Engert 1 C. Anne Engert Are You With Me?

: How Online Conversants Make L33t Connections R yuo a l33t h4x0r? Can j00 pwn n00bs? 1|=\| 0u |{4N r34|) t|-|15t|-|3N\| 0u i5 t3|-| | _337 (Blashki 81). If the preceding puzzles the reader, I can understand. My first encounter with l33ta shortened form of elite, alternately written 1337, leet, or leet speakleft me feeling much the same way about this online linguistic phenomenon. I was confused, but I wanted to know more. As a student of English literature and a lover of language, what I found sent shivers up my spine: an alternate alphabet with as many as a dozen options for each standard letter; a wildly shifting substitution-cipher approach to spelling that mixes letters, numbers, and other keyboard characters; a new morphology (patterns of word formation) with its own unique word endings; a dizzying array of acronyms for conversational use. I had the impression that a whole new language was forming before my eyes, or rather behind my back, for I could make little sense of this new and unfamiliar linguistic arena. I had been left behind on the information superhighway, and I could not even read the signs! As I began to investigate further, I soon realized that l33t, while generally not as difficult to decipher as I had initially feared, presents a fascinating and rapidly evolving sociolinguistic development in certain online communities. From l33ts origins in hacker and gamer communities to its present-day use in online discussion forums and social networking sites, l33t has been employed to help identify its user communities in an environment with unique linguistic needs. Remarkable especially for its streamlined nature, online conversation strips communication of all its physically gestural propertiesgesture, inflection, and facial expressionso that text must stand alone. Of course, communication by the old-fashioned written letter also uses only text, but that form of exchange does not operate with the immediacy of online communication where real time, turn-based

Engert 2 conversations between two or more persons, some half a world apart, take place regularly. Furthermore, where letter writing fosters expansive expression, online conversation favors short, concise response (Some Internet communication channels such as Twitter actually limit users to messages of one hundred forty characters or fewer). Under such demands, l33t has become one available tool for satisfying the need for speed and the desire for displays of personal inflection. Although L33t-users do employ this linguistic tool for a range of purposesincluding password creation and word filter avoidancemy research centers on the ways that certain Internet communities use l33t to determine in-group and out-group status and to strengthen social connections, all within the context of electronically written language. These functions are under continual evolution, even as l33t itself changes in response to the needs and demands of Internet culture. Some of these ongoing alterations I will explore along with the social marking functions of l33t will include l33ts cross-pollinationin flow and out flowwith other online linguistic phenomena, and some of the real world repercussions in the classroom involving these changes in language. To illustrate the social aspects of l33t, I am focusing primarily upon two l33t using communities: gamernode.com, a gamers discussion forum, and digg.com, a social networking site. I chose gamernode.com because its user base participates heavily in the gaming community, and they frequently use l33t in their forum posts. As part of my investigation, I read archived threads extensively and researched posters self- generated forum biographies. I chose digg.com as one of my primary locations for observing l33t for similar reasonsthe users often include l33t expressions in their posts, although l33t is by no means dominant on either website. Rather, l33t augments the posters usual English communication in ways that are employed to enhance their sense of community. I spent many hours reading and scouring both these sites for

Engert 3 examples of l33t usage that demonstrate this social phenomenon at work. Actually, such examples are not difficult to find. I selected conversations for analysis based upon their clear use of l33t as in-group/out-group status identifier or as community affirmation expressions. In addition to the two principle sites I investigated, I am including one further example of a l33t conversation taken from the comment section of a You Tube video. This example shows an intensive l33t conversation in which creative display is at a peak. The use of l33t has generally been the purview of young, educated, males who are at least sufficiently affluent to have access to the necessary electronic hardware that gaming, hacking, and being online require. As a demographic, perhaps young, educated, males may not seem to be a marginal group, but the sub-section of this group engaged in early online activities related to hacking and later gaming have been viewed as on the fringes of mainstream culture. L33t may have been fostered in these initially marginalized communities (Even now, online linguistic quirks and creations of hackers and gamers seem to be considered by the academic community as a passing fad or a minor Internet phenomenon of little significance), but the Internet provides a rapid-growth medium for such social developments. L33t has already transcended its beginnings in hacker and gamer culture and has filtered out into the Internet community at large sometimes to be embraced and sometimes disdained. The use of l33t has spread worldwide into diverse language groups (including non-English speakers), and it is rapidly invading the offline world as well. That means, as they say in l33t, irlin real life. L33t may now be found in a variety of non-Internet media as well as online. The l33t word pwned was prominently featured in a print ad for the University of Advancing Technology that appeared in the October 2008 issue of PC Gamer. The NBC show Numb3rs uses l33t spelling in its title, and the show Kidnapped recently featured an episode that flashed a

Engert 4 screenshot of a l33t email, followed by a brief explanation of l33tss origins as part of the plot. Automobile owners are buying vanity license plates printed with l33t meanings. A l33t word, W00t! has been accepted into Websters canon for its dictionary. Recently, even TV commentators can occasionally be heard to include in their news analyses words and phrases that have become part of the l33t vocabulary: In May 2009, MSNBC news anchor Keith Olbermann began a nightly commentary segment entitled the WTF!?! Moment, in which he offered editorial opinion on controversial news items. This practice prompted comments from posters on the democraticunderground.com discussion forum. In response to a thread by poster Archae asking What do all of you think of Keith Olbermanns WTF? Moment ?, the poster That Is Quite Enough wrote I hope they start doing all the text on MSNBC in 13375p34k cause, yknow I totally love them using crass (as far as mainstream goes) and hip internet lingo on news programs to look cool and appeal to the blogosphere crowd! Both the mainstream news media use of l33t and the posters comment speak to l33ts implication as a means of signifying community to certain groups. L33t has its beginnings among hacker communities during the early days of the Internet. The hacker group Cult of the Dead Cow is widely credited with originating the term l33t or 1337. Their Windows 95/98 hacking program Back Orifice preferred to access systems through UDP 31337. These numbers correspond to the letters e-l-e-e-t, or leet/l33t/1337. The use of certain l33t terminology and the substitution cipher, however, predate these late 1990s events. The 1988 hacker e-zine Phrack references the even earlier use of ELITE as a password. For a self-proclaimed 1337 hax0r, the appellation connoted mastery of the arcane world of computer code and the ability to use the complex systems of electronic technology with skill and finesse. By 1997, hacker newsletters were featuring extensive use of alphanumeric substitution and other

