The language games of online forums

Using Wittgenstein’s language game paradigm, we analyze the discourse of three online forums devoted to a popular managerial topic. Four major dimensions shape our analysis: roles, legitimacy and authority, identity, and linguistic style. By examining recurrent speech patterns related to each of these dimensions we are able to describe the players, moves, and rules of each forum’s language game. We find resemblance across the three forums in their informal and direct style of conversation. Each develops a rhythm of message posting and reply behavior that is established in the first few months and tends to persist. We characterize the differences among the three forums as information kiosk, guild, and community. These are distinctive games that vary in their enacted goals, complexity, and the range of roles and moves that players can take within the games. They imply different types of environments for information sharing. Our analysis reveals how similarities and differences in discourse development can explain commonalities and variants in the structure and functioning of fragile, online organizations