πŸ“š node [[admins mods and benevolent dictators for life the implicit feudalism of online communities]]

Admins, mods, and benevolent dictators for life: The implicit feudalism of online communities

URL : https://osf.io/gxu3a/?view_only=11c9e93011df4865951f2056a64f5938

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1461444820986553

Author : [[Nathan Schneider]]

[[implicit feudalism]]. [[Feudalism]].

By implicit I mean that while platforms may not explicitly proclaim or seek to practice feudal ideologyβ€”to the contrary, many claim democratic idealsβ€”a feudalism lurks latent in the available tools that guide and limit user behavior

I do not use feudalism in a historically precise sense, as there is much to distinguish online communities from the medieval European regime of land tenancy and its lord-vassal relations. Rather, I use the word metaphorically to describe concurrent communities across a network, each subject to a power structure that is apparently absolute and unalterable by those who lack such power.

πŸ“– stoas
β₯± context