Total War Center: An Anthropological Study (Citizen Questionnaire)

[Zuwxiv]

Members of TWC, lend me your ears... and Opinions!

General members? Please go here!
Citizens? Please use this thread!
Staff? Please go here!

As a learning exercise (and not as a formal study) I am working on a project studying the Total War Center community, for an Ethnographic Field Methods class I am enrolled in. I'm interested in getting the opinions of members on TWC of all kinds - from senior staff to general members.

If you have the time, I would love to get your responses to some of my questions. Absolutely any input and opinions are greatly appreciated. (If I can, I'll try to +rep everyone who responds!) You'll find the list of questions here as well as information about what exactly I am doing.

By the way, you don't need to answer all questions. (It could take quite some time!) If you just have a few things to add, I would still appreciate it greatly.

I also am interested in interviewing several people on the site, over AIM or ICQ or any type of chat. It wouldn't take more than about 10 minutes, but if you have more to talk about, I'd be glad to listen. If you're interested, PM me.

Information about the Project

If you have any questions, please feel free to PM me or reply here.

The nature of these questions is along the lines of what sort of identity members have here, and how that possibly differs from their real life identities. I want to know what interests members about TWC, and what they think of our democratic system. I'm also interested in studying the class differences within TWC - what the general members think of Citizens and Mods, and vice versa.

Part of this entails having complete anonymity. Anyone who wishes to participate will not be mentioned by name or even online identity. If you wish to respond privately, I would be glad to be PM'd your answers to these questions.

I would be conducting this all under what is called "informed consent." This means that everyone who participates must know exactly what I am doing, how I will use the information, and who will be able to see it.

I promise you: This information is confidential and used only for the purposes of my assignment and learning practice. My professor would be the only person to read my final paper, and nobody will be mentioned by name. This simply will not be published anywhere.

Questionnaire

You don't have to answer all questions. Answers can be PM'd to me or posted here.

First off, thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. I really appreciate your help and your time. You don't need to answer every question if you don't feel comfortable or if you simply don't want to - but of course, I would really appreciate complete responses!



1) Have you read the above information about the project, and do you understand exactly what I'm doing and how the information will be used? (See above to read what I'm doing.)

2) Do you think of your identity on TWC differently from your identity in the real world? Do you act or behave differently on TWC? Why?

3) Do you feel familiar with TWC? Do you feel you have friends here, or do you think of other members as friends?

4) Which rank to you identify most with?? (Member, Citizen, Moderators / Staff, other)

• What do you think of general members?
• What do you think of Citizens?
• What do you think of Moderators / Staff?

(If you want, you can answer these questions like: "If I told you that someone was a citizen, what conceptions would you have?")

5) What do you think of TWC in general? What do you think of the TWC membership system in particular? (The ways different ranks are treated, or achieved, or used)

• Do you favor a particular forum?
• Do you notice any differences between forums? I.E., are people in the Thema Devia different from those in the Mudpit?

6) Do you think TWC has changed much since you first came here?

7) How do you feel about the democratic system here? Do you think it is fair? What about the power given to staff and moderators?

• What rights to you feel you have on TWC?
• Do you feel this way on other forums, or other places online?

8) How does you level of respect or reputation in real live compare to the respect or reputation you have on TWC?

9) How much time do you spend on TWC? How often are you here?

• Why are you here?

10) Is there anything special or unique about TWC you would like to share? Any interesting stories?

Thanks to everyone who takes the time to help me out!

[Soulghast]

1) Have you read the above information about the project, and do you understand exactly what I'm doing and how the information will be used? (See above to read what I'm doing.)

I just read through it. I don't really care, I just saw the questionnaire, and thought it would be interesting.

2) Do you think of your identity on TWC differently from your identity in the real world? Do you act or behave differently on TWC? Why?

Not really. I'm pretty much the same person in real life, as far as this is possible. In my age, many of the people I associate with are well, more likely to resort to violence or swearing, so I sometimes have to do the same in order to be accepted. And that sucks. But other than that, I'm the same.

3) Do you feel familiar with TWC? Do you feel you have friends here, or do you think of other members as friends?

