I am a PhD candidate at La Trobe University studying how online discussions about moral...

I am a PhD candidate at La Trobe University studying how online discussions about moral, social and political issues might have an effect on peoples’ views, attitudes and beliefs. I am focusing exclusively on Sup Forums, its users, and the views that are expressed on its boards (pic related, this went over reasonably well on Sup Forums).

>Do you think spending time on Sup Forums altered your perspectives?

>If this prospect interests (or irritates) you, then you may find completing my anonymous questionnaire vaguely entertaining.

I have set up a website [OPhere.net] which has all the project details, a dedicated email address to contact me, and a link to the anonymous online questionnaire. I am hoping to organise some one-on-one interviews as well, so if you would prefer to skip the prompts and just tell me your views, please do not hesitate to contact me.

This research has been granted approval by the La Trobe University Human Ethics Committee. Reference No: E16-027

>TL;DR: PhD student wants to hear your views on various social, political and moral issues.

Shameless self-bump. No takers?

good to know that La Trobe has worthless degree programs

You know the uni?

That and what's so worthless about studying Sup Forums?

Go fuck yourself.

For what reason?

You'll never get any units that mean anything, Sup Forums is an unquantifiable, ever-changing morass of temporary content with no identities. It's not a reliable source of any type of data because by the time you refer to it as a source of data that data will have changed. Sup Forums's actual view on politics is not definable and constantly fought over, that's what that board is.

Yet I suppose it's undeniable that this is the anonymous Internet in it's purest available form, this is the birthplace of very real stand alone complexes. Stand alone complexes, however, have no originator that could be discovered or quantified, no center, no reaction site. There's nothing for you here but chaos.

It's not an attempt at defining Sup Forums, it's more about seeing if there is any serious link between the perspectives of the user and the content on the site.

And besides, there is a lot of consistency despite the ephemerality, anonymity and chaos. This place has a history and a culture.

fuck you op and your over achieving complex to gain some modicum of self worth by thinking you are doing "revolutionary research". No matter how hard you try your mom will never approve of you.

TBH I really just wanted mix what I do for fun with what I do professionally. Do something you love and never work a day etc.?

The stories and information posted here are artistic works of fiction and falsehood.
Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact.

Exactly! But behind art and fiction is an author, and they have reasons for doing what they do.

You're looking in the wrong place.

You gonna get memed, lad.

I really don't think so. I am surprised at how few fucks are being given here.

You're implying a discontinuity between user and his content, this probably does not exist in any meaningful way. If you're looking to prove if Sup Forums causes "rightward" political leanings, sure, but only because the nature of Sup Forums promotes forbidden speech. This development I think has to do much with the interactions between liberal culture and conservative culture in the wider sphere of the real world. Vox wrote an excellent article called "The smug style of American liberalism" that outlines an evolution of liberal culture in which they find their counterparts to be unbearable, uneducated hicks as a cottage industry of anti-conservative humor pelts them from afar. In the same vein conservatives want to essentially "excommunicate" the liberal for his disrespect, his carelessness and his failure to love his country. Sup Forums seems to lean rightward because the right can only be loud in private, liberals have them in what amounts to the social "smoking section" as more and more "humor" becomes "proof" they're stupid. Meanwhile, Obama gets nowhere in 8 years of attempted bi-partisanship, people blame the tea party, but really it was the demand of the entire "right" they blockade everything because things are just that bad between us now. Sup Forums reflects this, that's why it's so vicious and strange politically.

That's okay with me user.

Cheers man, this is some solid insight. Would you be willing to try the questionnaire? I have no doubt that you would have a lot of answers to my questions...

Why can you people never, ever shut the fuck up about your feuds in any context, Jesus fucking a monkey Krishna nunchucks.

You're that faggot who's perpetually doing a "baseball comic" aren't you?

Sup Forums doesn't cause right wing leanings. If you were on Sup Forums before 2008 you'd know this. Rather, it is a culture based on rejecting of what is now called "normie" culture. When Bush was president, the majority of posters seemed to think conservatives were idiots. However, the racism has shown to persist no matter what current counterculture leaning the average poster has.

OP here. I seriously have no idea what you are referring to.

This is what I mean, there's a history and a culture. I hope you take a look at the survey user.

>normie
Fuck off /r9k/. You are the blogging newfag cancer.

Did you miss the quotes that emphasize it's not a word I would normally use?