Engert 5 display alterations in their text: We ArE tHe HaX0R bRoThErZ, AnD SiNcE aLl oF yOo aRe LaYmOrS aNd WeRe k-RaD HaX0Rz wE dEcIdEd To TeAcH yOu Of OuR k-RaD wAyZ. ThIs Is OuR fIrzT NeWzLeTtEr, BuT eXpEct AlOt oF uS iN tHe NeAr FuTuRe yOu FuXiNg lAyMoRs!! NoW rEeD oN tO bEcOmE a LeEt HaX0R! During this time, more and more aspiring hax0rs were coming online, diluting the ranks of this previously elite group with computer-enamored teens who generally had more show than substance in their hacking skills. These script kiddies and AOL chatters were often the object of scorn and ridicule for their apparent beliefs that using l33t was the same as being l33t. This divide contributed to a sense of sarcasm and mocking irony in l33t that continues to be one of its major features. Over the next several years, l33t moved out from the hacker community into the gaming world and beyond. For gamers, l33t became a means for expressing dominance and for trumpeting superior game-playing abilities. As with the hackers before them, gamers too, used l33t as a marker of community status. To be accepted in the virtual gaming environment, one must possess l33t skillz, both at the game and at decoding the rapid-fire l33t text streams (Beavis). In both these communities, l33ts coded expressions not only reinforce ties to the group, they also permit outsiders to be easily identified and allow users to communicate surreptitiously, if they so desire. This element of secrecy and the covert nature of hacking makes early l33t a sort of linguistic argot, an anti-language used by underground or outlaw groups to conceal their communication from outsiders. As a hacker code, for example, l33t was sometimes used as a way to avoid word filters set to exclude certain taboo phrases or as a method of avoiding the

Engert 6 prying eyes of keyword searches (Carooso). L33t could also be employed in creating stronger passwords. Finally, leet adds to its characteristic differences a pervasive sense of irreverence and playfulness. Blashki describes leet as highly metatextual [and] characterized by increasingly complex layers of signification with each subsequent use of the term coined in the discussion and constant reference within the word itself to its previous iterations (83). This dynamic can be seen at work, for example, when one l33t user begins with OMG and another follows with zOMG or omgwtf. Additional iterations could include OMG11!!!one!!1 or OMGWTFBBQ!!1. Similarly, lol (laugh out loud) becomes lols, lulz, or even lollerskates. Rofl (rolling on the floor laughing) can become roflcopter and tl;dr can morph into teal deer, with each subsequent offering raising the level of irony or emphasis. Continuing its gradual infiltration into the wider Internet culture, l33t has fed into and incorporated elements from other nascent systems of online communication along the way. Lolcat speak, and the rapidly churning world of Internet memes (self-replicating units of informationcultural tidbits and catchphrasethat pass from one person to another through various media including text and oral conversation), many based on video games, have each contributed to l33ts expanding vocabulary. L33ts flexibilityas well as an emphasis on speed also encompasses a vast array of acronyms, many blended in from gaming, text messaging, and IRC (Internet Relay Chat). Some of these acronyms have become quite widely used and may be recognized by even the most casual Internet user. Who has not seen LOL (laugh out loud) or OMG (oh, my god)? Dozens of other acronyms are available to the l33t user, and increasingly, to the average Internet user as well. Some express positive emotion (lol, rofl, roflmao); some give information about the users activities (afkaway from keyboard; g2ggot to go; brbbe right back); some express irony, disdain, or anger (wtfwhat the f**k, stfu,

Engert 7 gtfo); some embody longer messages (tl;drtoo long, didnt read; kthxbaiOK, thanks, bye). Online dictionaries house hundreds of acronyms, and it is these shorthand expressions that have been the source of some of occasional negative press reports concerning l33t. Acronyms such as pos (parents over shoulder) and nifoc (naked in front of computer) have raised concerns; however, these are a minor element of what l33t has come to encompass. L33ts fluid edges and the rapidly shifting tastes of its users make any attempt to draw a discrete boundary around l33t next to impossible. Nevertheless, through all these infusions, l33t retains its defining features: visual creativity (both iconically and as signifiers), irreverence, sarcasm and irony, and a sense of exclusiveness and competence. These elements shape the bonds of camaraderie among those who use l33t to affirm ingroup status or to recognize out-group poseurs. Users need information about the disembodied presences on the other end of a line of text in an online message or conversation: Is it a n00b or is it a l33t user or player? Blashki suggests that users may also employ l33t as a means to express their humor and creativity, their disdain for convention, their sense of irony, and as a means to stake out their marginalized territory apart from the world at large. This mostly younger group seeks to maintain its sense of exclusivity and mastery over the realm of the Internet and computer-mediated communicationan environment that many older persons find less familiar. L33t may be one way the younger generation shows that it does not wish to be constrained by the rules and boundaries of previous generations (82). L33t allows such users to express textually their departure from convention through their alteration, personalization, and control of the very language they use to maintain the new boundaries they set for themselves. Creating community online has become a process with almost as many manifestations as users. In this regard, Blashki observes that among the l33t-using members of the university

Engert 8 discussion board that was the focus of her study, certain rules, or boundaries, were imposed (although unwittingly) by the group to determine correct usage and to monitor trolling (abuse) (84). In that group and many others, l33t users claim that l33t is a joke, but their use of it and their reactions to it belie that assertion. Rather, l33t seems to be quite serious linguistic business. On gamernode.com and digg.com, l33t commonly performs a role in defining relationships among users. These sites exist as two points on a spectrum of Internet life where community is being created by various means. Each of the two sites contains both hierarchical and egalitarian characteristics, but in differing proportions. Certainly, no one sets l33t use up as an official yardstick for acceptance or rejection. Instead, the ways that l33t comes to be used and perceived follows a more rhizomatic process. Described by DeLeuze and Guattari, a rhizomatic structure operates similarly to the biological development exhibited by tuberous root systems that spread underground to form new nodes of growth, all without any hierarchical direction (Colman 2312). Rhizomatic growth results in what DeLeuze and Guattari call plateaus, assemblages of the networks connections of growth that do not depend upon a point of culmination or an external goal (Lorraine 206-7). These plateaus arise and resonate organically, and their observable points of emergence may appear in multiple places at once without visible connection. Such a model well suits the increasingly general appearance of l33t in many, many Internet communities (and its growing appearance in non-Internet environments as well). The study of l33t in its communities calls upon the analytic tools of sociolinguistics: the study of language in its social context. Sociolinguists recognize that language is not a simple, single code but a deeply variable phenomenon, and that this variability may have as much to do with society as with language (Trudgill 32). Researchers in sociolinguistics concern themselves with the ways in which language reflects users physical environments, social