I can say that I feel quite familiar with TWC. I have been here for a long time, even if most of that time I was banned due to age restrictions. TWC is special and unique for many reasons.

Now, I believe there are people who like me here, but I also know that there are people who dislike, just like in real life.

On the friendship issue, I wouldn't say that my relations with TWC members are anywhere as solid as the real life ones. But you could consider and internet friend a friend too.

4) Which rank to you identify most with?? (Member, Citizen, Moderators / Staff, other)

(If you want, you can answer these questions like: "If I told you that someone was a citizen, what conceptions would you have?")

I have only been a member(obviously), and a citizen, so I guess I "identify most" with the Citizen rank, but I would like to serve in a branch of staff some time in the future, be it moderating, Content writing or serving as a Librarian.

What do you think of general members?

I guess they're ok in general, if you ignore the occasional troll/spammer/flamer. It heavily depends on the branch of members you are talking about. General Members(Peregrinii) are a vast category, so it's hard to have a general opinion. But what I dislike most are some of the Peregrinii in the political forums, or generally in the D&D forums, who only cause trouble. Other than that, the general membership is same like in any other major forum.

What do you think of Citizens?

I have to say that the standard has unfortunately fallen, but fortunately, there are still many worthy citizens in the forums. I am afraid I cannot say anything more in public.

What do you think of Moderators / Staff?

This is where I really cannot comment in public. But I have to say that I am generally satisfied with the moderation in the forum.

5) What do you think of TWC in general? What do you think of the TWC membership system in particular? (The ways different ranks are treated, or achieved, or used)

Do you favor a particular forum?

Not really.

What sort of differences do you see between subforums?

Each subforum has a different purpose itself doesn't it? They are for different things, so yeah they are different. (lol)


6) Do you think TWC has changed much since you first came here?

Other than the change of ownership, most visual stuff(badges, awards), and the social group and contacts feature, not much has changed, other than the size of the community, which is constantly growing.

7) How do you feel about the democratic system here? Do you think it is fair? What about the power given to staff and moderators?

I think it's fair, and Curial politics are always fun, even if not of much usefulness.

What rights to you feel you have on TWC?

Moderation is generaly more lenient here, and the right to appeal for moderating decisions is certainly an important one. Other than that, as a citizen I have the privilege to post and vote in the Curia, but that does not really count does it?

Do you feel this way on other forums, or other places online?

I can't really say, as I've never stayed long in one forum, with the exception to this being TWC.

8) How does you level of respect or reputation in real live compare to the respect or reputation you have on TWC?

I don't know. I am not especially highly regarded here, and neither am I in real life, so I guess it's about the same.

9) How much time do you spend on TWC? How often are you here?

I log on TWC daily, for about 2 hours. I spend more time here on weekends, but I can say that most of my time here I am viewing various threads, rather than posting. But I generally have 6 or 7 posts a day, on average.

10) Is there anything special or unique about TWC you would like to share? Any interesting stories?

Perhaps. But I would not like to share anything.

[DaVinci]

Interesting idea

One thought i would like to mention:

You should still make clear, that, if the results of that questionaire will be published anywhere, that it is not really representative for TWC in the whole.

And that it is a limited extract of member-opinions. Otherwise you would need about (at least) 60 % each of the member groups as participations.

The method you have described here seems to me at least not capable enough to bring out a representative statistic about the points in question.

If you have mentioned that already, then forget my post here, and i say sorry (i didn't read through every paragraph as yet).

Nonetheless, the results will be quite interesting to see, so i wish you good luck with that project.

[Zuwxiv]

Thanks for the answers!

You've hit on a really good point, DaVinci. A small sample is not necessarily representative of the whole population at all. But ethnographers can't every find an objective truth, because there isn't one.

Not everyone believes the same thing, and not everyone has the same values. Even within a seemingly homogenous group, there could well be a huge variety of opinions.

So I'll do the best I can - but think of it this way. If you wanted to study, say, the San people of Africa... How many would you have to talk to before you had a representative sample? Certainly not the simple majority, that would be almost 50,000 people - and we're talking about a very small group to begin with!

You'd keep asking questions until you feel that you have a certain level of knowledge that isn't being greatly increased by each further answer. You hope that you asked the right questions (*gulp*) and try to do the best you can.

