[brunswcd]

Hello members of the Flat Earth Society!

I am an undergraduate student at the University of Cincinnati. Currently in a composition class of mine we are discussing the concept of discourse communities: communities of discussion that utilize specific genres to achieve common goals. One aspect of the discourse community is the notion of a cost of affiliation, the concept that joining a particular discourse community (or any community, really) can only be accomplished at the cost of severing or weakening ties with other communities and former associates. This weakening of ties can be due to differing perspectives (that were once similar), lessened desire to interact with each other, or the actual physical moving away from one another.

To this end, given the media representation of those that believe in a flat Earth, I have chosen to look at the Flat Earth Society in order to explore how members of this group deal with its cost of affiliation.

I am interested in conducting one or two interviews with members of this society who are familiar with the way in which it runs and its primary means of communication (forum, twitter, etc.). Email would be the easiest way to conduct this interview, but I am not opposed to doing it over the phone a service such as Skype or Discord.

I can be reached at bobthecat22@gmail.com or by posting in this thread.

Thank you.

[Mark_1984]

That sounds fascinating, but could you rewrite the question in English rather than social studies jargon ?
I may be able to help, as a devout flat earth believer, but I have doubts.  I've tried challenging my peers, but the results have been less than satisfactory.  As for the cost, when they read this, I risk being exiled from the round earth community as a 'spy in the camp' and from the flat earth community as a doubter.  However, the real cost is nothing as this forum is free to join.