Authentic Identities and Subcultural Boundaries in a Straightedge Internet Forum

We analyze how participants in an internet forum dedicated to the straight-edge subculture articulate and express subcultural identities and bound-aries, with particular attention to how they accomplish these tasks in a computer-mediated context. Through participant observation, “focused dis-cussions, ” and interviews, we explore the complexity of identity-making processes in terms of cyberspace and subculture, conceptualizing identifi-cation as occurring at the intersection of biography, subculture, and tech-nology. We find that the internet influences how individuals participate in subcultural communities by analyzing their claims for authenticity and how they position themselves in relation to subcultural boundaries. This article provides insight into the dialectic relationship between participation in a subculture and in an internet community. When it comes to matters of straightedge, politics, music and just learning about people, this forum has been an oasis of wisdom and good times. I would never base my existence on just people on the web; that would drive me crazy.... Th