Also, from a statistics standpoint, you don't need to ask the majority. Think about polls - such as in the United States before the recent election. You only need to get a small percentage of respondents... Chances are, a good random sampling of people will give you the same results as the entire population. (If a state of 10,000 people is 90% republican, what's the chance that you'll randomly choose 100 people who are all democrats? ) In other words, a good random sampling should be representative of the group.

Of course, this is voluntary, not random. And I'm a student, not an ethnographer or a statistician.

I hope that I'll get a good selection of responses, but I do promise I'll try my best. The biggest problem I face is the Myopic Gaze - being too close to it, I can't see the big picture. I'm trying to work on seeing TWC objectively. It's not easy, that's for sure!

[Legio]

1) Have you read the above information about the project, and do you understand exactly what I'm doing and how the information will be used? (See above to read what I'm doing.)
Yes.

2) Do you think of your identity on TWC differently from your identity in the real world? Do you act or behave differently on TWC? Why?
Not really, I just have more international friends. Here I am very open, but in real life I can be quite...clicqueish.

3) Do you feel familiar with TWC? Do you feel you have friends here, or do you think of other members as friends?
I feel very familiar with it. I have a lot of friends here.

4) Which rank to you identify most with?? (Member, Citizen, Moderators / Staff, other)
Now that's a tough one. I am closer to my Librarian rank, but I like my citizen rank just as much.

• What do you think of general members?

They are cool.

• What do you think of Citizens?

They are cooler.

• What do you think of Moderators / Staff?

They are coolest.


5) What do you think of TWC in general? What do you think of the TWC membership system in particular? (The ways different ranks are treated, or achieved, or used)
It is very well made and kept in order.

• Do you favor a particular forum?

Rome Total War Hosted Modifications. It's why I joined in the first place.

• Do you notice any differences between forums? I.E., are people in the Thema Devia different from those in the Mudpit?

Definitely! More, shall I say nationalistic posters appear in the Mudpit. The TD has a lot of casual and funny posters.
6) Do you think TWC has changed much since you first came here?
Nah.

7) How do you feel about the democratic system here? Do you think it is fair? What about the power given to staff and moderators?
It is fair, I would not change anything.

• What rights to you feel you have on TWC?

As long as I can post and download files I am good.

• Do you feel this way on other forums, or other places online?

This is like Facebook, but with Total War.
8) How does you level of respect or reputation in real live compare to the respect or reputation you have on TWC?
Dunnow how people respect me here, but I have one and a half lines of rep so I guess I am liked.
I am more liked in school, though.

9) How much time do you spend on TWC? How often are you here?
An hour or two a day. I come evry day, I think.

10) Is there anything special or unique about TWC you would like to share? Any interesting stories?
We have a faster and more active forum than anyone else. We also have better members.

[The Good]

1) Have you read the above information about the project, and do you understand exactly what I'm doing and how the information will be used? (See above to read what I'm doing.)

Yes, I understand that you are taking in information for an Ethnographic Field Methods class.


2) Do you think of your identity on TWC differently from your identity in the real world? Do you act or behave differently on TWC? Why?

I behave much the same as myself outside of the internet.


3) Do you feel familiar with TWC? Do you feel you have friends here, or do you think of other members as friends?

I do feel familiar with Total War Center, in fact, I'm sure I have a number of acquaintances, if not really friends here.


4) Which rank to you identify most with?? (Member, Citizen, Moderators / Staff, other)

I mostly identify myself as a Civitate, though I'm not sure if that is in any way the correct Latin word for citizen.

• What do you think of general members?

I think that the majority of the non-citizens are cool people, down to earth, and friendly.

• What do you think of Citizens?

Well, some citizens, though I won't say names, have a sense of elitism or pride, but there's a lot of citizens who are cool people, and friendly.

• What do you think of Moderators / Staff?

I personally wouldn't mind being a Moderator myself for some time (my application was denied, but that's another story), and I believe that most Moderators are friendly, but sometimes not relaxed enough, and often prone to infract or give profile notes if there is a single offense. I had a profile note two years ago for violating the signature rules. My signature was too large, and it was animated, which made the memory usage considerably higher.


