Final Post

This was a pretty interesting assignment.  Although I had frequently gone to this website I generally stayed away from the forum because I imagined it would be similar to the  comments on Youtbe, which is pretty much of a cesspool of idiotic comments.  The few times I did go to the forum and read some fanposts, I had never approached my usage of it from a perspective of analyzing digital citizenship.  I was honestly pretty surprised at how many displays of positive digital citizenship versus negative there were on this website.  There was very little negative examples.  I later discovered that is because the website owner gives moderator privileges to certain users that can delete comments and ban certain users if they post comments that violate the rules.  The rules are pretty extensive and include 'fighter bashing' which can mean a whole host of negative comments against certain fighters.  It is this type of moderation that prevents many instances of poor digital citizenship.  If you compare it to say, twitter.  On Twitter, people say all sorts of damaging and ignorant comments because there is nobody there moderate it.  On this forum, however, many members had the ability to do this and it really helps create a positive, entertaining, and informative atmosphere.

This assignment showed me that no matter the topic, the internet can actually be a place where positive digital citizenship is displayed.  Despite the fact that the posters are totally anonymous, many are generally respectful and insightful.  There are a few people who make comments without thinking about what they say, but the same is true is in the real world!  I imagine that a big part of why many posters on the forums are on the best behavior has to do with the fact that people know they will not be able to get away with saying certain things.

Thanks for reading!