Quote:
Originally Posted by Edahn
The role of humor here is very interesting. It's a signal of intelligence, for one thing, which establishes dominance hierarchies. Those hierarchies, as I see it, are based on aggression, access, perceived authority, assertiveness/confidence, social skills, and other factors, I'm sure (like post count and even type). Aggression comes out in humor, debate, and isolation-techniques, which can either be done behind someone's back by gathering peer support (gossip -- traditionally female aggression) or by humiliating them in front of their peers. Then of course humor can bond people together and settle their differences. Sometimes this can be done assertively, sometimes submissively. I have some people in mind for both.
Also, I think this should be a subforum in Gen Psych.
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Oh yes! Post count is both a public status symbol (like rep) and then a counter measure of status for the disaffected. Quality vs quantity debates...
Humour is certainly a powerful tool on online forums. Perhaps it takes the place in some instances of smiling? body language? It's a common "I'm human" influencer that can be used with just text.