(If you want, you can answer these questions like: "If I told you that someone was a citizen, what conceptions would you have?")

5) What do you think of TWC in general? What do you think of the TWC membership system in particular? (The ways different ranks are treated, or achieved, or used)

I think Total War Center is a neat forum, definitely better than most on the internet, composed mostly of well thought-out, and constructive messages. There's a very intellectual environment around here, even in the game sub-forums.

• Do you favor a particular forum?

I favor the Thema Devia most, but I would post more often if the rules regarding spam were a little more relaxed. I'm a big fan of the Survival/Faction Elimination games by the way.

• Do you notice any differences between forums? I.E., are people in the Thema Devia different from those in the Mudpit?

The people in the Mudpit tend to be much more passionate regarding their perspectives than those who mostly frequent the Thema Devia.

6) Do you think TWC has changed much since you first came here?

I think it has. I joined back when Honor&Glory was a prominent figure around here, and to be honest, though I don't fully understand the situation of the time, I thought he was alright for a Moderator, if too pushy about the rules... He was sort of like Crandar.


7) How do you feel about the democratic system here? Do you think it is fair? What about the power given to staff and moderators?

I enjoy the diversity of Total War Center, we have many people from the United States of America, Great Britain, Germany, Sweden, Italy, Greece, Turkey, China, Canada, Japan, Croatia, Israel, Ireland, and many other countries.

• What rights to you feel you have on TWC?

I feel that, as a Civitate, I have the right to a fair and just trial in the event I did anything wrong.

• Do you feel this way on other forums, or other places online?

Well, I'm a fairly active member of Neoseeker forums, but as I've mentioned, there is more of an intellectual environment here.

8) How does your level of respect or reputation in real live compare to the respect or reputation you have on TWC?

Well, I would say that it's about the same. Outside of the internet, people think of me as friendly, understanding, just, intelligent, and a skilled writer. I assume from past experiences here, that it's roughly the same.


9) How much time do you spend on TWC? How often are you here?

I rarely spend much time around here as much as I used to. The way it used to be was sort of ridiculous, I would spend sometimes one or two hours a day posting and browsing the forum. It was something of an addiction, and I still have a tendency to do the same again, provided I have enough time away from studying.

• Why are you here?

10) Is there anything special or unique about TWC you would like to share? Any interesting stories?

Well, my memory is a little bit hazy right now, as I've went to bed at 5:00 AM and woke up at 12:00 PM, but in less than nine or so months, after I first joined Total War Center as a registered member, I was offered citizenship by Scorch, the great Patrician.

I would like to personally thank Patrician Scorch for his generosity.

[Zuwxiv]

Thanks everyone! If you have the time to be interviewed (over AIM/ICQ/MSN, etc. for around 10 minutes) let me know. Otherwise, I could still use as many responses as I can get!

[Captain Blackadder]

Sure I have time to be interviewed anything to help a fellow uni student out.

[finsternis]

1) Have you read the above information about the project, and do you understand exactly what I'm doing and how the information will be used? (See above to read what I'm doing.)

Sure, I guess. Something about school, right?

2) Do you think of your identity on TWC differently from your identity in the real world? Do you act or behave differently on TWC? Why?

I think I do not. As far as I can tell, I am the same person in the TWC as in the real world.

3) Do you feel familiar with TWC? Do you feel you have friends here, or do you think of other members as friends?

Friends? I don't know (you would have to define that). But I do know really nice people that I know I can count on.

4) Which rank to you identify most with?? (Member, Citizen, Moderators / Staff, other)

Citizen

• What do you think of general members?

Most of them are cool, but there are a lot of bad seeds.

• What do you think of Citizens?

Love them. If you made it that far then you are not a bad seed.

• What do you think of Moderators / Staff?

I haven't really have much experience with them, so I cannot tell.


5) What do you think of TWC in general? What do you think of the TWC membership system in particular? (The ways different ranks are treated, or achieved, or used)

I think it is fair and it works.

• Do you favor a particular forum?

Yes, Ethos, mores et monastica.

• Do you notice any differences between forums? I.E., are people in the Thema Devia different from those in the Mudpit?

umm, I don't know. I don't go out of Ethos that often (except for the Capitol).

