Not only this, but forums also offer the concept of ‘gift economy’ referred to by Kollock. Handbags forums, in some cases, such as Fashion, Relationships etc, offer the attitude of “Get help for free!” Users can ask for advice from other users, whom in response will do just that, offer help and it is free. An example of this may be found at - http://www.handbag.com/forums/showthread.php?t=464938
One problem that can be found on forums however, is the problem of interpretation – how things are taken online. Someone on the forum might write something thinking it sounds nice, but someone else might take it as abusive etc. “This emphasises the idea that the meaning of any given text is not securely encoded for all of the audience to decode in the same way”.(Lister, p.22)
Virtual communities on Handbag
I think a sense of virtual community has most definitely been built up in certain forums available via handbag. I think this because they are constantly interacting with each other, with advice and information which will help each other. They are like how a group of friends would communicate on the likes of facebook, it’s as if nothing is between them (like the distance, computer screen etc that actually is between them!) I also have come to the conclusion that handbag features a virtual community as I feel that it fulfills the key points that Blanchard used to define a virtual community.
‘Virtual’ “is frequently cited as a feature of post-modern cultures in which it is argued so many aspects of everyday experience are technologically simulated” (Lister, p.34). I think this is apparent within handbag as users are able to take place in conversations which they could also have IRL; therefore these conversations are just becoming technologically simulated.
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