"Doing it for the lulz"?: online communities of practice and offline tactical media

• Main Author: Vichot, Ray
• Published: Georgia Institute of Technology 2009
• Subjects: Message boards; Online communities; Tactical media; Meme; Ethnography; Scientology; Trolling; Griefing; Collaborative work; Communities of practice; Reality; Concrete (Philosophy); Cyberbullying
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1853/28098

What happens when an online community moves to a real space? Take the case of Anonymous. For several years now, this, loosely connected, entirely internet based group has been known for online pranks and griefing, often being labeled by the media as "hackers on steroids" or "the Internet Hate Machine". However, recently a significant portion of the group has taken up the cause of protesting what it sees as criminal injustices of the Church of Scientology. This move into the real world sparked various discussions which are relevant for online communities as a whole. What negotiations, compromises, and changes took place in order to move into the real world space? In what ways has the group succeeded (or failed) in maintaining the momentum needed for long term real-world protest and what can other online communities gain from this history?