A Few years ago now...
I conducted a private experiment online, all participants were given details, in as much as I was aware and could provide.
I'd joined AOL in April 2000, when they introduced the flat rate (£15 a month) price.
That was when they were still using AOL 5. Remember that?
The chat rooms were buzzing, so alive, so busy and such a diverse group inside.
A number of new people became regular 'Buddies' and we'd talk about all kinds.
After a while I began to wonder what it was that I found so entertaining whenever I had conversations with these particular people, not least because their evident conversational skills were so disparate.
What was the common trend, underlying interest etc.
I wondered how I could gather the information that would provide me with these answers, how I could check for accuracy, what would be a credible control that would prevent self elimination and prove appropriate?
I was relatively new to computers, but I looked at the way the program itself allowed me to save and in what areas in use they could be reproduced.
I typed about this with those I had instant messages with and in group discussions in chat rooms, understanding what was considered to be fair and 'permitted' by general consensus in response.
What was allowed, what wasn't and why.
At first I started saving the conversations, just so that I could read over them again and re-enjoy.
Then I started being more critical.
What was it that made it so funny?
What had I enjoyed so much I wanted to read it again?
I started reading them all again with these questions in mind and attempting to identify the answers by parallels between all conversations as a means of independent but associated (established) corroboration.
I was amused more than worried about my initial conclusions. (Confirming source of humour).
Only 12 months previously, I had sat, blushing, looking at my 'Windows 98 - Blue Screen' announcing, "This programme has performed an illegal operation" and half expecting the 'Cyber Police' to break through 'Windows' and arrest me. I considered implied & related laws, as a precaution.
I also had to make a decision, given the conclusion.
What did I want to achieve?
I wasn't really sure, I wanted to see what else might be revealed, I was intrigued.
I devised
