The informal nature of both MOOTWeb and AFOM make norms very important. It is largely through norms that either group has any structure. As a matter of fact, many members of both communities would argue that the communities don't have much structure, but it does exist. Informal norms have allowed the structure to be built by the members of the groups themselves, which I think makes the communities more comfortable for the members.
One of the most important norms on AFOM is that people respect one another. It is very important that members of the community understand this. There are no rules outlining what can and cannot be said on AFOM. As a result, what member A says might offend member B. Member B should understand that member A still respects him and did not intentionally offend him. This allows the members of AFOM to speak freely and openly. No member has to tailor her messages to appease another member's sensibilities.
While members are welcome to speak their mind on AFOM, not all outside material is welcome. In particular, most members of the group agree that chain letters should not be a part of AFOM. Even chain letters that appear to have some sort of beneficial aspect are often hoaxes, and receiving chain letters is often annoying.
AFOM is a community, so one norm is that mail sent to AFOM should be of interest to most of the community, if not all. What this means is that private correspondence between members should be done privately, not in the public forum of AFOM. Also, it is considered impolite to exchange large numbers of short, ininteractsignificant messages with a small number of the members on the list. This negative aspects of this were demonstrated in the extreme early in the history of AFOM. On October 31 and November 1, 1996, approximately 500 messages were exchanged between three or four members of AFOM. (I will admit that I was one of the participants in this fiasco.) This caused all but the most die-hard members of AFOM at the time to leave the list. One member claims that the vast quantity of email actually caused his school's email system to crash. Apart from the entertainment of those involved, there were no real positive aspects of this exchange of largely pointless emails. Since then, thankfully, AFOM has gained the wisdom that such exchanges should not be part of the community. If such an exchange should occur at all, it can be done privately, because the group does not wish to see it.
Similar norms exist on MOOTWeb. It is impolite to have private conversations in a public place when there are others around. If a member needs to have a private conversation, there are a large number of other rooms on the MOO where people can go to have the conversations. If they wish to remain in the same room, members can privately whisper to one another.
Because the members who make up the community of MOOTWeb are largely the same members who make up AFOM, the norms for how the members with one another are the same. Members of MOOTWeb have the same respect and tolerance for one another on the MOO that they share on AFOM.
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This page was created by Mathew Corthell for the course Computers and Society in the fall of 1999 at Northeastern University.