Engert 9 environments, and values, recognizing that changes in any of these factors may produce corresponding linguistic change (27-9). L33t is a linguistic change that has grown in the rich soil of an altered physical and social milieuthe computer-mediated environmentand in this context, l33t performs many of the same functions that language always performs. At its most fundamental, the function of language is to express the thoughts of speakers. Most languages have a range of styles for expression that vary in formality. At the outer end of the scale in informality is the linguistic style termed slang (Trudgill 83). Slang develops, in part, as a way for speakers to stretch the capacity of their language to accommodate their thoughts. Such change is an unstoppable given in linguistics (Pinker 149). Slangs commonly evolve among those who consider themselves members of a select or separate group. [] [The slang] tests who belongs to the group and who is an intruder, [and is] fully intelligible only to only the initiated. According to Peter Farb, these groups often have extremely severe standards for the use of such slangmore than any schoolmarm or grammarian (78). In describing the study of special parlances, classical languages, craft jargons, secret argots, and the like, John Gumperz observes that these linguistic constructions may result from seemingly intentional processes of distortion. He cites the examples of tribal secret languages and the childs play language Pig Latin, which both may involve phonetic and grammatical elements [] systematically reordered. Similarly, Gumperz explains that thieves argots, the slang of youth gangs, [and others], obtain similar results by assigning special meanings to common nouns, verbs, and adjectives (117). At a somewhat more complex level, the restricted use of classical languages such as Latin and Sanskrit can be noted. Historically used by scribes and clerics to record legal, historical, and theological documents, these languages have served a comparable purpose in maintaining a restrictive social status . . . where their use is limited to a relatively

Engert 10 small [group of] elites (117). From creative informality to playful distortion to exclusionary restrictiveness, each of the preceding observations about sub-languages or academic languages applies, at least in part, to l33t use in online communication. In part, these attributes account for how l33t contributes to building a sense of community among users. They give clues and cues about themselves through their linguistic choices, including the shifting attitudes of l33t users toward its use. The methodologies for my investigations into l33t usage in gamernode.com and digg.com are a combination of discourse analysis and conversation analysis. Discourse analysis seeks to look at a text not only for what is in the text but also for what assumptions are made by the speaker/writer and the hearer/reader. What inferences and gap-filling are necessary to process the text? Discourse analysis charges that the reader, not the text, must necessarily be responsible for the process of interpretation. This practice of interpretation that takes so much for granted is part of how a discourse establish[es] and consolidat[es] solidarity relations among members of a particular social grouping, and the ability to process such a text is an important sign that you belong (Fairclough 83-4). The tools of discourse analysis are description, interpretation, and explanation. Description covers the experiential and relational values of the words used (i.e., the ways that euphemisms may be used to avoid unpleasant relational associations), the types of metaphors used, pronoun choices, and other features of the text itself. Interpretation examines the situational context, including possible intertextual histories; it asks who is involved and which direction the power is flowing in the text (146-9). Evaluation seeks to situate the texts discourse as part of a social process determined by social structures. Discourse analysis sees the discourse as part of social struggle, within a matrix of relations of power that encompass the societal, the institutional, and the situational perspectives (163).

Engert 11 The intersubjective approach of conversation analysis seeks to understand how conversation participants create their shared understandings through turn taking. The methodology also focuses on adjacency pairs (e.g. greetings and expected responses) (Drew 197). These sorts of normative frameworks contribute to participants understanding of one anothers contributions to the conversation, including the possibility of deviancy from expected norms (198). Standard conversation analysis employs a set of notation symbols to mark aspects of a conversation outside the sentences and wordsthings such as facial expression, gestures, and laughs, gasps, or sighs. Since the Internet conversations I am analyzing have none of these, that element of conversation analysis is not relevant to my discussion. What that means for the conversation participants is that they must rely much more on the power of their words and symbols alone to communicate what would ordinarily come from various physical interactions in a conversation. Elements from both discourse and conversation analysis have implications for understanding l33t use in the discussions and conversations I have collected. One such conversation occurs in the comment section of the You Tube M33T TEH L33T, where posters exercise mastery over keyboard and online culture with a notably creative display of l33t. Responding to a mash-up video that combines scenes from a first-person shooter video game with an overdubbed comedy script, posters work to outdo one another in visually elaborate l33t postings and sardonic wit. As with other examples I will discuss, the conversation quickly becomes as much about l33t and being l33t as it does about the video they are posting to. Their conversation includes visual play with individual l33t words and spellings (pwns becomes pwnz , then |>//n5, l>0wnzorx3r5, and [0VVNZ.) and elements of l33ts characteristic mocking sarcasm : WTF 1s 3v3ry1 +aL|<1n L33t 5p3a|< I <33 L33t 5p3ak Th4ts 4W50|V|3 cUz

c4n U |23D +his Ur 4n 1337z0r (trans. Why the fuck is everyone talking

Engert 12 l33t speak? Thats awesome because I love l33t speak. Can you read this? Youre l33t.). In this longer posting, the writer harkens back to similar sentiments expressed by early hacker ezines that ironically point out the difference between using l33t and actually being a l33t user. Taken as a whole, this You Tube l33t display of l33t serves its participants as a platform to exhibit their individual l33t skills and to create a communal work of textual art, connecting to one another across cyberspace in the process. (See detailed conversation and analysis in Appendix A) With less emphasis on the display aspects of l33t and more on its use as a marker of group status, the conversation hay conducted on October 2006 by forum members on gamernode.com offers a fascinating portrait of l33t in action. In this extended exchange, a newly registered member3vilmakes an initial post written nearly entirely in l33t and other fractured English. This forum is devoted to gaming and gamers talk; l33t expressions are plentiful among the forums posts. Many posters screen names use l33t (bu11eTJuNkiE, Sil3ntKill3r-1S, D3TON8R). Nevertheless, other posters respond to 3vils post with derision and virtual laughter, castigating him for using l33t. Several factors come into play during the incident, including the flow of power in a social hierarchy. My conversation analysis of the interchange highlights and scrutinizes a notable paradox of the conversation: Even while condemning 3vil for his particularly inept use of l33t, the complaining posters sometimes choose to use l33t expressions themselves. (See Appendix B for detailed conversation and analysis). The discussion between 3vil and the gamernode forum posters continues, with increasing levels of profanity, sexual insults, and lots of l33t, eventually spanning ten pages of conversation, all taking place within two hours of real time. The interchange finally ends when a forum moderator bans 3vil from any further posting and locks the thread. While the posters on gamernode could have chosen to reject 3vil on the basis of several factors, including age