6) Do you think TWC has changed much since you first came here?

Well, the first time I came into TWC, I stayed in the Medieval 2 forum. Then I came to D&D, so I do not know if anything has changed.

7) How do you feel about the democratic system here? Do you think it is fair? What about the power given to staff and moderators?

I think it is a fair system. Everyone has the right to complain but not everyone has the right to change stuff, just like it should be.

• What rights to you feel you have on TWC?

The right to complain, to change things and to freely speak my mind.

• Do you feel this way on other forums, or other places online?

I don't participate on any other forum.

8) How does you level of respect or reputation in real live compare to the respect or reputation you have on TWC?

I think it is right on it or exaggerate it. lol
I am not that popular.

9) How much time do you spend on TWC? How often are you here?

I try to connect at least 4 times a day. Hour wise, like 3 a day, maybe.

• Why are you here?

I came here because I love Medieval 2. But I am staying because of the community and because of all the things that I have learns and will learn.

10) Is there anything special or unique about TWC you would like to share? Any interesting stories?

Too many to write them down. I guess a funny fact about TWC (or related to it) is the fact that I am always driving my girlfriend crazy with things that people say on TWC.

[Zuwxiv]

I'm sorry I haven't been able to interview people live, but tomorrow (Tuesday the 9th) I'll be online for almost the whole day - from around 4:00 PM to midnight. I'll be on AIM under the screenname AyeBeAPirate, and I'll be on the TWCenter IRC chat. If anyone has the time (about ten minutes), you would become my hero. (You'll get premium signature placement! )

I'm in California, which is GMT -8. Hopefully I'll be able to talk to a few of you!

Thanks to all those who have helped me out with this project.


Update! Tuesday, 4:35 PST (GMT -8)
I'll be online for as long as I can today! I'd love to have additional interviewers, if you have ten minutes find me on the IRC chat or on AIM with the screenname AyeBeAPirate.

Thanks to everyone who's helped so far!

[.Socrates]

1) Have you read the above information about the project, and do you understand exactly what I'm doing and how the information will be used? (See above to read what I'm doing.)
Yes. I skimmed a little, but I have the general idea.

2) Do you think of your identity on TWC differently from your identity in the real world? Do you act or behave differently on TWC? Why?
When I first joined TWC in 2006, yes, I did act differently than I did in real life. I was much more talkative online, and acted pretty weird compared to what I did in the real world. I don't why exactly, maybe a sense of anonymity gave me a greater sense to express myself. Now, however, I basically act the same as I do in the real world, only that I'm more talkative outside of the internet than on it.

3) Do you feel familiar with TWC? Do you feel you have friends here, or do you think of other members as friends?
I have a familiarity with TWC, yes. I do not feel that I have friends here, maybe only acquantinces at most. TWC to me is more of a place to play mods for the Total war series, read people's opinions of a certain game in the circus maximus, or share musical tastes with other TWCers.

4) Which rank to you identify most with?? (Member, Citizen, Moderators / Staff, other)
Civitate.
What do you think of general members?
Most I think are pretty cool, except for a few bad apples it's fine.
What do you think of Citizens?
Same as above.
What do you think of Moderators / Staff?
I have not been able to have a valid opinion of the moderators/staff. The only time I have been messaged by one was when my sig was too large, and when I tagged the "What are you listening to?" thread as 'musical circlejerk.

5) What do you think of TWC in general? What do you think of the TWC membership system in particular? (The ways different ranks are treated, or achieved, or used)
I think that it's a swell place. Almost everyone's friendly, and very helpful and informative when you ask them to be. I don't know too much of the membership system, but it got me the Civitate badge. So no problems here!

6) Do you think TWC has changed much since you first came here?
The design certainly has. It's a lot more organized now. I also see a lot more moderators now than when I first joined.

8) How does you level of respect or reputation in real live compare to the respect or reputation you have on TWC?
My respect/reputation in real would probably be "unknown quantity at this point." Being a high school student doesn't demand a lot of respect.