Well, I tried. Imma lurk until this thread dies, so if anyone can be fucked even looking at the survey I will be here.

That's no excuse for using it.

It's all over Sup Forums, not just /r9k/...

I'm replying, OP. If nothing else you can use it to show how lazy and apathetic the average user is. It's probably why most of us are still here.

You shouldn't be trying to prove that Sup Forums effects the way people think anyway. Then even more people will try using it for that. Like that episode of Murphy Brown where they interview people in the cafe during an election. You are a destructive element.

Nobody else seems to understand the question, but here's my answer:
No. Sup Forums doesn't make me more racist or homophobic or anti - anything.

4 chan is anonymous, people can say or do what they want without repercussions, people can pretend to be whoever they want, everyone here is more racist, homophobic, bi - curious and sicker in the head than they are irl, I doubt very many people here would post any of 'this shit' on facebook without fear of destroying their street cred.

We're just here for the lulz, it's somewhere to laugh at racist jokes, read made-up stories of incest and rape and not get found out by your peers

Go fuck yourself, newfag.

Thanks user, I really appreciate it. Let me know if there are any problems with the survey.

mayte.. your university are full of illuminatis who help other cult members to cheat and pass.


I suggest you get the fuck out of Australia, mayte. As most of them are worshiping Satan (Akadawa) in his end of times human form.

Am serious, if you want proof just focus on school of medical science and Yandy Liang (student)..

Not to mention the creepy statue of Satan and other naked people around him down building 51 I think.

Am serious man. Just get the fuck out of Australia. 7 years there seen nothing but hell. Crazy people who worship AntiChrist who pay them $ stolen from tax payers money deposited straight into their bank account.

And they really think he's God.. I mean come on anyone can learn Solomon Magic and rape few women who got lots of Quarts energy to accumulate all that much of energy right?

These Kabbalah people never left me any privacy, AFP breaking into my house... RMIT dropping Swanston ST wall on my way while driving on the road, barely passing it, they threw Kangaroo for me to crash into down 1470 Eltham RD. They did so much.

BTW.. head to "Victorian Motorcycle Wreckers" and ask Kenny if he is still interested if coming to Sharjah and molest UAE Children sponsored by Sharjah Ruler.

Please tell him to fuck off from UAE as we are sick from Australians "friends of Sharjah Ruler" coming to our country since 70s and abducting our children molesting them then returning them injected with memory loss drugs or "duub duuub duuub" memory loss spell. With left fingers ( IIII_) pointed...

am serious. just get the fuck out quickly. They will try to inject you with HIV or HepC also. Given that Mazaher was allowed to access the lap.

What's worse? hmmmmm I think girls only schools who don't wear underwear claiming Satan comes and fuck them. Yuk... for fuck sake.

But one thing I like in Australia. Asians.. they are so hot specially who look like Kei Arai.

That's the thing though. Is it all just for the lulz? You have never wondered if someone has interpreted your sarcasm as real?

Oh, we all congregate here starting off with opposing normie viewpoints just to challenge our perspectives! It's totally not a counterculture community that people who hate people like you go to. I hope you die in a carfire newfag

what chaos? there is nothing but the same old shit posted here every day. the same threads with the same content posted and reposted ad infinitum

...

Most of that is true, but I'd beg to differ on the opinions of 4channers. Most of us are to some degree racist, hating whatever else you want to list, but at least on Sup Forums, you'll get called a faggot for not being racist in a crowd of racists. Once you see the amount of threads that had been posted daily(which have died down now), it seemed strange to not be unironically racist if you wanted to be in the "Sup Forums norm".

With that said though, most of the things on Sup Forums are for the lulz, and that's why we stay here

Already answered the survey OP

>sarcasm
How do you get into a PHD program without basic reading comprehension?

Yet we keep coming back for that same bullshit.

Do you think that the questions posed on your website might be biased, on the basis that you're a big faggot?

>Sup Forums norm
That's the stupidest shit I've read all day, and I graded papers for a high school lit class.

OP here. Thanks man, I look forward to reading it!

If this is the kind of faggot who answers your survey, you can't trust the data. Good, fuck you OP.

It used to be different.

No, Sup Forums hasn't altered me...but I was 40 when I started lurking here (now 50).

I would say it would have a negative effect on minors who are exposed to things they wouldn't or shouldn't see until they're older. Then again, I'm speaking as a parent that closely monitored (and blocking) what my son and step-daughter were doing online. The Internet is not a good babysitter.