Engert 13 difference (he claims to be about thirteen years old; most of the other posters are in the eighteen to twenty-five age range), the selection criteria they focus upon is 3vils use of l33t. Gamernode is a forum for gamers, and as such, would be a place where l33t might be expected. Other forum threads further illustrate that the group of posters who chastised 3vil for using l33t do not object to 3vils usage because they eschew l33t on the forum absolutely, but because 3vil neglected to accept their standards and refused to acknowledge his status as a newcomer who must gain acceptance in the community. In an earlier thread entitled Counter strike 2 and Half Life 3, the regular poster Dr. Aaron peppers his posts with l33t expressions, including ZOMG, liek, O rly? 1?, lmao, teh, roflz, and suxing. In the same thread P-Thunder, another of 3vils primary denouncers, types omfg im blind3d. Others posters in that thread use l33t expressions: woot, rulez, Kthx, noobs, and omgwtfbbq2; no one objects to any of these uses of l33t. In these discussion threads, the l33t words and spellings serve as in-group markers and as indicators of comradeship in the community of gamers. In the case of 3vil, however, he had failed to gain

the respect of the group and had further exacerbated the situation by his combativeness. For 3vil, l33t became a means of exclusion from the group rather than inclusion. The conversations I have collected from digg.com illustrate a parallel facet of l33t usage as an expression of social camaraderie and cohesion. This social networking site centers its activities on collecting news and other items of interest from all over the Internet and bringing them together for members to read and discuss. The discussion is only occasionally turn-based; sequential comments dominate among perhaps dozens, sometimes even hundreds, of entries under a single heading. The community forms around posters individual contributions to the extended comment list. L33t and l33t-related expressions do not constitute a principal proportion of the language used on digg.com, but they do frequently pop upusually in terms of

Engert 14 exaggeration or of sarcasm. In these cases, l33t often becomes a point of commonality in a group with extremely diverse interests. The following brief examples show l33t used as a marker of community solidarity in a digg.com submissions: Posters discuss a news item reporting a story in which Parents Fight Over Which Gang [their] Toddler Should Join: amdforever: I wanted to post a witty digg comment here, but I am just completely SPEECHLESS right now. WTFBBQ oblique63: dugg for wtfbbq J0415: mmmmbbqmmm MrMacMan: mmmmwtfmmm Four different posters participate in this conversation, each making only one comment, yet, using l33t-related expressions, they manage to create a text that displays their sense of community and common culture. The initial poster incorporates the l33t acronym WTFBBQ to express dismay over the topic of the article under discussion. Three others follow up, but they do not comment on the gang parents. Instead, they divert the conversation to focus on the l33t. Oblique63 writes dugg for wtfbbq, meaning that (s)he approves of the l33t irony in the comment and repeats it for emphasis. J0415 takes the game a step further, honing in on just the bbq and playing with its food associations as well as intensifying its l33t significance. MrMacMan continues with the food motif begun by J0415 but returns to wtf, bringing the conversation full circle. Each poster reinforces the previous ones l33t acronym, with a light dash of ironic humor. In another digg.com exchange, Miraculous Direct Note Access can completely change music, posters respond to an article about new music manipulation software that corrects vocal imperfections:

Engert 15 ginestony: So Hanna Montana doesn't actually sing good??? oh noes! Onyxblaze: Well In this very short exchange, l33t usage gets a positive reception. In response to poster ginestonys l33t expression oh noes!, Onyxblaze types well. With this one word, Onyzblaze diverts the topic of the thread from the news article to ginestonys usage of l33t. Onyxblaze corrects ginestony, but not for the l33t, rather for the incorrect use of the adjective good where the adverb well should have been used. The correction pointedly ignores the l33t and in doing so, emphasizes its value in the exchange. The l33t word works here to promote community. In a further parallel example, digg.com users play with l33ts creative flexibility in the following excerpt from Sometimes you just post too much information on Digg, a thread that discusses a screen shot revealing some disturbing information about a poster who wears diapers: LiamIsOnFire: OH MY LOLLERCAUST. jon30041: Aw damn, and I've got all that chocolate to eat still... Blech! Beanstudd2: I just went LOLLERSKATING! Building on the basic l33t acronym lol (laugh out loud), the first poster intensifies the ironic laughter with LOLLERCAUST, pulling in an illusion to the holocaust with reference to the beyond-belief information in the article. The third poster in the chain retains the lol word base but returns the tone to a more playful one with LOLLERSKATING. In this exchange, the article becomes secondary once more to the camaraderie of word play featuring l33t. Communal sequences such as this one occur regularly on digg.com, and some display a high degree of awareness of the linguistic process that they posters participate in together. Active manipulation of the language, using l33t and its ebbs and flows into the larger online

Engert 16 linguistic culture, becomes a mutual exhibition of cultural sophistication and mastery for the diggers. The collections of l33t expressions and Internet memes used in such a digger conversation enter a realm of spiraling self-referentiality that reflects the intensely interconnected virtual world these Internet denizens inhabit. Conversations on Internet discussion forums often involve repeated exchanges between the participants, and in the case of the one between 3vil and the gamernode posters, a nearly realtime, turn-based interaction. In that environment, members form acquaintances with one another through interaction over time. Group status becomes a factor, and the hierarchical move from newbie to accepted member must be negotiated. In other Internet posting environments, however, participants rarely interact with one another directly in a turn-based conversation. Instead, they post serially in response to a particular topic. This style of posting can be found on digg.com, where members of this social networking site seek out, post, and comment upon articles of interest that they have gathered from the Internet at large. digg members are not a community in any traditional sense; they are a community only of the moment. Generally, a member reads the article, then posts a comment if he or she desires. Part of the process may be reading through the comments of other posters and adding to the discussion, but rarely does one receive a reply from any of those who have already posted. Although brief exchanges do occasionally occur, the nature of the article-reading format means that posters are unlikely to return to an already read article to re-enter a conversational chain. The exception to that is the digg button. Through this feature, posters can click an on-the-fly thumbs-up or thumbs-down judgment upon anyones post, thereby raising or lowering that posters status on the thread. In a public conversational sphere such as digg.com, these evaluations are not made on the basis of wealth, age, or other traditional markers of status; on digg.com no one knows whether another

