IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jcsosc/v4y2021i1d10.1007_s42001-020-00064-x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The temporal evolution of a far-right forum

Author

Listed:
  • Bennett Kleinberg

    (University College London
    University College London)

  • Isabelle Vegt

    (University College London)

  • Paul Gill

    (University College London)

Abstract

The increased threat of right-wing extremist violence necessitates a better understanding of online extremism. Radical message boards, small-scale social media platforms, and other internet fringes have been reported to fuel hatred. The current paper examines data from the right-wing forum Stormfront between 2001 and 2015. We specifically aim to understand the development of user activity and the use of extremist language. Various time-series models depict posting frequency and the prevalence and intensity of extremist language. Individual user analyses examine whether some super users dominate the forum. The results suggest that structural break models capture the forum evolution better than stationary or linear change models. We observed an increase of forum engagement followed by a decrease towards the end of the time range. However, the proportion of extremist language on the forum increased in a step-wise matter until the early summer of 2011, followed by a decrease. This temporal development suggests that forum rhetoric did not necessarily become more extreme over time. Individual user analysis revealed that super forum users accounted for the vast majority of posts and of extremist language. These users differed from normal users in their evolution of forum engagement.

Suggested Citation

  • Bennett Kleinberg & Isabelle Vegt & Paul Gill, 2021. "The temporal evolution of a far-right forum," Journal of Computational Social Science, Springer, vol. 4(1), pages 1-23, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:jcsosc:v:4:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1007_s42001-020-00064-x
    DOI: 10.1007/s42001-020-00064-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s42001-020-00064-x
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s42001-020-00064-x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zeileis, Achim & Leisch, Friedrich & Hornik, Kurt & Kleiber, Christian, 2002. "strucchange: An R Package for Testing for Structural Change in Linear Regression Models," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 7(i02).
    2. Delbosc, Alexa & Currie, Graham, 2011. "Using Lorenz curves to assess public transport equity," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 19(6), pages 1252-1259.
    3. Zeileis, Achim & Kleiber, Christian & Kramer, Walter & Hornik, Kurt, 2003. "Testing and dating of structural changes in practice," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 44(1-2), pages 109-123, October.
    4. Elliott, Graham & Rothenberg, Thomas J & Stock, James H, 1996. "Efficient Tests for an Autoregressive Unit Root," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(4), pages 813-836, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Anna Ruelens, 2022. "Analyzing user-generated content using natural language processing: a case study of public satisfaction with healthcare systems," Journal of Computational Social Science, Springer, vol. 5(1), pages 731-749, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Patrik Nosil & Zachariah Gompert & Daniel J. Funk, 2024. "Divergent dynamics of sexual and habitat isolation at the transition between stick insect populations and species," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-15, December.
    2. Zeileis, Achim, 2006. "Implementing a class of structural change tests: An econometric computing approach," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 50(11), pages 2987-3008, July.
    3. James Nolan & Zoe Laulederkind, 2022. "Plane to See? Empirical Analysis of the 1999–2006 Air Cargo Cartel," Advances in Airline Economics, in: The International Air Cargo Industry, volume 9, pages 241-262, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    4. Ashok Chanabasangouda Patil & Shailesh Rastogi, 2020. "Multifractal Analysis of Market Efficiency across Structural Breaks: Implications for the Adaptive Market Hypothesis," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-18, October.
    5. João Sousa Andrade & Adelaide Duarte & Marta Simões, 2011. "Inequality and Growth in Portugal: a time series analysis," GEMF Working Papers 2011-11, GEMF, Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra.
    6. de Silva, Ashton J & Boymal, Jonathan & Potts, Jason & Thomas, Stuart, 2015. "Does innovation in residential mortgage products explain rising house prices? No," MPRA Paper 62548, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. DIMA, Bogdan & DIMA, Ştefana Maria & IOAN, Roxana, 2021. "Remarks on the behaviour of financial market efficiency during the COVID-19 pandemic. The case of VIX," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    8. Paolo Libenzio Brignoli & Alessandro Varacca & Cornelis Gardebroek & Paolo Sckokai, 2024. "Machine learning to predict grains futures prices," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 55(3), pages 479-497, May.
    9. Abhijit Sharma & Kelvin G Balcombe & Iain M Fraser, 2009. "Non-renewable resource prices: Structural breaks and long term trends," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 29(2), pages 805-819.
    10. Joscha Beckmann & Ansgar Belke & Michael Kühl, 2011. "The dollar-euro exchange rate and macroeconomic fundamentals: a time-varying coefficient approach," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 147(1), pages 11-40, April.
    11. Fabio Clementi & Marco Gallegati & Mauro Gallegati, 2015. "Growth and Cycles of the Italian Economy Since 1861: The New Evidence," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 1(1), pages 25-59, March.
    12. Valerio Filoso, Valerio & Panico, Carlo & Papagni, Erasmo & Francesco, Purificato & Vázquez Suarez, Marta, 2016. "Causes and timing of the European debt crisis: An econometric evaluation," MPRA Paper 75847, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Liu, Guanchun & He, Lei & Yue, Yiding & Wang, Jiying, 2014. "The linkage between insurance activity and banking credit: Some evidence from dynamic analysis," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 239-265.
    14. F. Peters & J. P. Mackenbach & W. J. Nusselder, 2016. "Does the Impact of the Tobacco Epidemic Explain Structural Changes in the Decline of Mortality?," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 32(5), pages 687-702, December.
    15. Pouliot, Sébastien, 2012. "On the Economics of Adulteration in Food Imports: Application to US Fish and Seafood Imports," Working Papers 148596, Structure and Performance of Agriculture and Agri-products Industry (SPAA).
    16. Christos Katris & Manolis G. Kavussanos, 2021. "Time series forecasting methods for the Baltic dry index," Journal of Forecasting, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 40(8), pages 1540-1565, December.
    17. Tighe, Kara & Piggott, Nicholas & Nicholas, Oscar & Mounter, Stuart & Villano, Renato, 2019. "Testing for pre-committed quantities of Australian meat demand," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 60(2), April.
    18. Kleiber, Christian, 2016. "Structural Change in (Economic) Time Series," Working papers 2016/06, Faculty of Business and Economics - University of Basel.
    19. Sinclair Davidson & Ashton de Silva, 2018. "Did Recent Tobacco Reforms Change the Cigarette Market?," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 37(1), pages 55-74, March.
    20. Aurelio Fernández Bariviera & M. Belén Guercio & Lisana B. Martinez, 2014. "Informational Efficiency in Distressed Markets: The Case of European Corporate Bonds," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 45(3), pages 349-369.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:jcsosc:v:4:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1007_s42001-020-00064-x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.