WebExhibitionism

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Some people carry their OnlineDiary too far. The sudden urge to write a homepage and spill your innermost secrets upon the net; things even your special one doesn't know.

Remember, on the Internet, nobody knows you are a dog, but everybody will remember once you let them know.

What drives these people to spill all their love and hate onto web pages nobody will ever read? Here are some attempts at finding an answer. If we understand this better, perhaps we can channel this energy for our own online community. In a way, giving users a HomePage on a wiki takes advantage of this!

People want to be connected, and may feel disconnected from people offline
People feel disinhibited because they do not see the ParaLanguage of their readers.
People feel encouraged because they get very little negative feedback.
People want to be interesting, to project a positive image of themselves.
It is postmodern! "Nobody cares but i will write it anyway!"
People get to choose what they will talk about. Empowerment!

Running personal WebLogs, such as those at LiveJournal, makes it especially easy to engage in exhibitionism.

WebExhibitionism

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