Engert 17 person is rich or poor, young or old. These age-old hierarchical divisions are irrelevant in the digg atmosphere of egalitarian posting. Rather, digg posters value originality, wit, sarcasm, pop culture literacy, and Internet savvy, and that these qualities will gain a poster positive diggs, or kudos bestowed on site through a clicked show of approval (or disapproval). Through the many hours I have spent reading digg.com, I observe that the coin of the digg realm is a users ability to say something clever. Within that requirement, diggers appreciate novelty, but they also enjoy inventive recycling of Internet pop culture. Although l33t is not a dominant feature of digg conversations, the argot does show up from time to time. Since digg is related to neither hacking nor gaming as its primary focus, the l33t seen on this site more freely incorporates the other streams of Internet linguistic originalities such as the so-called Internet memes than does the l33t on the gamernode forum. These memes intersect with l33t in vocabulary (also in its original connotation: as an elite user) and especially in their use of sarcasm and their self-aware usage. This ever-evolving mixture of l33t and memes occasionally burst forth on digg when the digg posters engage in the surprising and fascinating exercise of meta-posting their l33t-memes. These highly reflexive and selfreferential conversations allow the digg members to demonstrate their mastery and ultra-literacy with Internet pop culture and with digg itself. Posters carry on this internal economy of exchange with social purpose, intellectual purpose, and with communicative purpose. They build the sense of camaraderie among themselves in their community space; they show their abilities to process and artfully employ the whirl of information available on the Internet, and they communicate with one another as humans have always done. However, communication in this conversational spaceabsent the usual face-to-face interactionmeans that display of ones cache of cultural capital becomes all the more valuable.

Engert 18 The Appendix C excerpt from What Scientologists Have to Say About Scientology, a very long digg.com serial conversation, illustrates just how facile the digg members are at maximizing their cultural capital within their ad hoc community. The article that began the discussion is entitled What Scientologists Have to Say about Scientology. The conversation took place in May 2008, during the period when the Internet non-group anonymous (anonymous cannot be called a group because that term implies some sort of central cohesion, which anonymous denies) began its campaign against Scientology. This action sparked much interest in the sect, and the digg thread received over four hundred comments. About halfway through the comment series, a number of posters deviated from the posting about the Scientology article and began playing a posting game that displays their awareness of the structure and content of digg itself and, mockingly, their own participation in it. The asterisks bracketing each post, a convention taken from computer gaming, indicate an action. The digg posters pull in references to typical digg posting styles, computer games, Internet and non-Internet pop culture, politics, and gaming. Many of the posts contain statements that rewrite clichs, memes, or l33t acronyms. Through this play, the posters display their awareness of how these elements fit into what might be considered a typical digg thread. Anyone reading digg for any length of time will see comments of these types over and over, although in specifics, rather than the archetypes. These examples will include, just as the first few posts indicate, movie quotes, pop culture references and others. Taken together, the conversational stream represents a sort of spontaneous community theatera display much like the l33t postings on M33T THE L33T in that both demonstrate their participants mastery of the linguistic medium of their communities. The conversation from which I have excerpted only two small sections continues for dozens of additional posts. The posters cover everything from spelling to masturbation, all in the

Engert 19 same self-referential meta-comment style. During the course of the conversation, at least three posters say that they plan to take screen shots of the thread and post them to digg.com as stories of interest: Hydroseeds: *Takes a screen shot of thread and creates This Is Why I love digg submission* Jeepy: *takes picture of comment thread to repost as funny digg inside joke* Jbassfretless: *expects to see a screen shot of this upcoming on digg within the next 24 hours and feels empty inside at the knowledge that i will undoubtedly digg it when it comes* A poster named anagoge does exactly that under the title This is why I love digg, subtitled I love it when digg gets self-referential. That thread includes several posters comments about their recursive screen shot posting: Cloned: Im going to take a screen shot of this story and submit it to digg, then so on and so forth until digg explodes. Ninjasenses: Wait, is digg becoming self-aware? (x-files music) Brainmodder: *comment about digg getting stuck in a self-referential loop* Each of these posters recognizes and acknowledges their participation in this multi-layered bit of public textual theatricality. Another poster sums up what they all imply with their involvement: Arcesius says, None of us really come here for the news. Its all about the feeling of social connectedness. The digg posters, just like the l33t-using You Tube posters and the gamernode posters all use their newly fashioned tools of language to navigate their online social sphere. What happens, however, when the l33t and the memes filter out fully into the mainstream, when they become part of the larger culture? Educators are already beginning to

Engert 20 confront the emergence of l33t-style language in classrooms. One junior high school teacher in Minnesota reports that 25 percent to 40 percent of her students use some text-message abbreviations [shorthand acronyms] and slang in their in-class writing (qtd. in Walsh). In I Think, Therefore IM the New York Times reports that to their dismay, teachers say that papers are being written with shortened words, improper capitalization and punctuation, and characters like &, $ and @ as this breezy form of Internet English jump[s] from e-mail into schoolwork (Lee). Teachers have reacted to these developments in various ways. Some try to enforce traditional standards and forbid the use of any alterations for fear that students will become too comfortable with their Internet shorthand and substitutions. Others view the situation as an opportunity to engage students in discussions about language and writing. Either way, both students and teachers confront a widening divide over language use as evident from the experience of Pennsylvania social studies teacher Henry Assetto who found students astonished when he objected to their use of l33t-type acronyms and other Internet slang. Teachers, too, find themselves stunned at students use in papers of terms that cannot be expressed verbally, e.g., emoticons such as smiley faces used to punctuate essay points (Lee). In response to the rise of this linguistic phenomenon, researchers at Kent State University have begun to study instant messaging (which employs generous use of l33t-style acronyms) for its potential as a new language. In preliminary findings, Dr. Christina Haas and Dr. Pamela Takayoshi observe that the constructions they studied in instant messaging are informal, explicit, playful, both abbreviated and elaborated, and emphasize meaning over form and social relationships over content (Instant Messaging). The conclusions of the Kent State University researchers parallel what I have observed about l33t-usage in Internet communities: Social aspects of the language dominate over its actual

Engert 21 content, including in its use as a vehicle for creative display, for the expression of sarcasm, and as an in-group/out-group marker. Regardless of the future developments in the classroom, Internet users of l33t and its related linguistic forms will continue to find new potentials in their creations. Again and again, in conversations on the very boards that complain about its use and misuse, l33t is decried in one line and casually employed in the next. The passage through this ubiquitous self-policing seems to be the price for entry into these communities. Above all else, l33t in its various forms has become a lightning rod for online (and offline) discussions about language. Although the Internet is changing the way we communicate, the need for speakers to navigate their relationships to others, face-to-face or online persists. In its ongoing evolution as a tool of communication, l33t offers its users a means of solving an old problem in an innovative way. The rapidity with which the Internet spreads new ideas, linguistic ones too, makes understanding these new onramps to the information superhighway a necessity for those who want to keep abreast of the cutting edge.

