in an online community
demonstrates an exchange of receiving knowledge by reading and giving knowledge by
posting information to the community. This relationship of reciprocity shows that users
are willing to balance between what they are receiving and their contributions. The
National Collegiate Athletic Association ( NCAA) is an excellent example of an
5 http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=1568845136 http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=160236131&page=1
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organization whose members have high peer reputations since 2012.: Banned Substance
Thread’7. Very knowledgable members have keep the thread active by updating the
banned substance list as it continues to grow due to substances not being labeled in the
ingredients. The on-going dialogue assists with answering questions about the
appropriate supplements for athlete. use.
Exhibit 1.3
C. Discussion of Illegal Activities
After a comprehensive literature research, discussion threads that directly spoke about
engaging in illegal activity were difficult to locate. This could imply that the moderators are
doing an excellent job keeping the threads clean. It is my belief that forums should not be
regulated that it dissolves normal dialogue and people are not able to learn from
7 http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=140994321
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inappropriate behaviors. Depending on the severity of the thread, many fitness communities
will lock a thread, which does not allow for additional contributions but only allows for
viewing . The lack of opportunity to view such threads may be a missed educational
opportunity.
Along with deletion of threads, it is customary for Bodybuilding.com’s moderators to
temporary or indefinite ban a member who engages in conversations promoting illegal
activity. While there are broad guidelines about why and how a person is banned, there were
many instances where the banning was questionable. In a particular thread, a member
discusses by he was banned and it was due to him asking if a bodybuilder was natural (i.e.
free of illegal substance use). While the thread was a little bit antagonistic, the thread did not
contain content that promoted steroid use; but still received a ban8. In looking at how social
capital is gained in online communities, the moderators should be very consistent in how
bans are administered. The unjustified depletion of communication within the constructs of
the community decreases capital.
In summary, Bodybuilding.com has no tolerance for the use or discussion of illegal
substances. The forums are monitored closely by moderators who take immediate action to
insure participants adhere to the guidelines.
8 http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=167231021&page=1
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VI. Conclusion
In the past few years, Bodybuilding.com has been under federal investigation and scrutiny for
introducing misbranded products into commerce9. In reviewing the online community of
Bodybuilding.com, the members of the community are very different from most communities in
that they are bonded together in shared goals, interests and fitness practices; Above all,
Bodybuilding.com has very strict guidelines on illegal forum topics. Additionally, the attributes
of the organization may influence the creation and accumulation of social capital. Moreover,
communication and empowerment are key indicators in the social capital. In considering the
interpretation of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act10, Bodybuilding.com could
not be considered a publisher and therefore not liable for members of the forum who would
choose to contribute to the education of other athletes. Inasmuch, Bodybuilding.com publishes
articles surrounding illegal content11, allows a platform for those who have a high reputation
ranking in the community that creates increased connections and interactions. Social capital
creates value for the forum members who are connected and validated through the reputation
system. The value of engaging in the Bobybuilding.com community is not just based on the
individual in the forums, but on the way they are connected and disconnected.
9 http://www.fda.gov/ICECI/CriminalInvestigations/ucm305494.htm10 https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/47/23011 http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/drobson196.htm
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