9) How much time do you spend on TWC? How often are you here?
Maybe and hour, 2 hours at the most. It used to be 4 or 5 hours, but now I mostly skim threads, creating one of my own every once in a while. Like I said, I basically stay in the Arts, but sometime I'll venture into the Circus Maximus or RTW hosted modifications areas. I'm here almost every day.

Why are you here?
It's an interesting place to be. Other than that, I don't know.



Well that wasted 15 minutes. Hope this helps.

[Darkragnar]

1) Have you read the above information about the project, and do you understand exactly what I'm doing and how the information will be used? (See above to read what I'm doing.)
Yes

2) Do you think of your identity on TWC differently from your identity in the real world? Do you act or behave differently on TWC? Why?
No i behave exactly the same way as i do in real life , with maybe 1 difference I feel i can express any sort of desire (dark or light) here without a heavy heart

3) Do you feel familiar with TWC? Do you feel you have friends here, or do you think of other members as friends?
Yes

4) Which rank to you identify most with?? (Member, Citizen, Moderators / Staff, other)
Other,
I relate myself with the rank of artifex most, but since i havent modded anything recently that is why i choose to use the Citizen rank.

• What do you think of general members?
• What do you think of Citizens?
• What do you think of Moderators / Staff?

(If you want, you can answer these questions like: "If I told you that someone was a citizen, what conceptions would you have?")
* I admit to not reading everything the General member writes ,i usually skim most of the posts and dont read the rest of the post of a general member if i find he has nothing worthwhile to add to a discussion.

*I admit i give more leeway to Citizens when reading their posts , atleast more than General Memebers

*I dont really pay that much attention to what a moderator posts inside a thread because it generally consists of crowd control , and since i dont break an Rules myself so i never pay any attention to them.

5) What do you think of TWC in general? What do you think of the TWC membership system in particular? (The ways different ranks are treated, or achieved, or used)
TWC is a great place where alot of like minded individuals meet and a place of learning new interesting things from an Intelligent Audience.

• Do you favor a particular forum?
• Do you notice any differences between forums? I.E., are people in the Thema Devia different from those in the Mudpit?

I prefer the Circus Maximus most.
* Yes i do find People differ from Forum to Forum ,infact the same people respond differently in different forums , for example a member usually is more irritated in the Mud Pit than he would be in the Arts or Circus Maximus forum.


6) Do you think TWC has changed much since you first came here?
No and Yes , Yes because i find it has grown in an Infrastructure sense and No because i feel it is I who has changed after comming to TWC , I've been here for a long time and i've grown used to seeing a lot of the good threads and new informative posts so its hard to see any new things anymore for me but i acknowledge that if i was a new memeber all the information would appear new to me.

7) How do you feel about the democratic system here? Do you think it is fair? What about the power given to staff and moderators?

• What rights to you feel you have on TWC?
• Do you feel this way on other forums, or other places online?

I used to care more about the system before but i realise its just a forum and im not really interested in paying attention to how the system works anymore.
*I feel we have a lot more rights here in TWC and the fact that we have the power to be heard.
*No i dont feel like this in another forum , maybe a little bit in the Org.

8) How does you level of respect or reputation in real live compare to the respect or reputation you have on TWC?
I dont really see any connection of the Respect i get in real life with the Reps i get here.

9) How much time do you spend on TWC? How often are you here?
Depends on my mood really , sometimes a lot and sometimes very little.

• Why are you here?

To Learn about new things
10) Is there anything special or unique about TWC you would like to share? Any interesting stories?[/fieldset]
Yes, the people here in TWC are really unique and thats what makes it so special.

[MoROmeTe]

1) I have read, I understand, I am eager to see what the results will look like.

2) my identity on TWC differs from my real life identity. I am more eloquent and more attentive to detail on TWC. I also tend to listen/read more than talk/write than in real life. I also tend to be more restrained in the way I put forward my opinion.

3) I felt closer to TWC and qualified some members as friends back when I was more active, in 2004 - 2006. Now I only recognize some names so I don't identify with TWC so much.

4) I see myself as a Citizen. While the crowd at TWC has always been better, quality wise, than most other forums I feel that Citizens have the ability to contribute more, can be trusted to do "the right thing" growing the community and creating an environment where projects can be developed.