They are designed to respond to bias and adapt accordingly. That's why I included 'other' options everywhere.

I felt stupid writing it, but it's true. There is a mentality to Sup Forums, and certain things are considered okay to post and not okay to post. For example, you will get berated for posting unironic feminist threads.
So you're saying somebody who has used Sup Forums for years can't be trusted because it's not your opinion

Still taking the survey OP but I'd like to point out a trend I've noticed. Racism and homophobia on Sup Forums used to just be about making a joke about "others," but it seems as computers become easier to use more conservatives have found their way online. Anyways what I was going to point out is how interesting I've always thought the use of "fag" and "faggot" on here is. It used to almost be a term of endearment (we're all just a bunch of fags - be it newfags or oldfags. Or OP is always a faggot) back in the 2000s when using "gay" to mean stupid was socially acceptable. It wasn't necessarily directed at someone's sexuality but used to tie us together. However, now it seems to mostly be used by actual homophobes.

Assuming you have the time, I would really like to hear more about your experiences. 10 years worth of lurking... you would have an interesting perspective.

Thanks user. I have observed much the same (hence the questions).

I wonder about the use of 'fag/faggot' too, and I have read a lot of academic writing that just assumes its all banter, but no one ever actually asks the fucking users.

I can't tonight...flight home in the am. Perhaps tomorrow evening.

Berated anonymously on the internet. Oh noes.

Fair enough man, the website/questionnaire will still be there :)

I might. Hm, how new are you? Another thing to understand is we seem to be being censored by a liberal moderation base, this has drastically affected the culture and causes the deletion of some content. Things weren't always this way, we got taken over when someone named Nick Denton who's niece threatened to kill herself during our raid on Tumblr used his power and influence to taint this place. There is a considerable disaspora to other, relatively non-censored sites the names of which are tellingly blocked from even being posted. "Our system thinks your post is spam" it will say, try it yourself.

I've been here longer than you. Your opinion is wrong. And retarded.

The users just call you a faggot. Because you're a faggot.

OP here. Been lurking for about 6 years. There was some discussion of this in the thread I started on Sup Forums too... definitely worth looking into further. Cheers.

Which is really odd if you think about the sexual attitudes here. Traps and gays are pretty well accepted here. Hell, last night someone found gay porn on a good friend's computer...and was freaked out. OP was saying he couldn't be friends with a homosexual and got ripped by most everyone in the thread.

The racism though....that is more real. It's like Stormfront set up a branch on Sup Forums

Fuck off back to /qa/ with your war against the mods.

>accepted
The term is "fapped to". You don't invite a hooker to the country club.

I actually had a question about traps in an earlier draft of the survey. Kinda regret removing it now...

So you're saying that everyone that faps is in denial.

The thread last night was a perfect example. Tons of threads about straights and bisexuals sharing gay experiences.

Yes, there is always a few critics...but most are accepting.

>OP here.

Just had a look at the survey - thank you to the anons who had a go. Greatly appreciated!

It's true. Mutiply Sup Forums by 2 and look there, that's the primary diaspora but there's definitely more. A lot of Sup Forums's older users left, frankly, I keep watching Sup Forums for the same reason you're studying it, it's an important site of memetic "emergence" and, well, just plain addictive. I've uh...been here since 2005, I was referred directely into /d/ by a SomethingAwful forum friend. I'd never seen so many dicks in places they don't belong. Certainly, this place has change, we hated bush-era conservatism with a passion, but now that the liberal and conservative cultures have genuinely diverged this place is a genuine battleground.

Oh please, you know I'm right. Moot sold this place to Mook to get back at those assholes. Mook is the only reason we can post fucking anything. Mook is a good fucking guy.

I think it's interesting that trap threads used to be bait and switch. You'd post a passable trap and then reveal that they had a penis after half an hour or so. I've always wondered if that affected the sexuality of posters and if that's why there are so many more strictly porn trap threads now, or if people are just more open about their sexuality now.


Also good job hiding your Facebook picture OP but you may want to hide your relationship status to strangers.

And how exactly are you able to make that assessment?

Also isn't being engaged for 6 years a long time?

Such shallow, transparent lies.

Since we know that sexuality is more fluid than originally thought.. seems like a lot of men are experimenting with it....being aroused by feminine men. That isn't to say they'll act on it, but it's an interesting phenomena here.

