Discussing illicit drugs in public internet forums: Visibility, stigma, and pseudonymity.

It has been claimed that people discuss their own illicit drug use online because anonymity allows them to avoid the legal and social risks of identifying themselves as drug users. Discourses around the risks, strategies and management of online drug discussion were produced by interviewing 26 ‘part...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Barratt, Monica
Other Authors: J. Kjeldskov
Format: Conference Paper
Published: ACM 2011
Subjects:
Online Access:http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/2110000.2103376
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/46910
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author Barratt, Monica
author2 J. Kjeldskov
author_facet J. Kjeldskov
Barratt, Monica
author_sort Barratt, Monica
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description It has been claimed that people discuss their own illicit drug use online because anonymity allows them to avoid the legal and social risks of identifying themselves as drug users. Discourses around the risks, strategies and management of online drug discussion were produced by interviewing 26 ‘party drug’ users who reported participating in internet forums where drugs were discussed. Three factors influenced the extent to which drug forum users discussed their own drug use in public internet forums: perceived visibility, perceived legal risk and social stigma, and perceived effectiveness of pseudonymity. Implications for internet research with drug users are discussed.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T09:32:06Z
format Conference Paper
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institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T09:32:06Z
publishDate 2011
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-469102023-02-02T07:57:34Z Discussing illicit drugs in public internet forums: Visibility, stigma, and pseudonymity. Barratt, Monica J. Kjeldskov J. Paay Internet forums social identity stigma illicit drugs pseudonymity anonymity online interviews normalisation It has been claimed that people discuss their own illicit drug use online because anonymity allows them to avoid the legal and social risks of identifying themselves as drug users. Discourses around the risks, strategies and management of online drug discussion were produced by interviewing 26 ‘party drug’ users who reported participating in internet forums where drugs were discussed. Three factors influenced the extent to which drug forum users discussed their own drug use in public internet forums: perceived visibility, perceived legal risk and social stigma, and perceived effectiveness of pseudonymity. Implications for internet research with drug users are discussed. 2011 Conference Paper http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/46910 http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/2110000.2103376 ACM restricted
spellingShingle Internet forums
social identity
stigma
illicit drugs
pseudonymity
anonymity
online interviews
normalisation
Barratt, Monica
Discussing illicit drugs in public internet forums: Visibility, stigma, and pseudonymity.
title Discussing illicit drugs in public internet forums: Visibility, stigma, and pseudonymity.
title_full Discussing illicit drugs in public internet forums: Visibility, stigma, and pseudonymity.
title_fullStr Discussing illicit drugs in public internet forums: Visibility, stigma, and pseudonymity.
title_full_unstemmed Discussing illicit drugs in public internet forums: Visibility, stigma, and pseudonymity.
title_short Discussing illicit drugs in public internet forums: Visibility, stigma, and pseudonymity.
title_sort discussing illicit drugs in public internet forums: visibility, stigma, and pseudonymity.
topic Internet forums
social identity
stigma
illicit drugs
pseudonymity
anonymity
online interviews
normalisation
url http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/2110000.2103376
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/46910