5) The membership system makes TWC special and helped a lot with building a "real" community and creating a hierarchy that (mostly) works. The individuals which rise amongst the ranks and become moderators are usually of high quality and do a good job in their positions.

6) Yes.

7) I feel that on TWC, as a Citizen I have more rights than on a lot of other forums I (used to) participate in. The moderation towards me has been fair and I always thought I could appeal if something was unfair.

8) They aren't really comparable, but I can say that I enjoy about the same level of respect in he real world and on TWC.

9) I used to spend a lot of time on TWC back in he day, now I mostly here once or twice a week for mods and to check put the general activity. I might become more active again in he coming months.

10) The history of the upheavals which I have witnessed would fill a lot of pages which I cannot really write at the moment. But TWC has always been interesting in more than one way.

[Jubal_Barca]

1) Have you read the above information about the project, and do you understand exactly what I'm doing and how the information will be used? (See above to read what I'm doing.)
Yes... And I really do want to know what the results are...

2) Do you think of your identity on TWC differently from your identity in the real world? Do you act or behave differently on TWC? Why?
Yes, probably. It obviously is still me, and reflects my 'real' persona quite a lot, but Jubal is generally able to be more friendly than me, since nobody actually considers me wierd here.

3) Do you feel familiar with TWC? Do you feel you have friends here, or do you think of other members as friends?
Not in the same way I have RL friends, I don't really connect with people online as well as in RL. TWC is a place to discuss and pursue my interests, as opposed to a social networking site for me. I'm not so interested in that aspect of it.

4) Which rank to you identify most with?? (Member, Citizen, Moderators / Staff, other)
Artifex.

• What do you think of general members?
• What do you think of Citizens?
• What do you think of Moderators / Staff?

I do my best not to judge people on rank... I'm quite happy talking to anyone from 2-post newbie to Admin, it's thier manner and posting that deifnes my view. There are some guys who make a few posts that I think more highly of than some civs, and vice versa.

(If you want, you can answer these questions like: "If I told you that someone was a citizen, what conceptions would you have?")

5) What do you think of TWC in general? What do you think of the TWC membership system in particular? (The ways different ranks are treated, or achieved, or used)

I like it beacuse it's different, I don't get involved much but it's good fun to watch, and interesting how well it can mirror some RL events.

• Do you favor a particular forum?
• Do you notice any differences between forums? I.E., are people in the Thema Devia different from those in the Mudpit?

Posting is different in differnt areas, but that's just because people think about different subjects differently. People will be more argumentative about politics, more thought-out about science, more funny in games, and so on.

6) Do you think TWC has changed much since you first came here?

It's got a lot bigger, not just in terms of member numbers but in terms of sprawl. I could easily keep track of what went on across RTW, VV, Mudpit, Coliseum, and Civs at one time, now I only have time to look at one a day briefly. It's much harder to keep up with events and debates. The whole place is more organised too I think, the civs have less power but everything is more efficient.

7) How do you feel about the democratic system here? Do you think it is fair? What about the power given to staff and moderators?

It's as fair as any I guess, it's not the kind of place that you should expect democracy in so it's better than most fora.

• What rights to you feel you have on TWC?
• Do you feel this way on other forums, or other places online?

I don't feel I have vastly more rights than non-civs, voting doens't have much effect on stuff IMO since we can't affect moderation or content branches really. It's still more than most forums, no complaints about the moderation. Pretty much by definition I have more power on Exilian (see my sig), because I'm root admin, but apart from that TWC is best.


8) How does you level of respect or reputation in real live compare to the respect or reputation you have on TWC?

Among my friends, it compares well. Among most people, TWC compares better. I think I have fewer enemies here but that can be put down to more people sharing my interests (wargaming, science, history, etc.).

9) How much time do you spend on TWC? How often are you here?

Actually reading the site, averages to maybe 20mins/day, sometimes up to an hour or so, often barely anything at all or not going on.

• Why are you here?

Why is anyone here? Dodging the philosophy, I'm here to mod games, and to do other stuff I find interesting or fun (modding mafias, the odd debate, and so on).

10) Is there anything special or unique about TWC you would like to share? Any interesting stories?
Not more than most other fora tbh... Many stories are born on the interwebs.

