Hitch Up the Wagon: Charting the Online Commenting Landscape

Abstract

This chapter will chart the online commenting landscape by defining the platforms where we comment and exploring how and why we comment. It will argue that the concept of the online community is a useful tool for understanding the social implications of our online group interactions. The chapter will conclude by outlining the factors that influence how we as individuals and collectively can affect the climate of the online domain and the role the institutions that own the online commenting platforms have in forming normative online behaviours through their policies and technological affordances.