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Social Punishment: The “Bozo” Feature

September 2, 2008
by Jeremiah Omyang
Senior Analyst, Forrester Research, Social Computing

Jeremiah Omyang

We’re all social creatures, and we thrive on the interactions of others; in fact, these interactions are the primary drivers for troublemakers in communities.

I’ve read stories about how babies that are given all the proper medical attention, food, shelter to deem them “healthy” wither away to near death if they don’t get human contact and love and care. The same applies to prison; perhaps one of the more dreaded punishments is sending inmates to the “hole” for isolation from all social contact. POWs can muster the strength to survive knowing that a series of Morse code taps can signal to fellow inmates that they’re OK and cared about. How does this apply to online communities?

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