Appendix A: M33t TEH L33T Original Conversation Reno667 Funny, well made, brilliant actors. Entertaining AND Educational.. WOW pnkfld7892 i like 1337!!! Igotblammed this was t3h 1337 alfen12 haha nice done xD really enjoyed it dunczyk Nice vid, and nice made :) reaverswe P00nzord!! 0mfgZ!! F0cKInG UB3r 133T StOffzz !! MasterRemus
h3H3 l337 roXor32!.... w3LL 7o m3h 17 dO32 Lol 1 u23 17 4 lo7 WH3n 1M PwN1n' NOo82.W3LL....y34h LoL

91LOW91 |<|/173 ||1(3 /1|)! | _337 .-3/3||93 douchebagz 4|/|494P 1337 correniika p0wnz3rz 1337z AlminatorGeneral g33kz Translation/Description

rangerjames1756 7H15 15 FUK1N9 5W337

Engert 22 M33T T3H L33T, in which posters comment on a video depicting scenes from a popular online shooter game dubbed with a humorous script about players using l33t during game play. The exchange demonstrates ways that posters employ l33t in their text-only environment to display their camaraderie as well as their personal mastery of l33t and their creativity. The conversation begins with a comment of appreciation (Reno667) for the videos merits in reasonably standard English but quickly turns to an increasingly elaborate exhibit of the posters facility with l33t. The poster pnkfld7893 initially brings l33t into this serial conversation with the general claim to like 1337. With this declamation, the topic of the conversation takes up the parallel discussion of l33t itself, alongside the posters commentary on the video. The poster MasterRemus comments entirely about l33t and not at all about the video. Posters 91LOW91 and douchebagz use l33t cipher substitutions that are so cryptic, I was unable to DaREDrobberZ whuts w17 4ll t3h 1337 sp34k?

MrWaffelsownsyou R0f10rGz. +0+a11y 51k! DaKingOf310 1337 !!!! P0owll4g3!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lisawsome dUd3!!! Th4t v1d30 0wn3d!!!!! p0w3r t0 t3 l33t!! Cyb4c3lL hwg fromfred n1c3 5h1t th33r dude Ryand1208 0mfg 1337 5p3@k pwnz xXEvIlAlEkSiXx |20|=1 7|-|1$ |>//n5 dancer101181 yo easter bunny whats up with the invisible pogo stick MangekyouSharingan25 l337 5p34k 7074LLY l>0wnzorx3r5 MiddleClassHer0 R0FLMAO 1337 5[03\K [0VVNZ FTW CrossFeast WTF 1s 3v3ry1 +aL|<1n L33t 5p3a|< Th4ts 4W50|V|3 cUz I <33 L33t 5p3ak c4n U |23D +his Ur 4n 1337z0r whats with all the l33t

I like l33t This was the l33t xD means a big smile

:) means smile Pwnzord (This is the best) Oh my fucking god! Fucking uber (superior) l33t stuff. He he leet roxorz!... well to me it does. Lol (laugh out loud) I use it a lot when Im pwning newbs (dominating beginners) Well, yeah lol. This is fucking sweet (indecipherable) l33t (indecipherable) (indecipherable) l33t pwnxorz l33ts (the ones who pwn/dominate are l33t) geeks Analysis This series of posts occurs in response to a YouTube entry entitled

Engert 23 speak? (an expression of ironythis post questions the use of l33t with l33t) Roflorgz. Totally sick! (an expression of approval) leet!!! pwnage!!!!!!!!!!!!! dude!!! That video owned!!!!! power to the l33t!! heavy weapons guy (refers to characters on the video) nice shit there dude (comment about the video addressed to its creator) Oh my fucking god leet speak pwnz (dominates) Rofl this pwns (Rolling on the floor laughing, this pwns) a non-l33t comment on the video l33t speak totally pwnzorersers (the poster emphasizes his participation and approval with the double suffix) Rolling on the floor laughing my ass off l33t speak pwns for the win Why the fuck is everyone talking l33t speak? Thats awesome because I love l33t speak. Can you read this? Youre l33t. That indecipherability, however, only adds to the l33t display the posters are creating. These two posters have ratcheted up the level of expertise to demonstrate their mastery of the threads lingua francal33t. Beginning with poster Ryand1208, several subsequent posters engage in a game of l33t oneupmanship involving variations on the l33t word pwns. Ryand1208 simply substitutes z for Appendix B: Gamernode.com magnum becuz they r powerful. neways yeah dats my intro holla back yo boi, j the standard English plural form s. Poster xXEvIlAlEkSiXx elaborates with nonalphanumeric keyboard characters: |>//n5. MangekyouSharingan25 follows with a doubleemphasized pwn: l>0wnzorx3r5. Poster MiddleClassHer0 finishes up with a further permutation of the word: [0VVNZ. The final poster in the thread, CrossFeast, adds a l33t-phrased comment that sums up the ironically playful spirit of the entire exchange. CrossFeasts assertion that those who can read the posts are l33t resonates with similar claims made in early hacker ezines. Those past l33t writers sarcastically offer the code to the aspiring l33t who think that using merely l33t symbols made them expert hackers.

Gamernode.com Conversation, October 2006 3vil: w^ ppl? mi nme is josh n i am an 8th grdr and i like to snowbord. this sight lookz rly kool and i wanted 2 cum n check it out. hopfully u guys will have gunz lyk da deagle n

Hello. Please make more of an attempt to type proper grammar next time and for any futher posts. ok? I had a real hard time trying to understand what the hell you were saying.

Tessaract:

Engert 24
a schoolmarms impatience with a dull student. She claims that 3vils message was difficult to understand due to its non-standard English. Interestingly, her own post contains three grammar/spelling errors and mild profanity.

Description The poster 3vil makes his initial post. It employs l33t and various other nonstandard spellings and abbreviations. He states that his name is Josh, that he is an eighth grader (about thirteen years old), and that he likes to snowboard. 3vil addresses the forum posters directly (w^ppl, u guys) and indicates that he has taken the time to look around and appreciate the website that is their home.

Analysis
3vils tone is breezy and friendly containing both l33t spellings and other slang. He attempts to connect with the board community through their presumed common interest, computer gaming, by his references to weaponry from a popular shooter game (Resident Evil). His closing, holla back invites friendly reply.

Gamernode Conversation Flarty: is this a joke lol

Winged One: Jesus this is bad...