[John Wayne]

1) Have you read the above information about the project, and do you understand exactly what I'm doing and how the information will be used? (See above to read what I'm doing.)
No clue, I saw the word 'Questionare' and skipped till I saw the first question.

2) Do you think of your identity on TWC differently from your identity in the real world? Do you act or behave differently on TWC? Why?
I'm me no matter where I am, either in RL or online. Granted, I do have a tendency to be more...'vocal' about my opinions on teh internets, but that has to due more with general laid back-ness I've experienced on most internet forum site things.

3) Do you feel familiar with TWC? Do you feel you have friends here, or do you think of other members as friends?
I used to be, way back in 05-06 when I first started out here. It was around late 06 that I began to rarely visit the site anymore, which obviously led to a breakdown of the relationships I had garnered. For, roughly, two years I haven't bothered logging on, I think it would be safe to assume that I can no longer identify myself with TWC because of that. Maybe if I began to stick around more often, but I highly doubt that.

4) Which rank to you identify most with?? (Member, Citizen, Moderators / Staff, other)
I kind of identify with all three; I've been a member and a citizen on this board, so I know what they have to deal with at a base level, and I've been an admin on other sites, so I know what kind of BS they have to deal with on daily basis (trust me, it isn't sunshine and flowers).

• What do you think of general members?
• What do you think of Citizens?
• What do you think of Moderators / Staff?

(If you want, you can answer these questions like: "If I told you that someone was a citizen, what conceptions would you have?")
Citizens - A bunch of relatively nice people, who have this unfortunate tendency to become a pack of deluded sheep whenever the admins do something to piss off a vocal minority.

Admins/Staff - A bunch of relatively nice people, who have the unfortunate tendency to snap under the amount of pressure they receive from their job as moderators/staff.

5) What do you think of TWC in general? What do you think of the TWC membership system in particular? (The ways different ranks are treated, or achieved, or used)
TWC is a nice place to find intellectual discussion on a wide range of topics; it is also a nice place to watch people be a bunch of blithering douche-fags.

On the subject of ranks, I haven't bothered to read the Constitution yet in my current revisit of the site, so i do not know what changes there have been to the ranking system and how to get them; but, honestly, if it is anyway like it was back in 05-06, then I can confidently say that you really need to just put in a little bit of effort and you can get anywhere in this place.

• Do you favor a particular forum?
• Do you notice any differences between forums? I.E., are people in the Thema Devia different from those in the Mudpit?

I've always liked the D&D area of the current forum setup, just so much fun can be had in those areas.

I honestly can't really tell any difference between the people who post in the various forums, especially since I get the feeling that most of them post in all of them anyway.

6) Do you think TWC has changed much since you first came here?
Oh censored by this as that stupid 'wub' thing is annoying yes has this place changed since I first came here. I could probably go on for a paragraph, but I'll leave that to those who've been around longer than I.

7) How do you feel about the democratic system here? Do you think it is fair? What about the power given to staff and moderators?
It's the system the people chose, can't really argue with that now can I?

Democracy isn't fair cosnidering there will always be a loser, unless, that is, if you ban all the people who disagree with you, but then TWC would become a shell of its former self; just like Communist Russia.

As for the powers given to the staff, I can't really complain about anything since I've been gone for a few years. That said, if they were abusing their powers, then TWC would have died; considering it seems alive and well, that must not happen (often).

• What rights to you feel you have on TWC?
• Do you feel this way on other forums, or other places online?

This is an interent forum where I am not the man in charge, I have no rights except those given to me by my benevolent overlord(s).

Not really, one of the major forums I frequent these days has absolutely zero moderators and only one admin, but it is probably one of the best forums in terms of quality of posts and topics as everyone on it
knows that there is a set standard that applies to everyone, and none fo them want to break it.

8) How does you level of respect or reputation in real live compare to the respect or reputation you have on TWC?
I get no respect in RL, I get none on TWC.

9) How much time do you spend on TWC? How often are you here?
I think I've answered this one already.

• Why are you here?

No frackin clue, boredom maybe?

10) Is there anything special or unique about TWC you would like to share? Any interesting stories?
Outside of the exceptionally unique way of rule, I've got nothing.