Hi there. I'm looking for people who may be interested in providing some input or insights that can help my research.

"Who are you?"
Here's a little introduction about myself and what I do. First and foremost, I am a PhD student studying Management Information Systems (MIS). You can sort of think of MIS as a cross between computer science and business applications. My current research deals mainly with online communities, such as this one. As a matter of fact, deviantART is one of the reasons I'm interested in this line of study. I've been lurking on dA for the past four years, and this community intrigues me greatly. It's very different from other online communities like Wikipedia or SourceForge. And I'm very interested in studying all the nuances inherent in these communities. I'm lucky that my field allows me to look at these things (and considers it potentially useful).

"What exactly is your research?"
That being said, I am working on a research proposal regarding deviant behaviors in online communities. In the first step, I want to look at what kinds of deviancy exist in online organizations that may be similar to or different from those in offline organizations. "Deviancy" in this case can refer to any behavior that upsets members of the community or violate the standard usage of the site. In addition, I want to look at whether there are distinctly different kinds of deviance in different types of communities. For example, dA has issues with art theft while something like Wikipedia might have more problems with vandalism of articles.

"How can I help?"
Before I can begin any research, I would need to start with a research proposal so that others (people who may fund this research or professors) can decide whether it is a phenomenon worth studying. One of the criterion for useful research is that it must be relevant to real world problems. This is where I need help. I'd like to get some insights from site administrators and members of the community on examples of problems that you see here on dA. This can range from problems you've encountered or witnessed to what you think can be a potential issue. If you have a specific incident in mind, I would prefer not to have names of other members involved (at least until this becomes an approved study). If you can't think of anything, please help me spread the word and direct people to this journal!

"How do I contact you?"
You can leave a comment on this journal if you're comfortable doing so. If not, you can also send me an email at rileylaurent[at]gmail.com or note me. Any comments you can give are welcome and would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.