A resident poster on Gamernode replies within minutes. Tessaract greets 3vil and requests that he use standard English spelling and proper grammar for future posts. Tessaract uses bold letters for the word attempt indicating emphasis, and further expresses difficulty in understanding 3vils message.

Tessaract, who self-identifies as female, a minority in this mostly male environment, replies. Her simple and brief hello contrasts sharply with 3vils message. Although formally polite, with its please, her subsequent rebuke is authoritative, dismissive, and sarcastic in tone. She pointedly ignores the content of 3vils post. Her use of attempt in bold type implies that she is doubtful about 3vils ability to comply with her request perhaps even that he may be too ignorant to do so. Her phrasing and her ok? evoke

3vil: Wtf r u talkin about im posting in english u idiots. r u retarted or sumthin?

Engert 25 declares that he is posting in English and the problem may be theirs. 3vil calls the others idiots and asks if they are retarted (retarded). sarcastically feigned question, indignation, and name-calling. He continues to use non-standard spelling, leet acronyms, and no punctuation. To counter Tessaracts aspersions on his intellect, 3vil chooses insults that speak to that accusation precisely and applies them indirectly to his conversational opponents. Gamernode Conversation Winged One: No, you are not posting in English. You are posting in a dialect of leet, or, as you may know it, "1337". Now, this is my post, translated to your way of posting: no u r nt pstng n englsh. u r pstng n a diulect uf leet or as u may no it 1337. nw tis is my pst trnslted 2 ur way.

Description Analysis Poster Flartydoes not address 3vil directly but follows up with a question as to whether 3vils post is a joke and ends with a laughter acronym. Poster Winged One also does not address 3vil directly, but comments on 3vils post, declaring it bad. Two more regular posters, Flarty and Winged One, quickly follow up with posts that affirm Tessaracts evaluation of 3vil. This marks the beginning of the usagainst-him dynamic that characterizes the remainder of the conversation. More and more regular posters join the ensuing battle of words against 3vil. Flartys question further dismisses 3vil from any standing in the conversation by labeling his post as a joke. But Flarty, too, uses a nonstandard English word: the l33t acronym lol. He joins in with the disapproval of 3vils language choices, yet employs some of the same himself, with impunity, thus displaying his status as an accepted member of the forums posters. 3vil now displays his understanding of the rebuke, but does so with a

P-Thunder: This is a joke. Its gotta be. We all talk like this for a joke.....???

3vil replies with a question asking why the posters claim they cannot understand him. He

Engert 26 P-Thunder (PT) joins in to support the regular posters in their action against 3vil. PT undermines 3vils post and board status even further by labeling it a joke. His Its gotta be simultaneously dismisses 3vil and asserts PTs privilege to use nonstandard English himself on the board. PT aligns himself with the resident posters with his pronoun we. Analysis Winged One now addresses 3vil, denying 3vils claim to be posting in English. WO identifies l33t as the dialect of 3vils messages and offers an example of WOs own post written in l33t. WO refers to the example as a translation. At this point, Winged One (WO) narrows the focus of the objections to 3vils posts to the issue of l33t. The tone of WOs post is dismissively didactic. The repetitions of you and your target the full energy of the post at 3vil and contrast with WOs my. A dividing line between WO and 3vil is put in place, one that quickly expands into us and him. WO incorporates two variations on the word leet for emphasis and clarity of his point, and he intensifies his sarcasm by including alongside his standard English post its full translation into a dialect of leet. Gamernode Conversation 3vil: w/e u guyz r *****g stupid. i can typ propor english i jst dnt fel lyk it. got a problem w/ dat? thats wat i ***** thot

Description

P-Thunder directs his comments to the group of resident posters, addressing them as we.

hot564231: lol lol lol lol lol lol rofl rofl rof

3vil: ur ***** mom was a joke

Engert 27 last nite idiot 3vil replies to the laughter, showing his recognition of himself as its object. He returns a common insult to the other posters mother. He does not specify to whom he speaks. Hot564231 immediately attempts to throttle back 3vils hostility level with an appeal to remember that this is only a forum, and thus not to be taken too seriously. based upon the usage of languagel33t. Once more, a resident poster shows his privileged status. 3vils reaction to being the butt of this textual laughter is to turn the joke into a sexually suggestive verbal attack. He has raised the stakes in this insult game. Hot564231 shows his understanding that 3vil has become truly provoked and suggests a lighter attitude. Hot564231 uses we to include all forum posters, thus subtly offering 3vil the chance to join the community. But Hot564231 cant quite let go of the joke himself and finishes off with another round of textual laughter. Gamernode Conversation Dr. Aaron: No, you are retarded, by the fact you don't even know your own native language.

hot564231: Hey, hey take it easy, it's a forum, we all make jokes but... but.. lol lol

Description [Translation: Whatever you guys are (expletive) stupid. I can type proper English. I just dont feel like it. Got a problem with that? Thats what I (expletive) thought.] 3vil reenters the conversation, misspelling the majority of his words. He claims he can type correctly if he feels like it. He challenges the others, answering the challenge himself. Hot564231 enters the conversation for the first time with prolonged acronymic laughter gradually increasing in intensity. Analysis 3vil posts again addressing the posters in a combative tone. He demonstrates his understanding of the other posters objections and their insults with the claim that his spelling is voluntary. He again calls them names, uses starred out profanity, and issues his own challenge to the majority with got a problem w/dat?. Immediately following 3vil, hot564231 posts a comment entirely in l33t acronyms that represent laughter. 3vils threats and the boards treatment of him have indeed become a joke

P-Thunder: *** u a$$ h0Ie , nUb Iz gUna pWn Ur a$$

Engert 28 thread with name-calling and a threat His response is written entirely in l33t. appears to be directed to some other poster, possibly hot564231. The phrase nUb Iz gUna pWn Ur a$ $ is an ironic warning to be afraid of 3vils venom, because this nUb (newbie) is unlikely to pwn (dominate or own) any of them, since they have ganged up to disempower him. PThunders post also demonstrates his own status as a member of the group to use l33t himself, while participating in the virtual hazing of 3vil for doing so. Evil responds with a posture of disinterested sarcasm, still using l33t, and this time shouting textually by using all capital letters. For the moment, however, he does not return to his sexual insults, perhaps a response to hot564231s mediation. Gamernode Conversation Winged One: Wow. Take a chill pill. We just don't like it if you don't take the time to type proper English. Just take a little more time to type. And setting personnel vendettas against people the first day here isn't really suggested. Really, I sometimes wish

3vil: DUDE WTF EVER

Evil demonstrates that he has been following the comments of the others and responds to the resident posters with a message that neither raises nor much lowers the level of tension between himself and them.