Aside from making me a bit more callous, giving me a set of typographical conventions to use only one one specific website, causing me to stay up late a miss a few classes, and making me a faggot, Sup Forums hasn't affected me at all.

...

Get fucked you intellectual cunt. You're what's wrong with the world, fuck off and try get offended somewhere else.

The first trap threads were just anime threads about trap characters, which inevitably included porn.

Can't tell which parts of this are hyperbole, sarcasm or truth

Replyng

Also you're a nigger

I did your thingy OP

For a website that appears to be primarily populated by people with a tertiary education there is a surprising amount of anti-intellectual bullshit floating around.

>we know that
You decided it, to justify your perversion. You shouldn't have to justify it. What's wrong with just being a pervert?

It's not an assessment. It's the way it is.

Sup Forums operates on a set of rules put together in the early-mid 2000s called the Rules of the Internet. Some are written, others are unwritten. A written rule would be, for example, OP is always a faggot. It's irrelevant what OP's sexuality is, because by the rules if one is OP, one is a faggot. An unwritten rule would be something like "you don't put quotation marks around greentext" - it's just something that shows you're new.

I'm not exactly sure how, but fag eventually became the term for Sup Forums user in general, with variants for different types, ie oldfag, newfag, tripfag, or summerfag. Additionally, since the board is anonymous, if you want to distinguish yourself, it's common to name yourself fag. For example, I'm Jeeperfag or Musketfag depending on context.

lurk moar

Neither am I, and I posted it.

Never heard of La Trobe.

Clearly, your shit-tier university is meaningless.

Tl;dr - go fuck yourself faggot. Do your own research. Put some work and effort so that meaningless scrap you'll get, dubbing you "doctor", servers for something other than toilet paper.

OP here.

Fair play - OP is always a faggot.

>wut

First, I don't have to justify anything. ..there's tons of research on the issue...Google it yourself.

Secondly, traps don't excite me. I'm bi, if I'm in wanting a cock mode, I jack off to men fucking. I'm just not in denial about what I am.

It's a real place, it's just not in the US.

Damn Aussies, first they take over shitposting, now they want to examine the site. It's all just wetwork man, they're casing the joint for when they pull the big heist.

Just for the sake of conversation, you are aware of the small body of academic work that exists on topics to do with Sup Forums... right?

It's possible to be 30 and use a computer, I know, mindblowing. Shouldn't I be married or something???? Fucking kids.

Get this non Aussie fuck out of here quick

It's almost a shame there are no flags next to posts on Sup Forums

Scientific facts have no part in your motivation or decision making process going into deciding to call sexuality fluid. You want to be congratulated on what you fap to, and place yourself above other perverts. Go to hell.

There's a disclaimer
>Only a fool would take... blah blah blah
The stories here are works of fiction, everyone claims it happened to them this week, till the oldfag posts an earlier copypasta
I didn't mention sarcasm, so not sure where your point lies, but people will do as they will. I've never been racist, I still laugh at the stereotype nigger hate threads, but I'm not gonna start telling nigger jokes to my friends, it's not acceptable irl.
Sup Forums is the place to say and post things you wouldn't say or post to your friends, it's a place to share weird shit and not get judged,

I'm 3 years older than you.

Yup. Honestly I think this place is more or less positive, once you're cool with desensitization to porn. Especially nowadays with the gore, CP, and raid threads more or less gone, it's really just a community of nerdy perverts who share porn, stories, and advice. Honestly language is the biggest thing I've found change from the site - words like faggot or nigger are common and expected here even if you'd never say either IRL, and after using them several times over the course of a night, you start having to catch yourself before you say them during the day. But I at least don't mean any harm by it, and I doubt most others do too - I'm pretty sure most of the racism on Sup Forums is hugely exaggerated, and I know for sure that the homophobia on the site is purely superficial (most of Sup Forums is at least a little bi, so yeah...).

Really, language is the biggest thing I've seen change thanks to Sup Forums. That and sleep schedules (and sexual preferences, but that's not what your study is about).

Also, I'm well aware this is probably b8, but eh, whatever. Got nothing better to do than explain some of the way the site works to a newfag.

>Sup Forums is the place to say and post things you wouldn't say or post to your friends, it's a place to share weird shit and not get judged.

Wouldn't this mean a lot of people are expressing their actual views then?

You can tell jokes about the word nigger irl. You just can't tell jokes about darkies if you aren't one. Which is fine. We're all niggerfaggots here.