Exploring the existence of file sharing communities

Ofcom’s research detailed file sharing activities and about the behaviour and attitudes of participants. Exploring the existence of file sharing communities was the main aim of the research conducted. It also required establishing any participant who thinks they fitted in any file sharing community. As per the findings of the research very few participants interacted with other file sharers online. Most of the participants avoided contacting or talking to people using the file sharing applications. They tried to find help from families and friends when they faced any technical problems and avoided other file sharers. Interacting with other file sharers was a matter of concern for younger participants. They were very suspicious in interacting with people on file sharing application, forums and on social networking websites.

Most of the younger participants were informed about the danger and consequences of interacting with strangers online and thus chose to stay away from them. Since many of the youngsters had received messages from strangers on their social networking sites they were concerned about talking with people online. In the case of older participants, interacting with people online seemed pointless. They were not concern about the danger but found it pointless to do so. Tech-Savvy participants usually posted comments on download links to let others know about the quality of the specific file.

The research suggested that a few proportion of participants relied on forums for getting an answer to their technical problems. However, this was done if they failed to get answers from their friends and family or other forms. Posting questions on forums by participants were uncommon. Most often the discussions in forums landed up in moral arguments regarding the legality of the activities. This was the main reason why people detested from posting questions on forums. Very rarely did they get answers for their problems. Answers to most of the technical problems wee widely available online and so people avoided posting comments on forums. YouTube instructional video helped many participants to perform certain activities.

Some believed that forums were designed to share files and not for interacting. A participant who was member of a newsgroup said that although he was involved in several online forums, he never participated in online discussions. Most people didn’t encourage the idea of posting comments and questions. They believed that forums are place to access information. All the responses suggest that the community relates itself to the content rather than interaction.