Description Analysis Dr. Aaron responds to 3vils second post, returning the retarded insult and adding the additional assertion that 3vil lacks basic language competency. Dr. Aaron posts a namecalling comment directed straight at 3vil, and redirects the interchange back to the issue of language. Dr. Aaron charges that 3vils use of l33t indicates not only his lack of intelligence, but even his capacity to communicate at all in English. P-Thunders initial insult seems to be directed at 3vil, while the second portion of the message

[translation: (expletive) you asshole, newbie is going to pwn your ass] P-Thunder re-enters the

Engert 29 the BM forums had the Smartness system like Facepunch. standard English posts. WO pointedly uses pronouns that make a distinction between 3vil and the resident poster group (we and you)

Description

Winged One addresses 3vil, telling him to take a chill pill, that is, calm down. WO suggests that time-saving may be the reason for 3vils non-

Engert 30 presents both positive (take more time to type) action and negative (dont act aggressively when you are a new poster). After his address to 3vil directly, WO addresses the general poster audience with a statement that obliquely expresses his annoyance at the situation presented by 3vils actions. WOs wishful mention of BM forums (Black Mesaa game) refers to forum software that filters posts according to moderator-set parameters, which may include spelling. The comment implies WOs experience on Internet forums and his knowledge of how they operateall contrasted implicitly with Evils missteps as a newcomer to the group.

P-Thunder: yah dud3 , yUr a nUb lnlt!!! l337!!! yuv b33n pwn3d!!!

Kaze: Please use this to make your posts easier for him to understand. or PLZ UES THES 2 MAEK UR POSTS AASEIR FOR HIM 2 UND3RSTAND!! 1!11 WTF

Winged One: Oh Jesus, this thread hurts my brain cells!

hot564231: the thread=fun Analysis Winged One posts again. His Wow implies that WO thinks 3vil has seriously overreacted to the provocation. WO again brings the objections of the group back to language while stressing 3vils outsider status with we and you. WO offers advice to 3vil on how to fit in. The advice Gamernode Conversation hot564231: Oh god xD Dr. Aaron: 1'm l3ik suP4h1337 =pwn0rz omg wtf y\u n00bsLOLOLOLOLOLO L!!2134 Description

xD means laughing Dr. Aaron writes a l33t post that, while not really a sentence, does use words that project bravado and

Engert 31 laughter. P-Thunder follows in a similar manner with Yeah dude, yourre a newblet!!! L33t!!! youve been pwned!!!, Hot56423 makes an undirected comment equating the discussion with fun. Hot564231s comment that the thread equals fun sums up the attitude that underlies the entire exchange. Although the resident posters may be serious in their attempts to chastise or guide 3vils posting style, they keep coming back or entering the thread because they are amused by the textual jousting.

Analysis Kaze, a new poster to the thread, says in standard English and in shouting capital letters with l33t substitutions, Please use these to make your posts easier for him to understand. The standard English sentence contains a hyperlink to an Internet l33t translator webpage where users can convert their text. Winged One imples that reading the l33t-style text taxes his intellect. In the next several posts, resident forum members Dr. Aaron, PThunder, and Kaze post what they perceive as typical inane l33t posts. These accomplish several things: they show the groups solidarity, ridicule 3vils posts, and demonstrate the in-groups privilege to set the standards. They can use all the l33t they want with impunity. 3vil cannot unless he shows respect to their demands. Appendix C: Digg.com Digg.com Serial Posts jc701220 *quote from the movie you just watched* *acronym expressing laugther t4k3n *obscure reference to pop culture*

KokomoNYC *phrase between asterisks describing itself*

Jb611 *dugg, even though I didn't get the reference*

str1fe 10 hours ago *irrelevant Obama praise*

Engert 32 CobaltBlue *Ron Paul will solve the irrelevant Obama praise problem by eliminating the Federal Reserve* sovietninja *quote admonishing HRC* Kyan * ***************** * Explanation and Analysis Poster jc701220 begins with a recognizable movie quote, which would show his or her currency with recent films. Also included is a formal expression that translates to lol (laugh out loud). Poster t4k3n counters with an obscure reference, offering a point of opposition to the first poster, yet playing along with the same idea. Poster Jb611adds approval (dugg), claiming ignorance of the reference. Of course, there is no reference. His comment plays with the conversational format the three have created. Poster KokomoNYC makes his *action* completely self-referential, with no ties to even the obscure presence of an outside reference. Yet, this post does reference a meme with the format xy is x (e.g., longcat is long). At a later point in the chain of comments the poster Spraypaint again rephrases this as [asterisk] with action in the middle [/asterisk], further building on the playful attitude. Posters str1fe, CobaltBlue, and sovietninja create a new triplet of metacomments, this time moving from pop culture to politics. Str1fes contribution emphasizes the frequent presence on Digg of irrelevant political comments made during a campaign year in threads otherwise not focused on politics. CobaltBlue counters str1fes mainstream Obama praise with a reference to a more obscure candidate (Ron Paul, who was a frequent digg-story presence), just as t4k3n did to jc701220s movie reference. Kyan then takes KokomoNYCs self-referential phrase between asterisks describing itself to the ultimateasterisks describing themselves with themselvesa fitting visual metaphor for the entire display the Digg posters are creating Digg.com Serial Posts

CaptainTater **satirical post in reference to stereotypical digg user's comments, in between two asterisks**

ORBAT ***meta-metajoke about diggers***

Verz ****meta-meta-metajoke about diggers****

Tryptomine *Questions whether this post is following the pattern correctly.*

Engert 33 meta and meta-meta-meta comments including the meta-amplification of the asterisks Explanation and Analysis In a later section of the comment chain, these posts occur together. Here in a short space, the Digg posters clearly demonstrate their propensity to playfully mock their conversational space as well as their hyper-awareness of their comments. Poster CaptainTater begins this section with a post that satirizes both the typical digg users comments and the use of the asterisks. CaptainTater makes a metapost and as the folloing posters point out, a meta-joke. Posters ORBAT and Verz both build on CaptainTaters meta wit metaPoster Tryptomine, although he or she does not add another meta-layer to the previous posters chain, does continue the reflexive emphasis upon their interpretation of their conversation. Tryptomine returns to one asterisk to denote an action and inquires about following the pattern correctly. This question both stresses the mutual perception of the pattern as well as asserting the individuals voluntary or involuntary adherence to it.

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