Online communities reproduce status hierarchies that limit who can participate

Evidence

Given that communities without built-in status signals create them anyway, the prevalence of online status hierarchies calls into question the mid-2000s belief that sites like Wikipedia and You-Tube demonstrate open and democratic online participation. In reality, a close examination of practically any online group will reveal tightly wound status hierarchies that often serve to limit participation, sometimes by following timeworn lines of power. — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 173

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: Parallels the trees-as-infrastructure piece’s point that seemingly democratic systems encode hidden stratification, and complements the openness-vs-reality tension.
• XREF: Contradicts the early-internet utopian rhetoric of digital democracy; connects to critiques like Hindman’s The Myth of Digital Democracy. — connects to: Status hierarchies are perceived unevenly and sharpen with community inculcation — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 885; Status hierarchies can emerge purely from individuals’ belonging, distinctiveness, and esteem needs — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 855; Online participation is socially and professionally compulsory within tech communities — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 639 (+5 more)
• SEED: Article angle: how ‘openness’ rhetoric in open-source culture smuggles in exclusionary hierarchies — the democratization myth of platforms.

Broader Connections

• Tech status hierarchies are made visible and reinforced through public digital connections #expands (0.85) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 202
• Status hierarchies can emerge purely from individuals’ belonging, distinctiveness, and esteem needs #expands (0.80) — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 855
• Online participation is socially and professionally compulsory within tech communities #exemplifies (0.75) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 639
• Hierarchical merit systems turn peer cooperation into competition and block group action #complicates (0.75) — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 499
• Achieved status remains heavily dependent on ascribed group membership #qualifies (0.72) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 3161